WENATCHEE, WA - With the Food Marketing Institute’s (FMI) recent “Power of Produce” shopper study finding fresh fruits as an important ingredient for millennials in their juice and smoothie blends, Stemilt’s Fresh Blenders™ 5-pound grab-and-go pouch bags could be just the right product to promote.

The FMI study found that of the 1,458 U.S. consumers asked over the past two years, 27% of consumers are buying more produce specifically for juicing. Consumers with young children are fueling the juicing and smoothie trend in order to ensure the entire family gets more servings of fresh fruits each day, while women in their 30s and specialty and organic shoppers are also participating in making juice and smoothies at home.

Apples are a natural starter ingredient for juice and smoothie blends, Stemilt’s Marketing Director Roger Pepperl explains. They add frothiness, valuable nutrients like fiber and vitamin C, and natural sugars to add sweetness to any drink.

“Not only did the FMI study find that people are buying more fruits with juicing/smoothies in mind, but also that 1 in 3 consumers use fruits and vegetables for juicing and making smoothies,” continued Pepperl. “Our Fresh Blenders™ pouch bags offer a unique product to help retailers appeal directly to this consumer. They sell intent to the shopper by clearly stating what the apples inside are for.”   

Featured in a 5-pound resealable bag, Fresh Blenders™ value grade apples come in both sweet or tart flavors with multiple varieties for each. Long and narrow, the package is designed to stand up vertically for easy display at retail and in the refrigerator at home. 

Varieties available for sweet packages are: 

• Gala
• Fuji
• Red Delicious
• Golden Delicious

Varieties available for tart packages are: 

• Braeburn
• Granny Smith
• Pink Lady® apples

“Fresh Blenders™ is a bright and fun pack that ships in a self-stacking display-ready carton for building a quick display at retail,” said Pepperl. “It’s an ideal package for refrigerated endcap displays or in building a juicing/smoothie destination in produce to promote alongside other popular ingredients for blends. The best part about Fresh Blenders™ is that it’s a pack that offers convenience at a value price to one of the best produce purchasing consumer groups.”

The fruit inside each bag of Fresh Blenders™ is ideal for blends, according to a press release, as color percentages and shape do not matter when making a juice or smoothie recipe like they do when eating the apple fresh. The 5-pound bag can make a week’s worth of juice or smoothies for most consumers, Pepperl added.

On the back of every bag is a Stemilt recipe that fits the flavor profile of the fruit inside. The front of the bag features the Mathison family, who own and operate Stemilt, in order to help tie the fruit back to the family farm it came from.

“Fresh Blenders™ is an ideal product to capture sales with the health-conscious millennial crowd of shoppers as they continue to develop purchasing habits in the produce department,” said Pepperl. “It’s important for retailers to appeal to this crowd, and Fresh Blenders™ is a great value pack to do just that.”

Stemilt will feature Fresh Blenders™ apples at booth #2453, at PMA Fresh Summit this month in Atlanta. For more information about Fresh Blenders, click here or contact your Stemilt representative.  

Stemilt