Seen and heard at Fruit Logistica 2025 — Part 2

BERLIN — Organizers of Fruit Logistica 2025 say the global fruit and vegetable trade show drew more than 91,000 people from across the world. The event, which took place Feb. 5-7, also featured an array of out-of-this-world fresh produce, including some exciting offerings in grapes and berries.

Aiming to create more value for the grape category, Bloom Fresh shared its initiative to develop a consistent brand for Cotton Candy grapes globally.

“Cotton Candy is the most well-known grape brand in the U.S., with 40% brand recognition,” said Bloom Fresh Chief Marketing Officer Fiachra Moloney. “But the brand looks different every time you buy it.”

Bloom Fresh, the fruit breeding company behind the patented Cotton Candy grape variety, has allowed growers to package the grapes in their own branded packaging for the last 20 years the grape has been in the marketplace.

But Moloney sees significant growth potential in the U.S. through the creation of a consistent and unified brand.

“We're convincing growers that there's more value together than alone. The brand is bigger than the sum of its parts,” said Moloney. “We're also showing them we're willing to invest in the brand with our first consumer-facing initiative as a breeder.”

What's the next hot grape variety? Moloney said expect to see more Candy Hearts and a new Mojito Fresh grape that launched in Spain last summer. While Candy Hearts are already in the market, Mojito Fresh grapes are three to five years from scaling and hitting U.S. retail shelves, he said.

The global breeders at Hortifrut Genetics say a competitive marketplace ensures berries just keep getting better.

Take the Sekoya blueberry for example, said Carlos Bonilla, global genetics product development director. “Crunchiness is one of its key traits and that firmness and crunch needs to be at the same level every time” to meet demand from increasingly discerning consumers and retailers. “More and more U.S. retailers are asking for high-quality berries,” he said.

As a result, Hortifruit's breeding program has become “extremely selective.”

“There's no future for a commodity berry,” Bonilla said. Where he sees a bright future in the berry category is with new innovations like the Naturall blueberries on the vine Hortifrut featured at Fruit Logistica.

“These blueberries on the vine are fresher and last longer,” said Bonilla. “You have to innovate to increase consumption.”

Hortifrut Genetics' blueberries on the vine are also sustainably grown, said Bonilla. The variety requires half the water to grow compared with "typical" blueberries. To help convey the sustainable message, the blueberries on the vine are packaged in a 100% recyclable carton.

As to when the blueberries on the vine will be available in the U.S., Hortifrut's Stephanie Giorgi said the “U.S. is still deciding.”

Ignacio Caballero, director of marketing for Frutas de Chile, sees tremendous growth potential in the U.S. for fruits including blueberries, kiwifruit, stone fruits, cherries and, especially, grapes.

“The U.S. is a very important market. We're partnering to increase consumption of fruit in the U.S. and to position fruit as a healthy snack and addition to a meal in all day parts,” he said. “Partnering with retailers is vital. Our U.S. office meets with retailers every week.”

The need to drive consumption of grapes is particularly important, said Caballero, who notes global grape supplies are outpacing consumption.

“Every season there's more supply than demand,” he said. “We can't sustain this.”

Frutas de Chile is now looking to take a page from the avocado and blueberry playbooks — two examples of fruits that have benefited from heavy investment in promotional campaigns.

“Grapes don't have a global association like the Hass Avocado Board or the Mango Board," he said. "We're late [with grapes], but the opportunity is terrific.”

Caballero hinted at a global grape campaign, the details of which will be announced in March.

San Lucar showcased its new blueberry campaign featuring the Smurfs on packages of its Sekoya blueberries.

“The Smurfs campaign is something special. It's a huge fit to have blue Smurfs associated with premium blueberries,” said San Lucar CEO Armin Rehberg. It's also a huge opportunity to engage younger consumers with fresh fruit.

San Lucar started importing to the U.S. with strawberries at Walmart stores two years ago.

“Now we're delivering a lot more strawberries before the California season begins,” said Rehberg.

More recently, San Lucar began working with H-E-B in the U.S. “Our brand fits well there,” Rehberg said.

Your next read: Seen and heard at Fruit Logistica 2025 — Part 1