WENATCHEE, WA - With the California and Washington cherry seasons kicking off early this year, Stemilt Growers is ramping up the company’s cherry program with new elements to its portfolio and plans for upcoming promotional opportunities.
“In California, Stemilt has some of the most beautiful Brooks variety cherries as some of our first fruit. This variety is known for having low acids, which bring out the sugar when eaten. They are picked with nice color and have great size,” Roger Pepperl, Marketing Director, tells me.
When I ask Roger what’s new? He has plenty to tell me.
One of the newest varieties to the Stemilt’s California cherry program is the Royal Hazel, a cherry with a great eating quality and consistency that buyers can plan to see more of in the future.
“In addition, we have a new variety to our Washington program, which buyers will be hearing much more about in the future. The Skylar Rae® cherry, which is a Stemilt exclusive, presents a yellow cherry with heavy blush. Skylar Rae® is the firmest and crunchiest cherry we grow,” Roger says. “A lot of new acreage is going into Skylar Rae as we speak.”
Skylar Rae® is known for sugars that range from 23 brix and higher on the average. Roger tells me that this is the sweetest cherry you will eat and is the first cherry since dark sweet and yellow cherries to have its own PLU number. This is the third sku to the cherry category.
“What a breakthrough. We will have limited numbers of this new cherry from June 7th to July 10th this year with the crop expanding the next 5 years and beyond,” he says.
Stemilt will also have good volumes of the Coral variety which is a great eating cherry as well, and does well in areas that are too hot for Bings to grow in. The company will also have good volumes of the Bing variety.
In Washington, Stemilt has Sequoia and Chelan in its early selections. In the late selections Stemilt has two varieties that the company has exclusive licenses for in the U.S. called Staccato and Sentennial which are the two latest bloom-to-harvest cherries that the company grows at extremely high elevations. The company is also planting a sizable amount of Skeena cherries in the famous Stemilt Hill district to continue to give the consumer a great eating experience during the Kyle’s Pick program.
Stemilt also has a large amount of Rainier Cherries, which are custom packed on dedicated Rainier cherry lines. Stemilt now has 3 optical sizing lines in California and Washington making them one of the most up-to-date packers in the country when it comes to technology.
So, what sets Stemilt apart from its competitors?
“We have the longest availability from the early crop in California to the last to pick in Washington. Our cherry program has some great components to it like the Kyle’s Pick program that starts right after July 4th and features 10-row cherries of only the best varieties,” Roger tells me.
To qualify for the Kyle’s Pick program, cherries must be firm with high sugars to make the designation that Kyle Mathison endorses.
“We are also famous for our “Half a Mile Closer to the Moon” program in August, which are select orchards that are above a half of a mile above sea level and are cherished for their dessert qualities and flavor,” he continues. Many of these cherries are from the famous Amigos orchard that Kyle Mathison and his family own and nurture.
Stemilt is also known for its post-harvest cooling program. Stemilt has a famous program of mobile hydro coolers that they have in place in select locations among its growing regions to ensure that cherries are cooled within an hour of harvest in most cases.
“Then we hydro cool again at the plant and have a Jet-Cool program for packed boxes which rapidly pull down temperatures before loading. All this attention to detail delivers the best consumer experience,” Roger says.
This year the best times to promote are the week before Memorial Day and even the full 10 days prior. Also, two weeks prior to July 4th on Dark Sweet and Organic Dark Sweets is a great time to advertise. Rainier Cherries should be advertised the week before July 4th and the week after July 4th. Kyles Pick programs for Dark Sweets for the 3 weeks after July 4th and the Half Mile Closer to the Moon program for Dark Sweets can be advertised the first two weeks of August this year. Stay tuned as we follow Stemilt through its Northwest cherry program.
