Growers take over Kanzi management in Australia
Business ManagementFive of the country’s leading apple growers have joined forces to launch a new brand management business and take on the master licensee role and management of the Nicoter cultivar and its Kanzi® apple brand in Australia.
The newly-established Horticulture Brand Management Australia Pty Ltd (HBMA) consists of the N&A Group (NSW), 9 Mile Fresh (Tynong, VIC), Newton Orchards (Manjimup, WA), and Adelaide Hills growers Ceravolo Orchards and Flavells Fruit Sales. All five have grown Kanzi since its introduction to Australia over a decade ago and have had an ongoing role in marketing through the Kanzi Marketing Group.
HBMA will be headed up by former Hort Innovation head of marketing Elisa King as general manager and based in Sydney.
HBMA was formed in the latter half of 2019 with the entity’s primary function the management of the Kanzi brand in Australia. It has bought the master licence and management rights from long-standing brand manager Des Muir of Giston Consulting, who is retiring, but will continue to provide support.
Des Muir showcasing Kanzi® and Greenstar® apples at the Apple and Pear Variety Showcase at the National Horticulture Convention, Gold Coast, 26 June 2015.
The new business will also manage the introduction and commercialisation of other new fruit varieties to the Australian market such as the early season Celina blush pear (marketed as QTee®) and several as yet un-named varieties. HBMA has also been engaged as the exclusive agent for air and water management products from Air Water Global Pty Ltd: Airofresh Intl™and AWG Aqua Smart products™.
Kanzi is the trademarked brand of the Belgium-bred Nicoter cultivar developed from a gala braeburn cross. It was one of the first managed varieties established in Australia, under which licensing enables management of volume and quality, and sales are supported by brand marketing. Kanzi is grown by around 80 growers across all key apple growing regions in the country and is closed to new growers.
Elisa said 2020 would be the final year of planned new plantings and by the end of the year there would be 780,000 trees in the ground, with many still several years from full production. Last year’s production was estimated at 5.5 million kilograms.
Elisa said the Kanzi brand will be in experienced hands as all five HBMA partners are vertically-integrated growers, packers and marketers for the Kanzi Marketing Group who have been involved with Kanzi since the apple’s introduction to the Australian market nearly 10 years ago.
Their combined total production volume of Kanzi apples represents approximately 35 per cent of the total Kanzi crop with over 70 per cent of total Kanzi production marketed through the distribution channels of the group.
“HBMA partners see this as an exciting opportunity to further grow the popular Kanzi brand in Australia and to develop a successful launch for the other new varieties under our management,” Elisa said.
Further information:
Elisa King
General Manager, HBMA
E: [email protected]
M: 0403 378888
