Sunkist Analysis And Review

Citrus Industry Transformation Is Now Upon Us writes that as we were preparing to attend the Produce Marketing Association convention, it was nice to receive word that some good things were happening with Sunkist Growers as they welcomed Bravante Produce, a grower/shipper in the California citrus industry as its newest cooperative member. Just as we were contemplating all this, a veteran of the California citrus industry sent his thoughts, prompted by the word that Bravante was joining up with Sunkist. The pace of change in modern agriculture is accelerating and the return on investment has to consider the expected marketing window for a variety, not the biological life of the tree. 10/16/2009

Sunkist And Brand Equity confesses that we see the Sunkist name as an incredibly valuable asset, and it frustrates us that more of that value hasn’t gotten back to the growers. The question, though, is what does Sunkist prominently mean? What do the owners want Sunkist to mean? Just something orange-colored? Or is it supposed to stand for health, vitality and freshness? Sunkist ought to quit its addiction to the cash flow from the licensing deals that don’t help build brand equity and insist that any future deals need to enhance the brand image for quality, taste, freshness, health and vitality. 1/22/2009

Sunkist’s ‘Take A Stand’ Program Gets Kids Involved In Charity Work tying together youth, entrepreneurship, service, Americana and, yes, even selling more lemons, Sunkist’s “Take a Stand” promotion, is now in its fifth summer. With this promotion, Sunkist gives away free lemonade stands to children ages 7 -12 who pledge to raise money for their favorite charity. Includes information on how to get your kids involved. 5/23/2008

Pundit’s Mailbag —‘Sunkist Has A Winner’ With Jarred Fruit Line showed a letter from Woody Johnson, of Green Giant Fresh by Growers Express, who helps to point out there is clear evidence that a canned product selling on the grocery shelves for pennies can transform into a “fresh” product that sells for big bucks. 8/31/2007

New Sunkist Jarred Fruit Line May Lift Sales Of All Produce Items commented that Sunkist has had a tough year. This product should deliver millions of consumer impressions for the brand and inject a healthy dose of competition into a growing category. 8/29/2007

Pundit’s Mailbag — Naturipe And Sunkist contrasted the challenges faced by former CEO Jeff Garguilo of Sunkist with those to be faced by incoming Naturipe CEO, Bruce Peterson. With letter from Frank Bragg, CEO, MBG Marketing in support of Bruce’s appointment. 8/21/2007

Euclid To Leave Sunkist; Sun Pacific To Handle Marketing, Sea Change For Western Citrus Sunkist continues to lose volume as high costs are driving leading firms to seek alternatives, and the situation is far worse than it sounds. 7/18/2007

Pundit’s Mailbag — Former Sunkist Employee Weighs In On CEO Selection a Sunkist insider weighs in on who he thinks will be next president of Sunkist, which may be sooner than you think, and he carries a familiar name. 7/12/2007

Sunkist Hires Consultant To Restructure Sales, Not Governance discovered Sunkist’s Senior V.P. of Sales and Marketing, Russ Hanlin, has hired the Monitor Group to analyze the “fresh fruit sales process”. The ability to sell fresh fruit cannot properly be analyzed without looking at supply, by-product and general management issues. 7/10/2007

Rick Eastes Lands At Ballantine reported that Rick Eastes, former Director of Global Sourcing for Sunkist Global LLC, has joined the staff at Ballantine Produce Company and will help to build upon their focus on high-flavor fruit. 7/4/2007

Pundit’s Mailbag — Call For Counterfeiting Countermeasures highlighted feedback we received from Colin Harvey, from Dairy Farm in Malaysia, which leads us to an important point: as these counterfeiters do not have food safety standards, a consumer could actually be putting his life at risk. 7/4/2007

Pundit’s Mailbag —Sunkist’s Missed Opportunities examined a letter from Delos Walton, a former analyst with Sunkist, which identifies an opinion shared by the Pundit: There is no evidence that the Sunkist board is pushing a strategic vision for the company that will lead it to success in this century. 7/3/2007Brand-Crazy Chinese reported that the world is changing, and we all need to think about competition on a global scale. We also have to think about protecting our brands from counterfeiting on a global basis 6/27/2007

Pundit’s Mailbag — China, COOL And International Opportunities summarizes a letter from Thomas Reardon, Professor of Agricultural Economics at Michigan State University which examines the emerging Asian perishables markets, and touches on Sunkist’s current presence in Chinese supermarkets. With follow up on Sunkist’s Asian market share from the Pundit. 6/27/2007

Pundit’s Mailbag —Univeg, Ready Pac, Sunkist And The Lord Mayor Of Dublin shared thoughts from John Pandol of Pandol Bros. and furthered our discussion on Sunkist’s myriad troubles. 2/23/2007

Pundit’s Mailbag — Sunkist And The Australian Citrus Deal in response to a letter from Jeff Gaston of Sunkist Vancouver, clarified the Pundit’s earlier assertion that Rick Eastes, former Director of Global Sourcing for Sunkist Global LLC, was the right man for his job. 2/22/2007

Sunkist And Pure Gold announced Sunkist’s intention to pack all post-freeze fancy grade navels in “Pure Gold” brand, with choice fruit packed in its usual labels. One supposes that it is trying to protect the Sunkist brand, but if the consumer does not see Sunkist, that brand equity will shrink fast. 2/21/2007

A Paradigm Shift For Citrus illustrated a citrus industry expert’s opinion that a dramatic change is necessary to compete in this new environment. The paradigm shift may be so dramatic that Sunkist as we have known it simply can’t continue. 2/16/2007

Another Blow To Sunkist found that a charter ship deal that gave Sunkist a material advantage in Japan has been cancelled, the latest in a string of problems for the coop. Are Japanese buyers looking for alternatives to buying Sunkist? 2/13/2007

Bee Sweet Departure Adds To Sunkist Woes revealed how after a one-year commitment, Bee Sweet has decided to leave the Sunkist coop. Is the real problem in the governance structure of Sunkist, or are conflicts of interest stifling progress? 2/7/2007

Freeze Points Out Sunkist’s Need To Diversify furthered our discussion on Sunkist’s need to diversify and go public in the wake of the current disastrous freeze, does this prove to Sunkist’s growers that they have too much in one basket? 1/30/2007

Freeze Report reminded that it pays to be diversified if the citrus crop winds up being 50 to 75% destroyed as anticipated. Includes crop damage reports from California and first-hand account from Louis Ivanovich, Partner, West Lake Fresh. 1/17/2007

Pundit’s Mailbag — In Defense of Sunkist’s New CEO analyzed a letter from Bill Washburn, President Foodpro International, Inc. who took issue with an earlier piece Eastes Leaves Sunkist. With further commentary on Sunkist’s current position and possible future. 11/28/2006

Eastes Leaves Sunkist reported that Rick Eastes, Director of Global Sourcing for Sunkist Global LLC, has elected not to renew his contract, are other top people at Sunkist who joined during the Jeff Garguilo years planning to leave as well? 11/8/2006

Will Tim Lindgren Go To China? revealed that after a national search, Sunkist has named Timothy J. Lindgren as President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunkist Growers. Will his first order of business be a visit to China? 9/28/2006

Pundit’s Mailbag — Sunkist Jarred Fruit Just The Beginning our recent articles New Sunkist Jarred Fruit Line May Lift Sales Of All Produce Items and Pundit’s Mailbag — ‘Sunkist Has A Winner’ With Jarred Fruit Line prompted a letter from President Dick Sanderson of Old World Enterprise Group, who says “our plans go well beyond this core product line” 9/11/2007

Packinghouse Visits And Dinner Conversations notes on visits to South African fruit operations with Sunkist and Dole. 9/8/2006

Pundit Mailbag: Sunkist Responds To Article Reprints a letter from Richard A. Eastes, Director of Global Sourcing Sunkist Global LLC in response to an earlier discussion on the international position of Sunkist. The issue remains, what direction Sunkist will go in the future? 9/5/2006

International Positions Of Two Citrus Companies admired Sealed Sweet for making strides in geographic diversification to head off certain competitive pressure from China. Will Sunkist growers be able to see beyond their self-interest to maintain a vibrant corporate entity? 9/1/2006

Sunkist Wake-up Call? Observed the decision of Paramount Citrus to leave the Sunkist co-op and begin marketing its own fruit, does Paramount realize that retail has changed? And should Sunkist follow suit? 8/8/2006