With the longest cherry season of all grower-shippers in the U.S., Stemilt Growers expects the fruit to continue its "big impact" on produce departments, particularly in the late spring months and throughout the summer.

Photo: Derek Carlson

In a release, the company highlighted its extended season duration was due to an early cherry program from California and high-altitude orchards in Washington State that allow for harvests in late August.

The group is trending about 10 days earlier than normal in both these states with most of the California cherries set to be shipped this month, while Washington harvests will start in late May and produce large volumes in June; the latter will be right on cue for the key 4th of July promotion timeframe.

"California is up in volume considerably over 2014, yet still about half of a crop. We’ll have two peaks there, the first running from 5/7 through the middle of the month, and then our second peak with classic, high-quality Bing cherries will begin on May 18th and run through the end of May," marketing director Roger Pepperl said in the release.

He noted the importance of promoting California cherries for the Memorial Day holiday, to be celebrated on May 25 in 2015, with fruit quality expected to be very strong this campaign. The majority of Stemilt's California cherries are packed using state-of-the-art electronic sizing and sorting equipment, which provides consistency in every box and ensures a great consumer eating experience.

"Retailers will enjoy a nice transition from California to Washington this year, and large volumes of cherries in June from Washington," Pepperl said.

Pepper recommended promoting dark-sweet and organic dark-sweet cherries during the two weeks leading up to July 4, mentioning that Rainer cherry promotions should come the week before the holiday and especially on July 11, which is National Rainier Cherry Day.

"With good volumes and great quality, the 2015 cherry season has lots of potential at retail," Pepperl said.

"We're excited that our season is underway and look forward to delivering lots of great-tasting Stemilt cherries now through mid-August."

The grower-shipper has also prepared an infographic called the 'Stemilt-O-Graphic', which retailers can use to analyze the past two cherry seasons to make the most the 2015 crop.

On average, cherries contributed 3.2% of total dollars to the produce department in 2014, down from 3.5% the year prior. This is due to a reduced crop out of California in 2014.

Average weekly volume was up in 2014 at 544 lbs. per store per week.  Cherries contributed $70 less per week on average in 2014 than in 2013, which was likely a result of a larger crop in Washington State and lower retail prices.

As expected, dark-sweet cherries dominated the category in 2014 with 94% of pounds sold and an average per pound retail of $2.98. The considerably smaller volume yet premium priced Rainier cherries made up 6% of sales with an average retail price of $4.70 per pound.

"Though every cherry season is unique because of crop sizes, FOB’s, and retail pricing, the Stemilt-O-Graphic look back at the past two season reiterates the importance cherries have on a healthy produce department in the summer," Pepperl said.

"They are an impulse item that drives a lot of dollars to the department and store. 2015 is shaping up to be early with great volumes, leading to lots of opportunities to promote Stemilt cherries at retail from now through August."

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