Frieda’s sees growth in dragon fruit, kumquats, passion fruit

Specialty produce items that are performing exceptionally well for Frieda’s Specialty Produce include dragon fruit, kumquats, passion fruit and coconuts, said Cindy Sherman, director of marketing, innovation and insights for Los Alamitos, Calif.-based Frieda's Specialty Produce.

“Dragon fruit is a $45 million dollar category that has seen 62% growth over the past year,” Sherman said. “Specifically yellow dragon fruit (known as Honey Dragons for Frieda’s) is enjoying 140% growth.

Kumquats are a smaller category (closer to $2 million) but are growing at 40% year over year, she said. Passion fruit is a $4 million segment that is growing near 40% compared with the prior year, Sherman said. 

Coconuts are a $22 million category growing at a 13% clip compared with year-ago levels, she said, with 
Frieda’s Tiki’s Drinking Coconuts growing 23% over prior year performance.

Demand picture

Retail is seeing an increased demand for variety compared to before the pandemic, said Alex Jackson, director of sales. 

“We are especially seeing an increase around colorful, healthy and delicious specialty produce items, including those that have immunity boosting qualities like Organic Mighty Gold Turmeric, Mahana Ginger, Stokes Purple Sweet Potatoes and Frieda’s Kumquats,” she said. “Now it’s about making sure the right stores have the top selling specialty items year-round.,” Jackson said.

For foodservice customers, she said demand for specialty produce is starting to ramp back up. 

“Many foodservice distributors had to change the way they presented and delivered seasonal and specialty items to their restaurant clients which including changing the frequency,” Jackson said. 
 “Thankfully, with schools reopening, foodservice clients have been able to bring variety to the school snacking programs they supply which is very exciting, as kids around the U.S. are able to come back to school to not only fresh produce, but fresh specialty produce. “

Fresh branding 

Frieda’s new branding continues to roll out and research shows that the Frieda’s brand is embraced by consumers, Sherman said. 

“We are especially excited about our new Stokes sweet potato labels arriving in stores this fall , our new citrus pouches for Limequats, Lemonade Lemons and Mandarinquats launching this winter,” she said. “We are also giving our complementary items a facelift, including our crepes, eggroll wrappers and wonton wrappers.”

Consumer research, Sherman said, shows two major themes that are resonating with consumers are 1) immunity defense and 2) the desire for beautiful, colorful dishes as an antidote to the greyness of the pandemic. 

“On immunity, research shows that 76% of consumers agree that eating fresh produce is important to building immunity defense and 71% of consumers say that they choose to shop at stores with produce variety in order to support their personal health,” she said. “With that, Frieda’s focuses on building marketing programs catering to this demand by providing a large variety of products that support immunity defense, such as: Limequats, Pink Lemons, Organic Mighty Gold Turmeric, and Stokes Purple Sweet Potatoes - all ready to be displayed on our three-tiered shipper display.”

Sherman said social media is a great place for shoppers to go to be inspired with dishes, such as Frieda’s   Mighty Gold Turmeric Chicken Coconut Curry.

Twenty percent of consumers say the role of food during the holiday is to make holiday tables more festive with color, aromas, textures and flavors, Sherman said.

In fact, 64% say they are likely to serve a beautiful dessert that adds color to the table this holiday and 36% say that they are likely to serve Stokes Purple sweet potato pie with maple whipped cream, she said.

“Consumers want to up their game and share it on social media. 55% of consumers want to make a beautiful dessert that is social media-worthy,” she said. “Thus is the inspiration behind our Instagram partnership with Lauren Ko, to create something delicious and memorable this holiday, the Stokes Purple Wave Pie.”