For apples, the Next Big Thing is here
For apples, the Next Big Thing is here
With members in five time zones, "Next Big Thing," a growers' cooperative, was formed at the end of July. The apple cooperative headquarters is in Lake City, MN.
The chairman of the new co-op, which operates with the abbreviation N.B.T., is Dennis Courtier, who is also the owner and chief executive officer of Pepin Heights Orchards Inc. in Lake City, MN.
N.B.T. has 45 grower-members from Nova Scotia to Wenatchee, WA. The cooperative will focus on developing and marketing new managed apple varieties, starting with a new, unnamed variety from the University of Minnesota. The members will funnel their fruit through five packinghouses and operate with a common production and marketing strategy. It will have one national brand.
"The key is you have to nail the quality," Mr. Courtier said. "Growers refer to 'club varieties.' They think there is some magic in controlling the quantity. You have advantages there, but like most easy answers, that one is wrong. The key is quality - to see that the consumer gets what the consumer wants, which is a great-eating piece of fruit."
Mr. Courtier explained the background, that led to the founding of the cooperative: "Minnesota is not exactly the epicenter of the North American apple industry. We are a relatively minor producer. So, rather than compete toe-to-toe on a commodity, we have pursued the 'Ben and Jerry's' [premium ice cream] approach to apples." This, he said, involves "apples of unusually high culinary quality. They are not necessarily durable and have to be handled accordingly and sold to a retail base that understands this."
He continued, "We grow for people who really like apples. Our customers are not big-box stores. But in every major metropolitan area there are 10- to 20- store chains that are real 'foodies'. They delight in bringing their customer apples that help them stand out. That is what we do. We've been doing that in complete obscurity for a few years."
To serve this premium audience, Mr. Courtier said that he travels the world looking for special apple varieties, "then along comes Honey Crisp," which was bred at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
"What are the odds something like that would be developed in our own backyard?" he said. "Honey Crisp changed the rules of engagement and we learned a lot of things from Honey Crisp. It sells at a far greater price point. If you have the right quality, people are willing to pay for it. People aren't stupid. It has to be the right quality."
Then the University of Minnesota developed another new premium variety. It is a cross between a Honey Crisp and a Zestar, and it has no name for now other than MN1914. Mr. Courtier said this "may in fact be the best-tasting apple I ever had in my life. It has the texture qualities of Honey Crisp but more flavor complexity."
Pepin Heights Orchards persuaded Minnesota apple breeders that the university, which needs cash, would better benefit financially by putting the sale of the MN1914 up for bid. "Secondarily, it is also better for the apple industry as a whole to do a new variety as a managed variety," Mr. Courtier said.
The university bought the logic of putting MN1914 on the commercial-bid market. Pepin Heights eventually won the request for proposal for the variety. "The university wanted the right partner" to emerge from national and international bids to manage the new variety.
"We did this, all the time not knowing what other growers would be crazy enough to come along with us on this adventure," which he said has "new and additional risks" because the variety has not been commercially produced and is therefore largely an unknown. "New varieties do not come with owners' manuals." But, he added, "If you do it right, the rewards are better; you can expand the profitability of the life cycle [of the variety]. The consumer won't pay for something that is not worth the money. If you do all else right, you have a chance at controlling the quality."
Mr. Courtier said that Pepin Heights "has been fairly actively involved in industry affairs over the years, and we have our relationships. As this proceeded forward, we tried to avoid being a co-op. What we had in mind was a joint venture among a group of growers" that would focus on new- product development and new-variety marketing.
Appropriate industry contacts were invited to visit Minnesota to discuss participation in managing this new variety and, just as important, varieties to come.
A cooperative proved to be the best approach, Mr. Courtier said, and the Next Big Thing was formed.
He noted that there is no hurry to find a marketing name for the MN1914 because there will not be commercial production for years. "The lead times are really long. We just placed orders for trees to plant in 2008. It is a ways out before we have any fruit to sell." The first commercial plantings will come in 2007, but more trees will be available for 2008 and 2009 planting.
Mr. Courtier emphasized that the strategy and purpose of the cooperative is not about one variety. "We fully intend to be a variety developer's first call if there is something great and new. We expect a series of varieties" to be developed over time. "For managed varieties to work, it has to be a truly differentiated product. At end of day, the consumer decides."
He noted that the 45 N.B.T. members are "very much focused. There is the right geography and there are the right personalities. These are top-notch growers." The five-member packinghouses have the requisite control to "nail quality. You have to do that; if you're going to be a brand, you have to nail it."
There will be limits on volume of plantings in the first phase of planting MN1914. "This is a test market. I have been wrong lots of times, but it's easier to plant more than rip them out. We have in place an allocation. Not necessarily will every grower have the same number of trees. I have very good friends who are a part of this; and people whose opinions I have high confidence in to make decisions collectively."
Mr. Courtier said that the cooperative "is a lot of fun. But beginnings are always fun. I try to caution folks this is not 'Honey Crisp version 2.0.' There is a lot we don't know yet. There is 'measure twice and cut once' stuff we have to do as we go forward."
Mr. Courtier said that the national apple industry "really does need a shot in the arm. Growers are really suffering. The reality is, at the end of the day, the returns to produce fruit are not what they need to be. Anything we can do to give growers the opportunity to do that is what we're all about."
Mr. Courtier said that Lake City is on a natural lake, Lake Pepin, formed by the Mississippi River. This lake, one-and-a-half hours downstream from Minneapolis, is four miles across and 20 miles long. The Pepin Heights orchards are on bluffs 500 feet above the lake.
Mr. Courtier said that the location near Minneapolis has proven to be "tremendously helpful" for Pepin Heights. He noted that many national and international food companies, including General Mills, Cargill, Supervalu and International Multi-Foods, are headquartered in Minneapolis.
"You don't find that all over the place," he observed. These companies have proved to be creative sources of information for the apple company.
The chairman of the new co-op, which operates with the abbreviation N.B.T., is Dennis Courtier, who is also the owner and chief executive officer of Pepin Heights Orchards Inc. in Lake City, MN.
N.B.T. has 45 grower-members from Nova Scotia to Wenatchee, WA. The cooperative will focus on developing and marketing new managed apple varieties, starting with a new, unnamed variety from the University of Minnesota. The members will funnel their fruit through five packinghouses and operate with a common production and marketing strategy. It will have one national brand.
"The key is you have to nail the quality," Mr. Courtier said. "Growers refer to 'club varieties.' They think there is some magic in controlling the quantity. You have advantages there, but like most easy answers, that one is wrong. The key is quality - to see that the consumer gets what the consumer wants, which is a great-eating piece of fruit."
Mr. Courtier explained the background, that led to the founding of the cooperative: "Minnesota is not exactly the epicenter of the North American apple industry. We are a relatively minor producer. So, rather than compete toe-to-toe on a commodity, we have pursued the 'Ben and Jerry's' [premium ice cream] approach to apples." This, he said, involves "apples of unusually high culinary quality. They are not necessarily durable and have to be handled accordingly and sold to a retail base that understands this."
He continued, "We grow for people who really like apples. Our customers are not big-box stores. But in every major metropolitan area there are 10- to 20- store chains that are real 'foodies'. They delight in bringing their customer apples that help them stand out. That is what we do. We've been doing that in complete obscurity for a few years."
To serve this premium audience, Mr. Courtier said that he travels the world looking for special apple varieties, "then along comes Honey Crisp," which was bred at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.
"What are the odds something like that would be developed in our own backyard?" he said. "Honey Crisp changed the rules of engagement and we learned a lot of things from Honey Crisp. It sells at a far greater price point. If you have the right quality, people are willing to pay for it. People aren't stupid. It has to be the right quality."
Then the University of Minnesota developed another new premium variety. It is a cross between a Honey Crisp and a Zestar, and it has no name for now other than MN1914. Mr. Courtier said this "may in fact be the best-tasting apple I ever had in my life. It has the texture qualities of Honey Crisp but more flavor complexity."
Pepin Heights Orchards persuaded Minnesota apple breeders that the university, which needs cash, would better benefit financially by putting the sale of the MN1914 up for bid. "Secondarily, it is also better for the apple industry as a whole to do a new variety as a managed variety," Mr. Courtier said.
The university bought the logic of putting MN1914 on the commercial-bid market. Pepin Heights eventually won the request for proposal for the variety. "The university wanted the right partner" to emerge from national and international bids to manage the new variety.
"We did this, all the time not knowing what other growers would be crazy enough to come along with us on this adventure," which he said has "new and additional risks" because the variety has not been commercially produced and is therefore largely an unknown. "New varieties do not come with owners' manuals." But, he added, "If you do it right, the rewards are better; you can expand the profitability of the life cycle [of the variety]. The consumer won't pay for something that is not worth the money. If you do all else right, you have a chance at controlling the quality."
Mr. Courtier said that Pepin Heights "has been fairly actively involved in industry affairs over the years, and we have our relationships. As this proceeded forward, we tried to avoid being a co-op. What we had in mind was a joint venture among a group of growers" that would focus on new- product development and new-variety marketing.
Appropriate industry contacts were invited to visit Minnesota to discuss participation in managing this new variety and, just as important, varieties to come.
A cooperative proved to be the best approach, Mr. Courtier said, and the Next Big Thing was formed.
He noted that there is no hurry to find a marketing name for the MN1914 because there will not be commercial production for years. "The lead times are really long. We just placed orders for trees to plant in 2008. It is a ways out before we have any fruit to sell." The first commercial plantings will come in 2007, but more trees will be available for 2008 and 2009 planting.
Mr. Courtier emphasized that the strategy and purpose of the cooperative is not about one variety. "We fully intend to be a variety developer's first call if there is something great and new. We expect a series of varieties" to be developed over time. "For managed varieties to work, it has to be a truly differentiated product. At end of day, the consumer decides."
He noted that the 45 N.B.T. members are "very much focused. There is the right geography and there are the right personalities. These are top-notch growers." The five-member packinghouses have the requisite control to "nail quality. You have to do that; if you're going to be a brand, you have to nail it."
There will be limits on volume of plantings in the first phase of planting MN1914. "This is a test market. I have been wrong lots of times, but it's easier to plant more than rip them out. We have in place an allocation. Not necessarily will every grower have the same number of trees. I have very good friends who are a part of this; and people whose opinions I have high confidence in to make decisions collectively."
Mr. Courtier said that the cooperative "is a lot of fun. But beginnings are always fun. I try to caution folks this is not 'Honey Crisp version 2.0.' There is a lot we don't know yet. There is 'measure twice and cut once' stuff we have to do as we go forward."
Mr. Courtier said that the national apple industry "really does need a shot in the arm. Growers are really suffering. The reality is, at the end of the day, the returns to produce fruit are not what they need to be. Anything we can do to give growers the opportunity to do that is what we're all about."
Mr. Courtier said that Lake City is on a natural lake, Lake Pepin, formed by the Mississippi River. This lake, one-and-a-half hours downstream from Minneapolis, is four miles across and 20 miles long. The Pepin Heights orchards are on bluffs 500 feet above the lake.
Mr. Courtier said that the location near Minneapolis has proven to be "tremendously helpful" for Pepin Heights. He noted that many national and international food companies, including General Mills, Cargill, Supervalu and International Multi-Foods, are headquartered in Minneapolis.
"You don't find that all over the place," he observed. These companies have proved to be creative sources of information for the apple company.
