Unique healthy apple snacks to be produced in new Ontario processing facility.
Martin’s Family Fruit Farm of Waterloo, Ontario has grown to become one of the larger growers, packers, and shippers of apples in Canada over the past 40 years. They grow their own apples and also work with about 40 other growers in southwestern Ontario to market apples. Martin’s Family Fruit Farm takes pride in using the latest technology in farm management, packing and storage to provide top-quality fresh apples to the market.
“We grow over 750 acres of apples on our farm and have our own storage facility and packaging plant on site,” explains Kevin Martin, President. “Our main business is packing fresh apples and selling to major retailers in Ontario. Over the years we have done some exporting, but by far the majority of our business is in the domestic market.” Martin’s Family Fruit Farm also has an on-farm retail store and have plans for an on-line store in the near future.
Through the packaging and grading of apples, there are always a percentage that don’t meet the number one standard for retail eating apples. “Over the years we have always shipped these second grade apples to an outside third party for making juice or applesauce or some further processing,” explains Martin. “We started experimenting two years ago with some ideas for doing the processing ourselves and capturing more value for growers locally.”
Martin explains that the project started with the management team and a strategic planning session. He adds that their team has always been pretty methodical about the planning and development process. “For our management team, it was really important to have a clear concise business plan laid out and to be really clear about what our goals were and what we wanted to accomplish through the process. The key is doing your homework, being as prepared as possible and making sure the activities are aligned with those objectives throughout the process.”
Healthy Snack Innovation
Through the planning process, the team recognized that the market for juice and applesauce was already well established and that they needed to look at bringing a new product to the market. “After experimenting with different products we ended up settling on apple chips, a crunchy healthy snack product,” says Martin. “This new product innovation is on trend with the demand for healthy snacks. The apple chips are just a natural apple in a dried form with no preservatives, additives or added sugar. Each 25 gram bag contains one apple, about 100 calories.”
Although there are some imported dried fruit products from Europe and Asia, there is nothing like this product domestically. “Because the apple chips are a new product and we have nothing really to compare it to, determining the market is a challenge,” adds Martin. “We are having to create the market, which is challenging but also very exciting. We conducted a small test of our new product earlier this year at the Canadian Produce Marketing Association trade show in Calgary. The apple chips got some great reviews and we have had significant interest from various sources including major retailers, smaller chains, convenience stores and food service institutions such as schools, hospitals and others.”
The apple chip products will be produced in a new 17,000 square-foot processing facility under construction in Elmira, Ontario. The plant will also produce fresh apple slices, apple cider and other apple products that could be complementary to other food manufacturing. “The plant is in the final stages of completion and we hope to be in production by December 2012,” explains Martin. “When the plant is up and running and we are able to scale up to full capacity, the plant could employ up to 30 people.”
Once the business is fully functioning, Martin says they will have a better sense of the opportunities for the business and how soon they can expand to full capacity. “Our goal as a company is about strengthening and growing the apple industry,” says Martin. “Therefore everything we do is geared to getting as much return back to the growers as possible.”
??“Our new product innovation project will help Martin’s Family Fruit Farm diversify, at the same time as provide an opportunity to create a new market for Ontario apple growers at large,” says Kevin Martin.
Contact:
Kevin Martin
Ph: 519.664.2750
Email: [email protected]
www.martinsapples.com