Generations of households have loved the apple juice and applesauce created by Tree High Inc. However as instances and tastes change, the Selah-based firm is including laborious seltzer, protein and even pumpkin-flavored merchandise to its roster.
New merchandise and main modifications to its Prosser plant had been among the many objects Tree High President and CEO Craig Inexperienced shared with roughly 1,200 attendees on the Washington State Tree Fruit Affiliation’s annual assembly final week on the Yakima Conference Middle.
“Our core merchandise — apple juice, applesauce, (flavoring for) Pop-Tarts are nonetheless essential, however shopper preferences have modified,” Inexperienced mentioned. “We will probably be doing extra manufacturers.”
Inexperienced, who took over for retiring Tree High president and CEO Tom Hurson in August, listed seven elements in shopper preferences that the majority attendees “and positively not our moms” thought-about when shopping for meals:
- Low sugar
- Portability
- Clear label
- Protein
- Native sourcing
- Plant-based
- Purposeful advantages
A “clear label,” Inexperienced mentioned, means an inventory with fewer substances, and few if any unrecognizable ones. And practical advantages imply a meals that may function drugs or present different positives moreover nourishment.
Apples, after all, are excessive in sugar (though additionally excessive in fiber). They don’t have any protein. However that doesn’t imply apples, pears and different fruits can’t be a part of merchandise that meet shopper calls for, Inexperienced instructed the tree fruit conference.
“Client tendencies (low sugar, portability, objects excessive in protein) are driving our need to supply wholesome choices exterior of our common choices of apple juice and applesauce,” Inexperienced mentioned in an e-mail following up on his remarks. “We will do that through the use of apples and/or pears as major substances but in addition utilizing different fruit and veggies in addition to vegan and whey proteins.
“Apples and/or pears, when mixed with different fruit and veggies, lowers the pure sugar content material per serving. These wholesome merchandise will probably be minimally processed, moveable, have clear labels, and can use 100% pure substances,” he mentioned. “These are going to be the sorts of objects that pre-teens, teenagers and adults will all get pleasure from.”
One lately launched Tree High product Inexperienced identified is Fruit + Water, which is all-natural, accommodates 50% fruit juice and has no sugar added.
“Fruit + Water has been on cabinets for about eight months,” Inexperienced instructed the Herald-Republic. “It’s out there in single-serve pouches (with straw) in addition to a 64-ounce, multi-serve possibility. The present flavors are apple, berry, fruit punch, grape and tropical.
“Our Fruit + Water pouches have been nicely acquired by shoppers and demand continues to rise,” Inexperienced added.
Different new merchandise
Whereas Fruit + Water is just not an enormous departure from Tree High’s signature product, apple juice, just a few different new merchandise raised some eyebrows when talked about on the tree fruit conference.
Solar Smash Fruited Arduous Seltzer is Tree High’s reply to White Claw. The canned drinks are available 4 flavors: mango peach, pineapple passionfruit, prickly pear lime and black currant. A “Solar Smash Combine Pack” packages three cans of every taste collectively.
The product is offered within the alcoholic beverage part at Wray’s and different Central Washington shops, Inexperienced mentioned. It’s the solely laborious seltzer available on the market that makes use of actual fruit juice, as famous on the highest of the can.
Merchandise flavored with Tree High fruit puree vary from child and pet meals to yogurt, however North America’s largest single purchaser of apples is making room for pumpkin, too, Inexperienced instructed the conference.
Pumpkin flavoring aligns instantly with shopper tendencies, and can be utilized in quite a lot of merchandise for folks and their pets, he mentioned.
Lastly, Inexperienced mentioned 2022 will see the launch of one other new Tree High model, which he declined to call simply but.
“It’ll launch within the subsequent 12 months,” he mentioned, “and will probably be in a pouch — a fruit-based product with protein.”
Prosser plant to broaden
Inexperienced additionally talked about an upcoming change in its West Coast vegetation that had beforehand been introduced in July: Tree High is transferring its puree operations from Medford, Ore., to Prosser in 2023.
The transfer will improve processes at Tree High’s Prosser plant with state-of-the-art tools and place manufacturing nearer to the fruit sources, leading to extra manufacturing capability, the flexibility to attain altering buyer necessities, decreased transportation prices, and improved manufacturing efficiencies, firm officers introduced.
“This can enable Tree High to successfully compete globally with different producers. It’ll additionally enhance operational stability and create alternatives for development all through the corporate,” then-CEO Hurson mentioned in an organization assertion. “We consider this transfer is important to Tree High’s continued development and our capability to make high quality meals we’d proudly share with our family and friends.”
“Whereas Tree High is transferring operations from Medford to Prosser, the growers in Medford are a crucial a part of our plan at the moment and we are going to proceed to do enterprise with them,” Inexperienced mentioned final week.
Medford staff can have the choice to relocate to the Prosser plant or apply/relocate to any location inside the firm and proceed their roles with Tree High.
There are 100 staff on the Prosser plant and this transfer will add roughly 40 new positions in 2023.
Puree demand has elevated steadily over the previous few years, with many home puree prospects in search of U.S.-based suppliers resulting from meals security and provide chain advantages, the corporate famous in its assertion.
Tree High is a 700-member, grower-owned cooperative fashioned in 1960 in Selah. Using roughly 1,000 folks, the corporate produces premium high quality juices, fruit-based merchandise, and substances for shoppers and lots of the world’s main meals and beverage producers.