#WBD Blog

Fresh Produce Brands: Fyffes, Pink Lady, Florette and Zespri

Brands in the fresh produce aisle are less prominent matter with functional packaging and few branding signals, however the tide is changing as The Grocer reported branded fruit value sales grew 18.3% to £341.9m in the year to April 2026, on volumes up 18.9%.

As the brands grow in the category it signals that shoppers will pay more when they have a reason to.

• Pink Lady’s 'Find Your Fizz' campaign, was built around the apple's distinctive taste, particularly targeting younger women.
• Zespri launched its first UK TV campaign, 'Packed with Nutrition', positioning the kiwi brand as a trusted name for natural nutrient density
• Fyffes has over 130 years of history as a brand and it’s The 'Eat 'em... Like 'em... Love 'em!' campaign was built to bring a sense of playfulness to the brand and reassert consumer trust.
• Florette is the UK's number one salad brand and launched its biggest ever brand refresh this year, with a new mission: 'Crafted by Nature, Perfected by Florette', with the goal of shifting prepared salad from predictable to genuinely worth choosing. The first product out under the new identity, Florette Asian Style Salad, combines Apollo lettuce, ruby chard, mizuna and radish with a tonkatsu-style dressing and a crispy seaweed-inspired sprinkle, going straight for the gap in a category meeting demand for bolder, globally influenced flavours.

Fresh produce brands are fewer and less prominent in the UK than in the rest of the world. The reasons are multitudinous but not least because there was a conscious approach by the major retailers to make, and keep, it that way. Usually only accepting own label supply in categories like bananas. To be honest the branded suppliers put up little resistance.

So, this trend is heartwarming. Pink Lady and Florette were trailblazers, adding quality, choice and category value. Zespri branding their fruit is a great move. Fyffes, a genuinely classic old brand putting its marque back on more of the fruit (it is the No.1 supplier in UK) it supplies is fabulous! Other are out there and more will emerge.

Why? Because brands and the branded model are the best (the only?) way to add value to categories that are commoditised and lack dynamism. It is why the strategies of the UK retailers always seemed misguided. Yes, create low priced own label products, but use brands to create new offers and value for shoppers and consumers. This is an even bigger opportunity has increasing numbers of people become ever more conscious of what they eat and where it comes from!

Here’s a thought. There are several hundred varieties of banana in the world...