The Fruit Growers News - January 2003


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Apples by Taste

Swiss marketing plan
introduces new varieties

By Greg Brown
Associate Editor

Consumers in two Swiss supermarkets needn’t remember apple variety names. They can select their apples by taste categories.

The Taste Group Concept was created by the Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL), based in Frick, Switzerland. The system was designed as a way for organic growers to market little-known scab resistant varieties in well-known flavor categories.

Previously, organic growers who invested in unknown varieties for their scab resistance faced a terrible hurdle when they attempted to market the fruit. At least one Swiss supermarket is now successfully marketing organic and conventionally grown fruit using the concept.

The Taste Group Concept has shown some early success in alleviating market pressure to produce only known varieties. The program was outlined by Franco Weibel, head of FiBL’s Department of Perennial Crops, who gave a presentation of the program at the Great Lakes Fruit, Vegetable and Farm Market Expo in Grand Rapids, Mich. in December.

“Despite the undisputed advantages of disease resistant cultivars for organic apple production, producers are faced with the problem that both retailers and consumers have limited knowledge of their eating, cooking and keeping qualities, not to mention the ecological advantages of these cultivars,” said Weibel.

Globalization and consolidation of supermarkets, too, has also limited the number of globally-traded cultivars, said Weibel. The market forces have made it increasingly difficult to successfully market a different variety. For organic growers, that is a problem. Since, current disease resistant cultivars are not on the short list of preferred varieties, growers are hesitant to invest.

The unique marketing system gives consumers three apple choices based on fruit flavor. In the FiBL system those flavors are called; equilibrated to sweet, spicy, slightly acidic and predominantly acidic. A consistently color-coded label designates each taste group. The whole system is meant to simplify cultivar information over the chain by grouping cultivars into archetypes and flavor groups, Weibel said.

The definition of archetype is based on flavor and appearance of well-known commercially important cultivars. For example, FiBL’s Golden archetype combines all yellow large, smooth-skinned, mild to sweet tasting cultivars. The flavor group called mild to sweet would include Golden Declicious, Jonagold and Idared.

FiBL’s Cox archetype and the Gravenstein archetypes are described as spicy and slightly acidic in flavor. Finally the cultivars in the Boskoop archetype would fit the predominantly acidic, spicy -flavor grouping.

For those consumers who are already cultivar educated, the cultivar name is stated at each level of the system, said Weibel. But the information on flavor is the predominant label.

“Despite the difficult conditions prevailing in the marketplace, new marketing concepts have to be devised for the disease-resistant varieties,” said Weibel. The researcher and counterparts at FiBL worked with Franziska Grab and Alfred Leder at Coop, a large retail grocery chain in Switzerland.

The concept was introduced as conceived by FiBL with Coop in 1996, Weibel said. Since then, the concept has met with success. An internal evaluation by the chain showed that the retailer considered the project successful and actually preferred to work with the Flavor Groups Concept in the organic apple segment.

In 2001, the chain transferred the concept over to its conventionally produced apple line. Weibel also noted that in 2002, Migros, the biggest chain in Switzerland, has also introduced the concept with two flavor groups (sweet and tart) rather than three.

“Our concept of consolidating and thus simplifying the variety complexity is to sort the cultivars in a few defined groups at the retail level,” said Weibel. The plan helps consumers overcome confusion resulting from the extensive and sometimes short-lived range of cultivars available, he said.

According to FiBL research, 76% of consumers found information on taste to be important to their buying decision. In the same poll customers ranked what they liked particularly well about the system. FiBL found that 77% ranked the presentation of the apples first and 59% liked the information on taste second.

There are advantages in the system for the whole apple chain, Weibel explained. The program works with little explanations for shop staff, informs consumers primarily on taste and simplifies variety information for retailers/sellers by dividing varieties into groups of similar taste, he said.

“The Taste Group Concept can reduce the importance of a single variety as long as quality is okay,” said Weibel. It also allows retailers to order by archetype rather than by variety.

Now growers can take the risk to plant unknown resistant varieties and can maximize sustainability.

Weibel ended his presentation with a quote from organic apple grower Christian Vogt, of Remigen, Switzerland. “Thanks to the Taste Group Concept we can sell unknown resistant varieties without problems to retail companies. Without the Taste Group Concept we couldn’t risk to plant them.”