A trailblazer in the Michigan fruit industry is making some changes to the way they do business.
Graceland Fruit is leaving the direct retail market. But they’re definitely not leaving Benzie County, or the fruit processing business. While you won’t be seeing their dried fruit products on store shelves with the Graceland name, you’ll still be able to get a taste of home.
Graceland Fruit Executive Chairman and CEO Jeff Seeley says, “Graceland was attempting to be a consumer product company, to get into the actual direct retail business. We just didn’t have the expertise to do that.”
So Graceland Fruit is shifting its focus to something else they’d already been doing, and finding a sweet spot in the dried fruit market. “Frankly the key to strategy is sometimes not deciding what to do, but deciding what not to do. And that’s what we did.” He adds, “We just had a chance to focus on the things we are really, really good at. But then also build a brand that I think has really got such great heritage.”
Graceland Fruit packages some of your favorite fruit products: cranberries, cherries, blueberries, and apples. They send six truckloads a day out of the facility in Frankfort. And they’ll end up in some of your favorite products on the store shelves. Seeley says, “We are really good at being a key ingredient in some of the best brands that companies know. If you are buying a Quaker product or a KIND bar, or you’re buying trail mix from Karr’s or Gourmet Nuts – our ingredients are in those products.”
Haley Noonan is Graceland Fruit’s Director of Sales. “I tend to lean towards more of the savory items. You’ve got to have a trail mix or a granola bar in there. But I love all of our items, whether it’s our sliced cranberry, whole cranberry. Cherries which are mostly grown here in northern Michigan. (And) the blueberry. So I can’t pick just one.”
Noonan says Graceland is constantly innovating to keep up with consumer demands for dried fruits. “Traditionally it’s been used in trail mix or straight packs. Now people are putting it in their yogurt and on top of their salads or even cooking with it. Even meat applications. So the possibilities are endless for dried fruits. It’s fun to experiment.”
Seeley says, “We’re really doing what we do really well. Which is packing 5, 10 and 25 pound boxes of cranberries, cherries, and blueberries, and apples and getting them to the very best brands in the world.”
Noonan adds, “We’ve seen an increase demand for infused dried fruits, especially super fruits. They are our primary focus.” She also points out that Graceland Fruit is changing its company logo. “We wanted to expand on what Graceland is, which is Exceptional. We wanted to go with a fresher, newer, brighter logo and also something that was more descriptive about where we’re at and where we’re going.”
And as for the changing business model, she says, “We are also trying to cater to a more health-conscious consumer, with reduced sugar items.” Noonan adds, “We work closely with our customers, not only from a sales perspective but also with her our R&D teams. Some of the things we are really focused on, are our precision diced items, diced cranberry blueberry cherry or apple. To meet any of our customers applications.”
The change in focus also comes a change in investment strategy, according to Seeley, while still keeping things local in Benzie County. “We really made a pretty significant investment in quality. Both in machinery equipment, processes. We are investing over $2.5 (M) dollars this year alone, just in the Frankfort area. In machinery equipment and capability.”
The focus is on adding raw materials rather than adding employees. Yet Graceland is still hiring. “The Nugent family started Graceland almost 50 years ago. And to me the most exciting thing is when we hit that 50th anniversary here in a couple years, that we really make that family proud of what they started.” Seeley says the company is strong. “Graceland is stronger today than it has been in the past 10 years quite honestly.”
You can see more about the company’s new approach here.
And you can check out their cranberry harvest here.
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