Ever-growing, expanding and evolving, Rice Fruit Co. in Gardners, PA, has made yet another milestone with its new controlled atmosphere storage facility.

John Rice, vice president, told The Produce News that the facility, which will be in operation this fall, will hold an additional 10 controlled atmosphere rooms.

David Rice, president and chief executive officer and Ben Rice, general manager of Rice Fruit Co., in front of its new controlled atmosphere facility that houses 10 CA rooms.“Added to our existing storage, we’ll have 41 rooms in all,” he explained. “We need this additional space to accommodate the four primary apple varieties that now represent between 80 and 90 percent of our growth — Honeycrisp, Gala, Fuji and ‘KIKU.’”

The new facility will bring Rice Fruit’s volume up to 2.5 million bushels annually.

“And it’s right here on site,” Rice stressed. “That makes us different among packing houses around the country. A lot of their apples are stored offsite. We believe that storing the apples right under our noses gives us the ability to watch them from the time they come in from the field to when they are packed and loaded on trucks to be shipped. We take a lot of pride and place conscientious attention to make sure we do a first-rate job from the tree to delivery.”

The North American license franchise for the “KIKU” was purchased by Columbia Marketing International in Washington. Applewood Orchards in Michigan, along with Rice Fruit Co. are sub-licensed to grow and market the apple.

Rice explained that because it is so guarded, the three companies work continually to ensure that the marketing and promotional efforts are unified and coordinated.    

“Other managed varieties have numerous growers producing fruit,” he said. “But with only three, our vested interest in getting the message out about this wonderful apple must be a total collaboration. That takes a tremendous amount of time and effort. But we’re seeing great results because demand for the ‘KIKU’ is growing tremendously and it’s getting strong recognition from retailers.”

He pointed out that there are numerous new club varieties on the market, all vying for shelf space. But he believes that only a few will become staples in produce departments in the future, the “KIKU” among them.

Very close to its facility, Rice Fruit recently laid out test demonstration orchard plantings of between 30 and 40 new apple varieties. Rice said these tests will determine the next club variety the company produces.

He pointed out the difference between the ever-growing in popularity Honeycrisp to the profile of the “KIKU.”

“The Honeycrisp probably has the most recognizable crunch and mouth feel, which is why I called it the ‘Wow’ factor,” he said. “But the ‘KIKU’ is the sweetest of all apples, and it has a very dense crunch.”

Rice said the company’s crop is in excellent condition this year. Plenty of sunshine and moisture during the growing season has reaped large size fruit.

“Large apples mean more bushels,” he said. “We expect to be at least 10 percent higher in volume than last year, and last year was great.”