Sun Pacific gears up for California mandarins, kiwifruit

Howard Nager, vice president of business development for Sun Pacific, Pasadena, Calif. holds packages of Mighties kiwifruit and a potentially new brand for Sun Pacific, Sunnies grapes.

NEW ORLEANS — Flexing its brand muscle, Sun Pacific is gearing up for big volume of Cuties brand mandarins in November and the company’s surging Mighties kiwifruit also coming into seasonal availability.

The company harvests 40,000 acres of fruit in California, a far cry from 1969 when the company’s founder and CEO Berne Evans began the company with 72 acres of oranges, said Howard Nager, vice president of business development for Sun Pacific, Pasadena, Calif.,

The company is the largest independent navel grower and commands a leadership position in mandarin marketing, Nager said.

“Certainly the Cuties being the first mandarin brand out there, it is pretty special to see a three-year old hold up a mandarin and say it is a Cuties, no matter what sticker is on it,” he said Oct. 20 during the Produce Marketing Association’s Fresh Summit show.

Combined domestic and imported volume of Cuties is near 70 million packages, with volume as high as 3 million packages a week during peak shipping, Nager said.

Cuties ship year-round starting in California the first week in November and going through April. Chilean imports begin in April and continue to mid- to late October.

“The week of Thanksgiving is when most of the stores will go on promotions,” Nager said, noting that Sun Pacific offers holiday packaging for Cuties and Mighties.

Sun Pacific has a marketing program with iHeart Media, and celebrities Ryan Seacrest, Mario Lopez and Bobby Bones will be doing commercials for Cuties on the 150-station network, and outdoor advertising is planned in dozen markets, Nager said.

The signature event for the iHeart Media is the Jingle Ball, a series of concerts from Nov 28 to Dec. 18 in 12 markets. Artists for the concerts include Taylor Swift, Demi Lovato and Ed Sheeran.

“They definitely hit a teen, tween and millennial type market and we are doing a bunch of public relations at different around (the concerts) to support Cuties,” Nager said.

Kiwifruit rise

The Mighties label for Sun Pacific kiwifruit has been a big success, the said.

“The whole kiwi category is garnering more and more attention from retailers,” he said. Branding efforts and Sun Pacific’s focus on preconditioning and ripening the fruit is paying dividends, Nager said.

“While it is not huge volume for a retailer right now, they are finding they can increase sales with very little effort,” Nager said.

“We are doing a really good job of not only branding but education.”

Sun Pacific Mighties account for about 50% of California kiwifruit volume, and growing, he said. 

California Mighties volume starts in early in October and goes through May, followed by import volume from Chile through about September.

The company is considering a “Sunnies” brand for grapes. Positive feedback on the concept could lead to a new grape brand next season, he said. “It all depends on customer feedback,” he said. 

The company is increasing organic production of all its offerings, Nager said.

This season, cara cara navels have been added. Sun Pacific is marketing the Vintage Sweet navels, which are grown on 100 year-old trees and boast outstanding sweetness in January and February compared to other navels.