In recent years, the start of the new year has traditionally marked the launch of marketing for its flagship Rubis Gold apple at Devos Group. This year, however, volumes are already almost completely sold out. "This season is different from usual. We deliberately decided to start the Rubis Gold season a bit earlier. There was room in the market, which meant no need to take risks with longer storage in the fridges."
This meant the Rubis Gold season began as early as mid-October. "We had a production of around 550 tons this year, and we were very satisfied with the quality of the apples. Despite a challenging season in terms of quality across all apple varieties, we encountered no issues. The pack-out was better than in previous years, with a high percentage of Class I fruit," he explains. "Of course, it remains a learning process, but it's clear we are getting to know the apple better and better. The Rubis Gold has shown significant potential, even under difficult conditions. For us, there's now a big responsibility to refine the process and fully unlock that potential. As a company in this situation, you always have that responsibility, and for now, we are very pleased with our progress."
On the sales side, Louis is equally satisfied. "With our regular customers, we performed well again. Changing perceptions about such a yellow apple is challenging, but you can see people becoming more familiar with it. Its strengths remain its hard and dry texture, along with its fine and distinctive flavor, which really seems to please. We also benefited from a less saturated apple market this season, but I believe we've moved beyond that with this variety. The apple shelves are full as always, but there's still interest in offering the Rubis Gold in retail."
"We also ran some excellent promotions, which proved to be a great way to push the product forward. These went surprisingly well. In some weeks, we received double the anticipated orders. Naturally, things move quickly when you have a limited volume. We're now almost out of the good sizes. We're sorting the last ones, and we've set aside some outsize apples to actively establish new lines."
"All in all, we can call this a very successful season," he continues. "It's easy to deliver good news, but we are still working with relatively limited volumes. The key takeaway is that most people come back for the apple after tasting it. However, what happens when we scale up to much higher volumes? At that point, we'll need significant investment in publicity and marketing to make Rubis Gold more popular with the general public. Only then will we truly see if its popularity continues to grow."
This is where the company plans to take its next steps in the coming years. "The trees are getting older, of course. About 90 percent of the trees are now between one and three years old, but as they mature, production will increase. We've already expanded steadily in recent years, and next season we hope to harvest 1,000 tons. Ultimately, the dream is to offer Rubis Gold year-round, but we'll achieve that step by step. As mentioned, it's a process, and we aim to proceed responsibly and stably over the coming years. For now, we still see tremendous potential."
For more information:
Louis De Cleene
Devos Group
Eugeen Coolsstraat 66
3460 Bekkevoort - Belgium
Tel: +32 473 21 58 76
[email protected]
www.devosgroup.com