Fresh-cut boom fuels tropical fruit growth

When it comes to the key drivers of growth in the fresh fruit category, fresh-cut ticks all the right boxes. Whether it’s healthier snacking, convenience, the growth in single-person households, rising disposable incomes, or the search for more exotic and premium offerings, fresh-cut has it all.

And the figures bear this out. Demand for prepared fruit in the UK retail market is at an all-time high: according to Kantar, the category saw year-on-year growth of 19 per cent in value and 13 per cent in volume in the first quarter of 2025, with total sales exceeding £600mn.

“Convenience and health remain the standout consumer motivations to purchasing prepared fruit,” Andrew Crawford, senior category, NPD and marketing manager at UK-based prepared fruit specialist PrepWorld tells Fruitnet.

He notes that the category has shown great resilience and ‘bounce-back-ability’ in recent years, despite challenging macro conditions linked to the global pandemic, cost of living crisis, climatic extremes and Brexit impacts on the supply chain.

“Prepared competes for share of consumer wallet with other fruit categories, most notably whole-head but also frozen and even tinned,” he continues. “However, prepared is no longer the poor relation of whole-head, it continues to justify increased range, fixture space and distribution. In fact, the convenience-based format has enabled certain fruit types to thrive with prepared sales outstripping whole-head in notable tropical fruits such as mango, pineapple and pomegranates.”

Notably, category growth in the last year has been underpinned by an increase in purchasing frequency (up 6 per cent year-on-year to an average of 9.3 purchases per year), while spend per trip has also risen significantly as consumers have tended to trade up to larger pack sizes. According to Crawford, both factors highlight an increased usage in meal occasions throughout the day.

Within the fresh-cut segment, tropical fruits such as mango, pineapple, pomegranate seeds and melon (including watermelon) play a key role in solo packs, accounting for a combined 55 per cent of value and 53 per cent of unit sales of the total category in the last year.

Most of these fruits also feature regularly in mixed pack offers including platters, trios and duos, which together account for a further 10 per cent of value and 7 per cent of unit sales.

Mango and pomegranate seeds in particular stand out as the two fastest growing fruit types in the category in the last two years, rising by 36 per cent and 48 per cent respectively in value over the past year. In the case of mangoes, the growth has resulted from a surge in SKUs across the weight spectrum, ranging from smaller, Food-to-Go packs to larger in-home and event-led snacking a sharing meal occasions.

As Crawford explains, “the convenience factor is especially relevant for tropical fruits such as mango, pineapple and pomegranate seeds, which are comparatively difficult and time consuming to prepare for the consumer and can result in high levels of in-home waste”.

The health trend is also key in this segment, as tropical fruits such as pomegranate seeds are often purchased for their associated functional health and nutritional benefits. This is something that PrepWorld has tapped into in its Poppin’ Poms marketing campaign, which aims to drive greater awareness and engagement with pomegranate seeds. Campaign content typically centres around collaborations with high-reach social media influencers and focuses on viral on-trend recipe inspiration along with supporting health and nutritional information.

“A further trend worth calling out is consumer demand for year-round availability,” Crawford continues. “Historically, prepared fruit has been a seasonal category with distinct summer peaks and winter troughs. But this is no longer the case, and consumers expect to be able to purchase key fruit types throughout the year with no variations in product quality.”

And he believes there is still plenty of room for growth in the fresh-cut category, particularly in terms of market penetration. “Penetration has fluctuated but ultimately remained stubbornly static over the last five years, despite the category’s overall growth trajectory with around four out of every 10 householders purchasing fresh-cut during the course of a year,” he says.

“The typical shopper tends to be older, more affluent and from a smaller household with an obvious under-trade in younger, pre or young-family consumers.”

Crawford points out that there is an opportunity for suppliers of prepared fruit to take a leaf out of adjacent categories such as smoothies and juices and be more adventurous in on-pack messaging that will better resonate and engage with a younger audience.

Value-added products present another opportunity for growth, offering a vehicle for accessing potentially new meal occasions, like desserts, and consumer need states, such as ‘healthy indulgence’. According to Crawford, this is a small yet high-growth area of the category and a standout area of innovation, with existing offers including kebabs, dips, coulis, cheese and jelly inclusions that are particularly popular with younger consumers.

PrepWorld procures and manufactures more than 30 different types of fruit and is the market leader in the supply of seasonal SKUs. Crawford says the company continually strives to expand its product portfolio and introduce innovation in-line with changing consumer demand.

However, outside of the ‘big five’ (mango, pineapple, pomegranate seeds, melon and watermelon), other tropical fruits have struggled to establish themselves as solo pack offers due to limited demand and a lack of year-round availability and quality.

“Tropical fruits such as kiwifruit, papaya, passionfruit, limelon and dragon fruit do play a role as ingredients in mixed packs. In this format, year-round availability is not a prerequisite and can be accommodated through seasonal offerings, when fruit is best in season,” he says.

One tropical fruit that he believes could play a more prominent role is papaya. Sales of whole-head papayas are on the rise and many high-end retailers, such as Whole Foods and Selfridges, feature them as a focal point of their fresh produce offer. Furthermore, it falls firmly into the convenience trend being another example of a fruit that is difficult and time consuming to prepare for the consumer with the potential for high levels of waste.

Looking ahead, Crawford predicts that fresh-cut sales will continue to grow, although not necessarily at the same rate as in recent years, mainly due to questions of whether supply can keep pace with demand. Underpinning the positive outlook is the fact that the Food-to-Go (FTG) segment has experienced consistent year-on-year growth over the last 3-4 years, mainly driven by Meal Deals.

“Demand initially grew as a result of consumers trading down from more costly high street and quick service restaurant deals during the peak of the cost-of-living crisis. Retailers have responded by broadening their ranges and moving to two-tier offers, which has further driven sales,” he explains.

Crawford reiterates that value add offers are also integral to expanding the consumer-base for fresh-cut fruit by attracting a younger consumer demographic and accessing new meal occasions such as desserts. He predicts that sales of this format will grow at pace as the product proposition further expands and improves.

At the same time increased availability of larger, better-value pack formats that lend themselves to in-home and event-led snacking and sharing meal occasions will continue to drive sales of solo fruits.

The fresh-cut segment looks set to continue being a major driver of tropical fruit sales. The ability to enjoy tropical fruits without the hassle of peeling, cutting, or cleaning is a major selling, particularly for consumers with busy lifestyles, while the health trend shows no sign of weakening. At the same time, the high margins are encouraging retailers to invest in attractive displays and a wider variety of offerings. For PrepWorld, this creates an opportunity to develop its product offering and bring new concepts to market.