AÂ new variety is about to hit the U.S. market that’s sure to become a fast staple in sweet apple lovers fruit bowls. The Kiku apple, a Fuji sport, is being introduced to the American marketplace by Columbia Marketing International (CMI).
Applewood Orchards Inc. in Deerfield, MI, received a sublicense to grow the Kiku this past April, joining Rice Fruit Co. in Gardners, PA, along with Columbia Fruit Packers Inc.
“We’ve had the apple here in test plantings, we’ve been watching it for the last several years, and we’re very impressed with it,” says Rice Fruit Company president John Rice. “It’s an apple I think will do very well in this particular area in terms of our climate and such.”
Rice says he’s always been successful with Fuji varieties, producing extremely sweet apples, and he was surprised to find the Kiku is even sweeter. “We think it won’t take very long for it to get established because it’s a type of apple that Americans are becoming increasingly attached to, Rice says. In our experience, the sweeter the apple, the better. This is probably the sweetest apple we’ve come across yet.”
Rice says he’s impressed with the Kiku’s coloration, too. It’s a striped variety, which he compares to a well-colored Gala.They’ve been attractively striped all around, he says.
CMI, which is marketing the variety, will also be enforcing strict quality standards for the Kiku. It will have to maintain a mostly red coloration and have a minimum sugar content, 16 brix, significantly higher than other apples.
The Marketing
CMI is developing the marketing plan for the Kiku, which is currently being marketed in Europe. The logo is colorful, featuring a distinctive blue color on the label and box. Much like they’ve done with the Pink Lady, we would adopt a universal logo for it, and the packaging would match that, and then it would be identifiable to consumers, Rice says.
Scott Swindeman, vice president of Applewood Orchards, which also will be growing the Kiku, says consumers have been expressing interest in Kiku for quite some time. Dr. Jurgen Braun and his brother Thomas have been promoting worldwide the apple their father Luis discovered in 1990, he says. A market owner here in Michigan contacted Kiku Europe long before the apple became available in the U.S. asking for information on the program.
CMI will promote Kiku’s initial release using the Fresh Apple Emotion campaign used in Europe, Swindeman says. As production increases in Washington State, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and possibly other states, the marketing effort will be led and coordinated by CMI, while incorporating the sales and marketing of Rice Fruit Co. and Applewood Orchards, Inc. This will be enhanced by a coordinated effort, again by CMI, to introduce southern hemisphere countries to supply nearly year-round Kiku.
Very few will see Kiku at retail this year, Swindeman adds. Columbia Fruit Packers, Inc. has the biggest Kiku production currently, and it will be a couple of years before Pennsylvania and Michigan will be producing it.
In markets unfamiliar with Kiku, we hope to provide an attractive package, exceptional eating experience, and a story behind the effort to sustain its horticulture, packaging, and marketing practices, Swindeman says.