A berry explosion

America is caught in a berry-craze.

Strawberry production increased by 3 percent this year, according to the National Agriculture Statistics Service. Blueberries are ceaselessly praised for their taste and wide-ranging health benefits and their consumption has increased exponentially in youth demographics. Berries are quickly becoming in-demand necessities for groceries and restaurants.

Two companies are happily pushing the boundaries of the craze, one trying to market berries for the home gardener and the other trying to market a new, white berry.

Amy Daniel, marketing and brand manager for Fall Creek Nursery, says that consumer demand for blueberries has increased 300 percent over the last decade. That explosion in demand is part of why her company, which primarily pioneers genetics and fruit plants for growers, has begun pushing its BrazelBerries line.

That growth in demand is also why Pacific Plug & Liner started looking for new berries to bring to market. Their exploration led them to the white strawberry they call the Hula Berry.
 

Blazing the BrazelBerry Trail

Apartment and condo dwellers, for years, were unable to grow berries. The domiciles of choice for a hefty chunk of 20-somethings typically offer little in the way of open, green space and the best available growing area is usually a relatively tiny balcony and homeowners increasingly want simple plants that require minimum maintenance.

To reach this otherwise insulated market (as well as traditional homeowners), Fall Creek Nurseries began marketing their BrazelBerry offerings. “Over the last couple of decades our owners and breeders have been paying attention to some of these berry varieties with amazing ornamental qualities,” Daniel says. “They weren’t as well-suited for the fruit world because of the plants' smaller stature and they don’t produce the volume of fruit that more commercial varieties do. But we saw how the plants could be attractive and applicable to consumers in the home garden segment.”

They built both the plant line and the marketing around a concise, three-word mantra: Simple, Beautiful, and Delicious. Daniel says that the plants selected for BrazelBerries must possess all three of those qualities.

The BrazelBerry line-up currently consists of blueberry and raspberry plants, all of which can be pot-grown. Each plant that becomes an official BrazelBerry offering must be simple for growers to maintain. Fall Creek Nursery wants the plants to be self-fertilizing (eliminating the need for a cross-pollinator) and generally low-maintenance. Daniel says the plants must have impressive foliage. “You only have fruit for a limited period of time,” she says. “We wanted plants that were generally beautiful.”

Finally, despite not producing as much fruit as commercial varieties, the company still wanted to offer delicious fruiting plants.

The company believes that simplifying the growing process creates an attractive component to contemporary consumers; which is why Fall Creek wants the plants to be easy to produce. For example, Blueberry Glaze is an interspecific hybrid, mid-chill ornamental variety, with an estimated chilling requirement of 500 hours and cold hardiness limit of Zone 5.

The market for the BrazelBerries line was built around extensive research and a broad understanding of what consumers wanted. Because Fall Creek Nurseries does a good deal of work with the commercial fruit world, that partnership has given them a more expansive view of the industry.

“We are on top of trends and statistics that have to do with fruit consumption. Berries, for instance, are a very hot food right now. The press has talked so much about the health benefits of berries that consumer demand in grocery stores has grown exponentially,” Daniel says.

She says that one of the most intriguing growth areas has been the 18 to 24 year old demographic, or the tail end of Generation Y. Daniel says that her company has seen an upward trend in that group’s berry consumption. In fact, they’ve noted so much growth that 18 to 24 year olds are now outpacing their parents in berry consumption.

Having that statistical insight led Fall Creek to market the BrazelBerries program to 20-somethings in apartments.

“A lot of 20-somethings are starting their careers and don’t have time for a major garden project, nor do they have the space,” Daniel says. “They could have a plant or two in their apartment though. It’s a great way to entice younger people into gardening.”

Fall Creek offers retailers the chance to purchase a branded container and tag for use in-store.
 

Introducing the Hula

Pacific Plug & Liner is now offering the only white strawberry in the North American market. They call it the Hula Berry. April Herring, new product development and marketing manager for Pacific Plug & Liner, says the name is an attempt to capture a tropical aura (because of the hint of pineapple taste) and mix it with fun imagery that sticks in consumer minds.

The berry is not genetically modified but descends from Chilean berries. Pacific Plug & Liner worked with a European breeder to bring it to North America. The Hula Berry needs a pollinator plant to thrive and Herring recommends the Sonata, a traditional, large fruited, red strawberry variety. The company says that the best ratio for success is 3 to 1, Hula Berry to Sonata.

Herring says the Hula Berry is extremely easy for growers and will likely be an easy sell to consumers.

“The trickiest aspect of the Hula Berry is vernalization,” she says. “But we’re going to handle that by vernalizing them in a cooler. When the grower receives the liner, they’ll only need to pot the plant and in 55 to 60 days it will be flowering and ready to go to the store.”

The company has been working on the Hula Berry introduction for several years and the fruits of their labor (pun intended) will reach retail in late spring of 2015. Herring says the company will begin selling liners in week 6 (early February) and believes you should see the Hula Berry at retail in late March or early April.

The plants will be sold in sets of four, which will include three Hula Berry and one Sonata strawberry. Plants should be grown at temperatures of 50-55 Fahrenheit and then sent to retail.

Developing the marketing surrounding the Hula Berry was almost as long and thought-out a process as the selection and cultivation of the Hula Berry itself. Pacific Plug & Liner notes that the majority of shoppers in a retail environment are women, which is why the company developed its marketing concept around the color pink and a fun, memory-sticking name like Hula Berry. They then presented their marketing, along with some alternatives, to focus groups.

“We had several different logo styles and that was the one that (focus groups) honed in on. It stands out,” Herring says.

The company is also working on developing a retail story for the product, something that explains to consumers what they’re looking at and why they should buy it. Herring says that they want to stress that the Hula Berry is not genetically modified but rather the product of traditional breeding. They also want to explain the use of pollinators, like the Sonata, to consumers.

“We want it to be a fun learning experience,” she says.

To learn more about the Hula Berry, check out this video from California Spring Trials 2014! www.greenhousemag.com/Spring-Trials-2014-PPL.aspx