Yes! Apples anticipates ‘beautiful’ apple crop

Yes! Apples works with seasoned, multi-generational growers across New York state to maintain surety of supply for its retail partners. The company has more than 100 years of experience in the industry, with Kaari Stannard at the helm as CEO for the last 25 years.

“Over the last few decades, apple varieties — and the number of varieties in the category — have evolved and we work with consumers and retailers to ensure that we’re growing the best-tasting varieties available,” Stannard said. “One of our main goals is to educate retail customers on varieties, nutrition, and ways to keep apples fresh.”

The Glenmont, NY-based company measures success in the category through its strong relationships with retail partners and buyers and their customers.

“As consumers recognize varieties and are loyal to the Yes! Apples brand at point-of-purchase, we see year-over-year growth,” Stannard said.  “In 2022, EverCrisp is viewed as a big opportunity for growth as Yes! Apples continues to educate customers about its fantastic flavor and hearty crunch. With Honeycrisp as one of the parent varieties, EverCrisp offers similar attributes as one of our customers’ favorite varieties. We also see growth in the popularity of Rave, SnapDragon, and SweeTango.”

 Honeycrisp is a fan-favorite all year round, and Yes! Apples works with growers across New York and exporters from Nova Scotia and New Zealand to deliver great-tasting Honeycrisp 12 months a year.

“We’re always working on new ways to reach consumers,” Stannard said. “We know consumers shop in a variety of ways, which is why we offer multiple options for them to buy Yes! Apples. Whether they’re buying our apples in person from one of our retail partners or ordering from our online shop, we want to meet consumers where they are.”

Things are looking great for the apple crop this year and that’s something that apple lovers should be excited about.

“We have a beautiful crop this year, thankfully,” Stannard said. “It’s a few percentage points greater than last year and meets the five-year average.”

Naturally, there have been some challenges. For one, there’s been massive inflation in the shipping lanes, so Yes! Apples has been leveraging its volume and consistency of shipping to help limit cost increases.

“It’s a difficult battle,” Stannard said. “Freight and supply chain issues may affect delivery time. Whatever we face, we’re committed to providing solutions regardless of the challenge and maintaining our diligence in being a reliable partner to all our retailers.”

This year, Yes! Apples is placing a heavy focus on fruit quality through the supply chain. This means increased effort in managing the growing season, harvest management, and storage management.

“We look at new technologies in all of these categories to help us predict our crop to provide more accurate estimates to our retailers,” Stannard said. “We’ve also been involved in many new managed varieties to help find the next best piece of fruit for the consumer. Our involvement ranges from small test plots to planting many new acres of a variety to bring to a large population of people.”

Yes! Apples focuses on sustainable practices from the farm to delivery to the customer. Examples include the reduction of water, reduced plastic packaging, and lowering its carbon footprint.
“We consider efficiencies to keep our costs as low as possible to continue to provide a high-quality piece of fruit and to pass along savings to our consumers,” Stannard said.