WENATCHEE, WA - Just because Fourth of July has passed doesn’t mean your sales need to dwindle. One tip Stemilt Growers has to keep your cherry sales strong throughout the summer is to provide your consumers with big, sweet, Kyle’s Pick™ premium cherries. Beginning the second week of July, Stemilt brands its highest quality cherries with the best flavors, largest sizes, and immense firmness under the Kyle’s Pick label. 

“July will be a big month with promotable cherry volumes, and can be made even bigger with Kyle’s Pick cherries,” said Marketing Director Roger Pepperl. “Kyle’s Pick is a premium cherry program where we reserve the best varieties, largest sized fruit, and dessert flavors for specially marked packs to leverage impulse sales during this important promotion time.”

Sometimes referred to as the cherry king by the Stemilt team, Kyle Mathison is a fourth generation grower who is constantly on the search for the best varieties from around the world. The Kyle’s Pick program offers Skeena, a Canadian variety with big sizes, extreme firmness, and an explosive flavor, as well as Sweetheart and Bing varieties.

“Cherries are primarily an impulse buy,” continued Pepperl. “Retailers need to supply big and beautiful looking cherries that capture the attention of the consumer.” Pepperl recommended that retailers promote Kyle’s Pick cherries through large displays in areas of heavy traffic that will increase impulse purchases. Pop-up display bins can be used to build large displays, or even as  a secondary display location.

Another key way to connect with shoppers is to share the story and flavor behind Kyle’s passion, according to a press release. As explained in a recent survey cited by Stemilt, nearly 60% of consumers said that they did not know enough about their food and that it is difficult to find out information about how food is grown, processed, transported and sold. For Stemilt, transparency is a hallmark of its program. 

“We want retailers to share as much information about our products as possible and Kyle’s Pick is a great program to start with. Kyle has embarked upon this incredible journey to produce high-quality, flavorful, and big-sized cherries. Each cherry that enters into a Kyle’s Pick bag has the quality standards approved by Kyle himself, truly making these cherries, Kyle’s Pick,” Pepperl added. 

Along with flavor and commitment, Kyle also brings to the company a high-quality, natural compost from regenerating green waste from Stemilt orchards and packing facilities. “Kyle’s works hard to deliver the best quality cherries possible. His ‘prescription food’ aka his compost is all-natural and a great source of nourishment that allow his trees to flourish, especially when combined with the volcanic soils,” states Pepperl. “Clearly, his tactics are working, because his cherries are the biggest and best.”

Stemilt will be harvesting and packing Kyle’s Pick cherries in both pouch bags and clamshells through mid-August, when the company transitions to its high-elevation locales and A Half Mile Closer to the Moon cherry program. This cherry season comes with more selling weeks that last due to a lack of compression among varieties and growing districts, so Stemilt noted the importance of getting retailers on board to plan promotions for cherries all July and well into August.  

“Retailers who build momentum with Kyle’s Pick in July and then follow up with Moon cherry promotions in August will see great cherry category results, which is vital given that these seasonal fruits contribute 3.5 percent of total produce dollars all year,” finished Pepperl.

Want to learn more about the Kyle’s Pick cherry program? Visit Stemilt’s dedicated landing page here, and stay tuned from more updates from your friends at AndNowUKnow.

Stemilt Growers