CMI Pop-Top

Columbia Marketing International (CMI) has released a new carton that it believes will revolutionise the way the fruit is displayed.

The carton’s high graphic lid, which incorporates a scene of the Columbia River Valley, has been designed to easily pop open and fold up to create an instant display for retailers. Marc Pflugrath, director of export sales for CMI, said the adequately named Pop-Top Lid would offer a premium display option for the company’s export customers.

“We wanted a box that would measure up to the exceptional quality of cherries we are packing in it,” Pflugrath explained. “Our cherries are hand-selected and optimally sorted and this new signature box showcases the biggest, sweetest and most flavorful fruit on the market.”

Pflugrath said initial feedback from CMI’s export customers had been extremely positive, especially with the quality of this season’s crop. An unseasonably mild winter followed by lots of spring sunshine has provided optimal growing conditions for Northwest orchards.

BJ Thurlby, president of Northwest Cherry Growers, said that the warm weather had done a tremendous job of creating cell division within this year’s crop. “Size and fruit sugars should be optimal,” Thurlby said.