Shoppers in central and upstate New York will be the first to discover the powerful flavor of New York Bold onions this fall, when the new brand is unveiled at select markets there. The onions are New York natives; direct from the onion-producing region in and around Oswego County.
Last year, Oswego growers pooled their resources to create a brand name product, hoping to follow in the footsteps of Sunkist oranges, perhaps even overtake Vidalia Sweet onions as the household onion.
Their company, New York Bold LLC is a grower-owned organization that grows, packs, and ships onions from its home in Oswego, N.Y. Its 14 members grow 11.7 million pounds of onions annually. But in a limited launch the first year out, the Bold brand name will include only 600,000 pounds of onions on sale in New York stores starting Sept. 30. The growers hope to use limited distribution to target their advertising and budget and promotion efforts where they will pay off.
What sets the Bold onion apart from another? The flavor, according to the marketers, is one of the keys to the brand.
The onions take their name from their flavor and the attitude of New York City, according to Jeff Wallace, senior managing consultant for Garrity Communications. “This is a bold cooking onion - it is stronger than a vidalia and sweeter when cooked than the vidalia,” said Wallace.
“This is a pungent onion,” said Wallace. “This is not an onion you bite into and eat like an apple unless you are really hard core.” So named by Bud Garrity, the marketing company’s founder, the onion growers hope to capitalize on the flavor.
Besides the flavor, consumers will appreciate that the onion also stores well and holds it flavor. Grown in upstate New York’s muck soils, the onions also adopt the soil’s healthy sulfur content.
The branding of high quality cooking onions will yield greater demand for Oswego County onions, Wallace said. The marketers have developed the framework to establish the brand in their regional marketplace.
The growers and their partners have raised $90,000 from grants (including one from New York State Agriculture and Marketing department) and private funds to support the initial effort.
Already, they have designed a logo, point of purchase materials, established a sales agreement with a grocery chain, and distributed nearly 40,000 free Bold onions at two consecutive New York state fairs. If the plan works, it could raise the growers out of low price doldrums they have seen over the past few years.
Hoping to attract the attention of the consumer, the company has found an entirely different package for the onions.
The Euro bag, as it is called, stands upright. It has a full label on the front and that label can be changed as the bags are created, meaning no more leftover bags cluttering the warehouse. The labels can include high quality graphics, which in this instance may mean recipes and photos of prepared Bold onion dishes. The labels can be adapted to seasonal dishes.
It’s that bag that will stand out in the grocery store, said Wallace. The onions will be sized 2-1/2 to 3 inches and packed in packs of four-six onions.
The packaging will set the product off, according to Garrity. The bag is small, clean and has handles, for ease of carrying.
New York Bold board members include Jerry Jacobson, Jim Zappalla, Joe DiSalvo, Dennis Ferlito and John Dunsmoor. Sam Zappalla is the acting part-time general manager of the company.
The growers will release their specially packaged product at 94 Tops Friendly Markets in the Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Adirondack areas. Tops was a good fit for the grower-owned onion brand because of the retailer’s longstanding support of local growers and its proven commitment to providing customers with the highest quality product, according to Wallace.
“We’re really pleased to be launching New York Bold onions at Tops. It is our goal to always give our customers the finest produce available, and New York Bold onions fit right into that philosophy. It is great to see a new product like this bring added excitement to our stores,” said Kent Carnevale, director of produce at Tops markets.
“This is a tremendous step for us as growers, said Joe DiSalvo, chairman of the New York Bold managing board. “By launching the Bold brand, we’re able to go direct to consumers with high-quality cooking onions and educate people about how best to use them.”
The consumer will recognize the brand by its distinctive logo and matching display materials. The logo, marketing plan and support materials were created by Garrity, who has developed a reputation for working well with agricultural products, according to Wallace.
Brand development can be a successful way to regain market share, he said. When growers are constantly battling stagnant prices and cheaper imports, brand development has been eyed as a potential answer by many specialty crops.
“All eyes are watching this project,” said Wallace. “Apples, sweet corn and maple syrup are all looking for a way to grow their market share in their product. This has been a struggle for farmers.”
The market share for hard storage onions has dwindled in the last 40 years, according to Wallace. If the program is successful, Wallace said the company might eventually recruit growers statewide to meet the demand for Bold onions.
But for now, the company is concentrating on its product rollout. Widespread efforts have included hiring a well-known chef to craft recipes for the Bold brand. The recipes will be part of a point of purchase display and may eventually appear on the packaging.
If the marketer’s previous work with Heluva Good, one of the Northeast’s largest marketers of dairy and snack food products, is any indication, consumers may soon be asking for Bold onions all over the Northeast.
