Last week, Honeybear Brands announced a collaboration with Wenatchee, Wash.-based Starr Ranch Growers as a packing partner.
For the grower-packer-shipper and developer of premium apples, the move bolsters its reach with growers in the Midwest and Washington, as well as import growers, said Don Roper, vice president of sales and marketing for Elgin, Minn.-based Honeybear Brands.
Roper said the Thomas family of Starr Ranch Growers, now in its third generation, has been farming apples, cherries, pears and stone fruit for approximately 90 years. He said Starr Ranch’s high-quality orchard locations across the apple-growing areas in Washington is another thing that sets the company apart.
“Their orchards stretch all the way from Mattawa, which is an early site, all the way up to Brewster, which is a late site,” Roper said. “So, when you think of where their orchards are, they’re in some of the best locations, microclimates in the state of Washington, and what that does is that brings your fruit on all at different times. You can start earlier, go a little bit later, when the varieties are being harvested.”
Honeybear Brands will market all Starr Ranch apples under the Honeybear label. Roper said retailers can anticipate more premium apples.
“They’re a premium grower,” Roper said of Starr Ranch Growers. “They got great sites. They put an absolute great apple in the box. They know how to pack it. They know how to do it right, and that dovetails right into kind of what we do as an organization. Our whole thing is, let’s make sure we have premium products all the time for retail partners.”
Roper said Honeybear’s focus on premium, proprietary varieties also helps the grower-packer-shipper and marketer stand out in the marketplace. By partnering with Starr Ranch Growers, Honeybear adds Karma and Juici apples.
“Our job is to continue to look for new opportunities to help us differentiate in the apple category,” he said. “We’re ... excited to bring the Star Ranch team on, not only for all the conventional varieties that they have but [also] for some of the proprietary varietal work they’re doing as well.”
Retailers, too, want to see suppliers as having capabilities to grow, Roper said.
“When you have a growing retailer, they want to see you growing as a supplier too, because they want to be confident that they have that assured supply from their grower packing partners,” he said. “We’re very selective on who we want to grow with and how we want to do it in order to grow intentionally.”
Roper said this focus on high-quality and premium eating experiences has paid off for Honeybear Brands.
“We’ve experienced a lot of growth over the last 15 years, and this fits in well as we continue to expand, with premium growing partners in the Northwest,” he said.
A major focus for retail partners is continuing to build consumer demand.
“We win with quality, because the consumer has a good experience and they come back,” Roper said. “And as soon as you don’t do that, you lose that consumer to the other commodity.”
