Commuters at London Bridge train station enjoyed free Rubens apples on Tuesday morning, as Rubens Tuesday saw the club variety’s UK season kick off in style.
English top-fruit marketing desk Norman Collett, which will see its second commercial season of UK-grown Rubens apples get underway at the weekend, has organised plenty of PR and media activities over the next few weeks to stir up interest in the variety.
Working closely with London PR agency Marmalade, a broad spread of media contacts have been sent samples with information on the environmental benefits of Rubens’ growing methods and profiles of the growers producing the apple.
Already appearing in The Sunday Times, Rubens growers have also been selected for a BBC screen test and are set for an appearance on Market Kitchen to talk about the apple variety.
Collett’s managing director Andy Sadler told freshinfo that there is “a lot of excitement about the variety” and that initial interest from UK retailers has been “very positive”. The fruit will be going to Tesco, Morrisons, The Co-operative and Booths.
Rubens, which has been in the ground in the Netherlands and Germany for five years and is also grown in Switzerland, Italy and Austria, has enjoyed a strong campaign on the continent for the last month. “Sales so far have been strong compared to last year - 10 per cent up, despite entering a crowded market,” said Sadler.
This year, Collett’s expects to supply 500 tonnes of UK Rubens from its 10 Kent-based growers - an increase on last year’s 300t. “The quality this year is exceptional because we had a good summer,” added Sadler.
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