You can buy luxury watches, clothes, jewelry, household items – the list goes on. And now you can buy high quality fruit too.
A $400 pineapple is for sale at Melissa’s Produce, a California-based seller of specialty fruits and vegetables, CNN reported on the weekend. Rubyglow Pineapple, created by Fresh Del Monte, features a rare red exterior and a sweet flavor. Melissa’s markets pineapple as “the pinnacle of luxury fruit” and hopes foodies will see the item’s appeal.
More from the Robb Report
“Consumers are willing to pay for something that is special,” Cindy van Rijswick, fresh produce strategist on Rabobank’s global research team, told CNN. “There’s always a small market for high-end restaurants, or gourmet restaurants, or certain online channels.”
Del Monte spent more than 15 years developing the Rubyglow pineapple, which finally hit the market earlier this year in China. The company has experimented with the tropical fruit in the past, debuting in 2020 the Pinkglow pineapple (so-called because of its pink flesh), which initially sold for $50. With Rubyglow, however, Del Monte is reaching a new level. even higher when it comes to fancy fruits.
Melissa’s Produce ordered just 50 Rubyglow pineapples and sold about half of them in a month, Robert Schueller, the company’s director of public relations, told CNN. Some of them have gone to restaurants in Southern California and Las Vegas, where they are used in windows rather than on the menu.
“There’s a market for this,” Schueller said. But he also acknowledged that “this is not something for everyone.”
While $400 may seem exorbitant for a single piece of fruit, high-priced produce has in the past found extreme demand in the United States. The best-known example may be the Oishii Berrya specialty strawberry that foodies went wild for when it became available to the public in 2018. Back then, a pack of eight berries sold for $50. But now, thanks to funding and technological improvements, Oishii fruit packs are sold for about $12, CNN noted.
This price is probably more palatable for the average consumer. But for anyone who wants to have fun in the kitchen, Rubyglow could be the perfect way to do so. For example, one influencer told CNN that pineapple would make a good centerpiece on charcuterie boards during the holidays. It sure is better than those miserable grapes and figs we’ve been seeing – and eating – for years.
Best of Robb Report
Sign up for Robb Report Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, TwitterIt is Instagram.
