A new marketing desk has launched in Washington state with strong ties to the apple industry. Carrie Koerner; her daughters, Kassi Orozco and Makayla Moore; and her granddaughter, Maci Koerner, have partnered with Glacier Ridge Marketing owner Ben Dozeman to bring Michigan, Washington, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania growers together.
“We are proud to be women building our place in the Washington tree fruit industry, but we are even more proud of the work we are doing and the relationships we are building along the way,” Orozco says.
Carrie Koerner, Orozco, Moore and Maci Koerner officially joined the Glacier Ridge team a couple of months ago. Orozco says this interest in bringing together growers across the country arose specifically out of retailer demand.
“We’ve always done Washington apples, cherries and pears, and what we’ve noticed is our retailers want that Midwest piece of the fruit, they want the Michigan piece of it, and we had a couple of our retailers specifically that asked us to find that piece for them,” she says.
A Multigenerational Family Tradition in Tree Fruit Marketing
Orozco says Glacier Ridge’s philosophy is “young ideas, deep roots,” which references the experience she and her mother bring to the desk along with fresh ideas brought in by both Orozco’s sister and daughter.
Carrie Koerner began her career working for Barbee Orchards. Orozco says she and her sister watched their mother grow in the industry, and it inspired them to begin a career in tree fruit marketing.
“We decided to come into the industry,” Orozco says. “My daughter, who just graduated this year … says she’s enjoyed watching us — her mom, her aunt and her grandma — do all the things in the industry, grow relationships, be successful, so she decided she’s going to try it.”
Orozco says she and her sister benefited from learning all parts of the business, including working in the warehouse, grower accounting and shipping, and says her daughter will do the same.
“I want her to learn all the different apple grades and why things are grown the way they’re grown, why people do certain things in the orchard, how things are packed, how they move through the whole entire system and how they move through the stores,” Orozco says. “I just think that all the knowledge that you can get from each little piece of it just makes you so much more valuable.”
Starting this partnership right before apple harvest has been an “adventure,” Orozco says, but Carrie Koerner says, “We’ve always had a very hardworking family.”
Adapting to Produce Trends and Changing Consumer Behavior
When asked what kind of trends they’re watching in the fresh produce industry, Carrie Koerner says she’s seeing shopper behavior changes with social media, and marketers need to get in front of the younger generation to build those connections. Online shopping, too, means younger shoppers don’t always spend a lot of time in grocery stores.
“Now you have to reach out,” she says. “You have to be able to get other ways for them to see apples, pears, cherries — all of that produce — and have them put it in their cart and have it as a repeat order every single week.”
Orozco says being a young and smaller sales desk means being nimble enough to try new things.
“We can react pretty quickly, and we’re not afraid to try new packaging new ideas new marketing ideas,” she says. “We’re not afraid to try any of that because we live in Zillah, Wash., and we’re surrounded by orchards and we know a lot of growers.”
This year, Orozco says Glacier Ridge took 11½- and 12-row cherries that growers often leave on the tree due to smaller sizing and put those cherries in a 16-ounce, 1-inch clamshell to sell as “Cocktail Cherries.” She says retailers could sell it at a lower price point as a value item, adding that the packaging was primed for placing near wines and cheeses for use in charcuterie boards.
“It went amazingly,” Orozco says. “We were able to continuously pack it for our growers all season.”
Another trend, Carrie Koerner says, is that Midwest retailers want apples in totes while retailers out West are looking toward bagged apples. Retailers, she says, also want strong bulk and organic programs.
“We always focus on making sure what we bring in from the growers is what we have orders for so we can pack it and get it out in a timely manner,” she says. “It’s always really nice, really fresh. We have amazing growers, so we’re just making sure that everything is fresh in and absolutely gorgeous.”
Building Strong Relationships Across the Produce Supply Chain
Orozco says she wants retailers to know the team at Glacier Ridge is just a phone call away, and the same goes for growers, too.
“We are the kind of company that they can pick up the phone, they can call us and we’re going to find a solution for them,” she says. “Whatever they need, we are going to find a solution for them.”
Carrie Koerner says that working with family fuels Glacier Ridge.
“We’re always brainstorming and trying to come up with new ideas,” she says. “We’re looking at other commodities and seeing something that they’re doing that maybe is something that we could do. We’re just always thinking and always trying to figure out the best way that both retail and the growers can move the product quickly and freshly through them through the market.”
While it’s a family affair at Glacier Ridge, Orozco also highlights Marketing Director Steve Flashing’s role on the team.
“Steve has spent years building relationships throughout the produce industry and brings an incredible amount of knowledge, experience and perspective to our team,” she says. “But more than anything, he cares about people. That mentality carries throughout Glacier Ridge.”
