[FRES10 : CUSTOMPUBS -FRESNO -PAGES <SA05_SSBEE> [FRCPBR1 ] . . . 08 /27/11 ] Autho r :CNORTON Da te :08 /26/11 T ime :16 :22

By Joshua TeheeStaff Writer

Y ou’ve heard of designerdrugs and designer jeans?

Maurice Cameron deals indesigner fruit.

The Flavor Tree Fruit Companyblends agricultural and marketingknow-how to create innovativeproducts that get people excitedabout fruit.

Take the company’s CherryBombs, for example.

The dark, crunchy cherries areleft on the tree until they are somature, so bursting with sugarygoodness that they lose theirstems. Stemless cherries aren’tnew, but no one has reallymarketed them like this — with acatchy name, cool logo andpackaging and a Facebookcampaign. Suddenly, you’ve gotsomething that people want.

“The only complaint we’veheard is that they tasted so goodpeople ate 3 pounds of them andgot sick,” Cameron says.

The Flavor Tree started in 2009as a partnership with the Warmer-dam family, who have long beenon the cutting edge.

In fact, the family was one ofthe first to start planting cherriesin the area, back in the 1980s.Cherries, especially those thatwere harvested early in theseason, didn’t do well in theSouth Valley because of the rain.So, the Warmerdams made a dealwith a plant grower to create aproprietary variety — the Sequoia— which could be picked early inthe season and was resistant torain.

“Having a cherry that didn’tcrack in the rain was huge,”Cameron says. “You didn’t loseyour crop.”

Now, more than 50% of theircrops are proprietary varieties andthere’s a 10-acre test block on thecompany’s farm dedicated tothese innovations. There are morethan 40 varieties of cherries out

there that may someday come tomarket.

Partially, this is a survival tool.In the Central Valley, there are

maybe a dozen key players in thestone-fruit market, Cameron says.And cherries come the middle ofthe season, when everything elseis being harvested.

“How do you compete withsomeone who has five times thevolume you do?”

Well, you diversify your

varieties. You grow 160 acres oforganic cherries. Then, you comeup the Cherry Plum.

As the name implies, this fruitlooks like a cherry, but is big likea plum, with a tartness in the skinand a sweetness in the meat.Because of its cherry traits, it hasclose to 8% more sugar than theaverage plum. The companyreleased the fruit this year afterdoing extensive research withcustomers at places like the

Vineyard’s Farmers Market inFresno.

“We really wanted to talk topeople who eat fruit all the time,”says Donna Gavello, director ofmarketing for the Flavor Tree.“Was this a crop that will becommercially viable?”

Turns out that yes, it probablyis.

From a marketing standpoint,there’s a lot of opportunity,Cameron says. Because this is its

first year, there were only a fewhundred pounds harvested, so thecompany released them to onestore, in one upscale grocerychain in Dallas. Just one.

That exclusivity makes the fruitappealing, he says.

He wants consumers to havethat sense of need.

The fruit he sells may bearound for 10 days. That’s theseason.

“If you don’t buy it, that’s yourloss.”

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Photo: Wayne HutchisonRows of Sequoia cherry trees grow at The Flavor Tree Fruit Company in Hanford. The Sequoia, exclusive to The Flavor Tree Fruit Company, is one of thefirst cherries out in the market in United States. In fact, in both 2007 and 2008, it was the first commercial cherry to be harvested in California, the earliestcherry-producing state.

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