Introducing Twenty Degrees, an evolution of APAL’s commercial business

APAL announces new commercial entity for the commercial development of fresh produce brands internationally.

At the 2023 APAL Annual General Meeting held in Melbourne on 22 November, APAL CEO Phil Turnbull announced an exciting new development in advancing APAL’s commercial operations.  

A natural evolution of the commercial business was identified by the APAL team to diversify the organisation’s offering to ensure long-term, sustainable growth, taking learnings from the successful Pink Lady® operations and transforming this into a new global offering in branded fresh produce. 

Over the last 12 months, the APAL Board and senior management worked to develop a plan to enable APAL to enlarge its commercial operations while focusing its efforts and commitment to Australian industry activities and services. This work culminated in the creation of a new commercial entity, Twenty Degrees. 

Twenty Degrees draws on the strengths and expertise of the Coregeo business – a wholly owned subsidiary of APAL – with APAL’s unique skillset in managing global produce brands. Coregeo also serves as the master licensee for Pink Lady® in the UK and offers marketing and promotional services for various other fresh produce brands, including global kiwifruit brand Zespri™, long-stemmed broccoli brands Tenderstem® and Bimi® in the UK and Europe. 

Harnessing the unique talents of these two businesses, Twenty Degrees will be a global entity for the commercial development of fresh produce brands internationally. 

It will bring together expertise and capability in IP protection and management, strategic marketing and brand management, quality assurance and compliance, territory management and licensing.  

APAL is the 100 per cent owner of Twenty Degrees and retains control in whatever it might delegate to Twenty Degrees. Furthermore, all of APAL’s current trademarks, including Pink Lady®, will remain under APAL’s ownership.  

This strategic move aims to promote commercial success for Twenty Degrees and safeguard funding for industry services while allowing the APAL Board to concentrate on the Australian industry and the interests of growers, with a priority on industry services, growth and development. 

So, what does this mean for industry? With the launch of Twenty Degrees, APAL has put in place a strategy and structure that will diversify APAL’s commercial business and provide sustainable growth in funding to invest in industry services.  

APAL will continue to share updates on the progress of Twenty Degrees and the organisation’s significant milestones and achievements over the coming months. 

To find out more, visit twentydegrees.com.

This article was first published in the Summer 2023/4 edition of AFG.