Marco Ochoa, chief financial officer with Legend Produce, a fourth-generation melon grower, said the melon category has been evolving for Legend Produce as consumers seek out produce with high flavor. He said while melon consumers tend to skew older, Legend Produce seeks to buck that trend with an emphasis on varieties that pack a punch with flavor.
While other growers in the melon category have focused on improving shelf life and shipability, he said retailers want to draw more attention to melons.
“A melon that is in the store today is no longer the melon that it used to be,” he said.
Legend Produce introduced the Origami melon in the early 2000s to offer a cantaloupe with a better eating experience. Barry Zwillinger, co-founder of Legend Produce, said he knew he was on to something with Origami.
“Everybody thought Barry was crazy, but Barry knew he had something special,” Ochoa said.
Earlier this year, Legend Produce announced it had partnered with Kiss Melons to link Legend Produce’s distribution network with Kiss Melons’ flavor-driven varieties, which include Sugar Kiss, Honey Kiss and Summer Kiss.
Making of success
Milas Russell Jr., co-founder of the Kiss Melon brand, said the idea for Kiss Melons started with a desire to offer melons with better flavor at the store level. Russell said he and his family looked for varieties with good eating quality, texture, Brix and aftertaste. In conversations with seed breeders, Russell said his family would learn which varieties the breeders would take home to their families, and those became the foundation for the popular Kiss Melon offerings.
“How do we change the conversation with the consumers?” he said. “How do we bring the flavor-first mantra of our company to the consumer?”
From there, Russell said he and his family worked to perfect the growing practices to deliver a consistent eating experience for the consumer during a time when specialty melons weren’t a thing. Russell said Kiss Melons compete against other melons, but also against the ample choices a produce consumer could make in the store.
“If you’re asking a consumer to buy something, you need to deliver a product that rivals not just other melons but other commodities,” Russell said.
Russell said what else helped the Kiss Melons become recognizable and sought-after was that the Russell family would visit retailers that sold Kiss Melons so that shoppers could meet and connect with those growing the melons. Those consumers would email stores if Kiss Melons weren’t in stock and ask when the next season would begin. And that, Russell said, is hard to beat.
“We had created a relationship, a trust base with the consumer and now we have end consumers that are advocates,” he said.
Future goals
Zwillinger said there’s been an increase in demand for both Origami and other high-flavor melon varieties in the fresh-cut and value-added sector. Legend Produce adds Kiss Melon and Origami stickers to its fresh-cut produce to help build brand awareness, especially in high-end stores.
“That is really offering a seasonal treat, an ad for a particular variety,” he said. “We’ve seen a slow transition of melons being a bulk item to melons being a strong cut item.”
Zwillinger said he’s also noticed the continued interest in consumers of where their produce comes from.
“Consumers want to hear about how their produce went to market and being able to personalize and tell the story of that brand builds equity with the consumer,” he said.
Zwillinger said Legend Produce looks to add high-flavor watermelons, much like it did with Origami and Kiss Melons, in the future.
“Legend Produce is focused on bringing back those good eating melons and giving the consumer that high-quality eating experience,” he said.
