WENATCHEE, WA - Last week, Stemilt held its second annual food influencer event at its orchards and packing facilities. The experience brought together nine popular food bloggers to learn the Stemilt method of growing, harvesting, and packing apples and pears. Combined, the influencers reach nearly 3 million consumers monthly, have more than 375,000 Instagram followers, and equally impressive followings on other popular social media platforms.

“It’s always fun to share the Stemilt experience and our history of innovation with people, but this group in particular had an incredible energy and passion for food and fruit that made the trip very memorable,” said Brianna Shales, Communications Manager at Stemilt Growers, according to a press release. “This annual trip has become a great way for us to share our brand and passion for growing fruit, including new varieties, with a group of talented and influential bloggers that work every day to reach the consumers who buy our fruits.”

The two-day trip was held last week in Wenatchee, WA, and welcomed popular food bloggers and influencers including: Sheri Wetherell of Foodista, Molly Yeh of My Name is Yeh, and Stemilt’s own Stem blog Kitchen Council members, Sally Kuzemchak of Real Mom Nutrition, and Jennifer Farley of Savory Simple. During the trip, the group posted 46 times on social media using the hashtag #WorldFamousFruitFAM garnering approximately 2,871,426 social impressions.

In addition to experiencing early fall temperatures in the Wenatchee Valley, the group enjoyed local restaurants, attending a fruit-inspired dinner with Stemilt’s founding family, along with learning first-hand how Stemilt grows, packs, and markets its fruit and branded products through tours of apple and pear orchards and packing facilities.

Among the many highlights of the trip was teaching the bloggers how to properly pick a Honeycrisp apple and educating them on new, up-and-coming varieties and the great care that goes into growing, harvesting, and packing fruit.

“Millennials are often called the foodie generation, as they are passionate and excited about food, and particularly fresh produce. We’ve found that connecting and working with the bloggers and influencers that they follow and trust is a great way to inform and engage this important shopper group about our brands,” said Shales.

Stemilt has been working with food influencers for several years as a way to directly promote its brands with consumers. The company has a three-member Kitchen Council that regularly contributes original recipes and tips for its blog about all things fruit, The Stem, and works with additional bloggers throughout the year to increase consumer awareness of product lines like Lil Snappers® kid-sized fruits, Fresh Blenders™ apples for juicing and smoothies, and signature varieties like Piñata® apples and Skylar Rae® brand cherries on both food blogs and a variety of social media channels.

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Stemilt