Fowler Farms is spreading the word on apples
Fowler Farms is spreading the word on apples
Eastern apples offer great taste and variety, now the key is to make sure that retailers and consumers throughout the country know about it.
That is the goal for officials at Fowler Farms, the Wolcott, NY-based operation that has made a strong name in the industry for its wide variety of eastern apples. As vice president of sales and marketing Michael Hacker said, the SEPC’s Southern Exposure show is a great place to spread the word.
“The SEPC show is one of my favorite shows of the year,” said Hacker, a seven-year veteran at Fowler Farms. “First, the setting is very intimate and welcoming. Everyone has the same 10-foot booth and that, combined with the way the show is operated, just creates a setting that allows for attendees to have more time to visit with us. That creates some more time for in-depth discussions about the apple category and, in the end, allows us to build stronger relationships with everyone.”
Because of the show’s location in Orlando, Hacker is hopeful that many retailers from the southeast region of the country will come by his booth to learn about eastern apples.
“We have always had a big commitment to quality and educating our customers on eastern varieties,” he said. “The fact is that a lot of people move away from the northeast to the southeast and they take their preferences for apples with them. It is very important that retailers in these areas understand the opportunity they have to increase their apple sales just by carrying product that many of their customers know from their previous homes. Our commitment is to quality and to educate them on their needs for eastern varieties. For example, we send more Macintosh apples to Florida than to any other state. It also allows them to sell something that other merchants do not have.”
Hacker noted that Fowler Farms’ strategy is pretty straight forward. “Our goal is to go down there and just display some pretty awesome fruit, that looks great, tastes great and offers our retail partners a lot of variety,” he said. “It is also vital that we share with them what we are doing on a daily basis to be sustainable and bring awesome quality food to the table.”
While Hacker said Fowler is not showing new products at the event, Fowler Farms is offering a promotable volume discount on its SweeTango variety to pump up demand of that product. “We think it might help sell more product because of the price increases on the HoneyCrisp variety,” he said. “So far, we have done pretty well promoting that.”
He also said that the company has created a new advertising campaign that touts the company’s longstanding commitment to fresh, family and flavor. “We are a sixth-generation family farm and that has always been a big part of how we go to market,” Hacker added. “On top of that, we have also always emphasized our commitment to putting the best-looking and tasting apple on the table so that we can increase consumption for the entire category. It is the only way to get people to eat more apples.”
Hacker noted that sales are going well at Fowler, especially with the company’s big emphasis on the HoneyCrisp and SweeTango varieties and some competitive advantages over west coast growers.
“We find that demand is up because growers in Washington had a shorter season, which means higher prices from them” he said. “That means we can be competitive on the east coast on freight costs and quality. Plus, we can reach 80 million Americans and 9.9 million Canadians within 400 miles of here. People still want high-quality apples year-round with awesome flavor and variety.”
