Melon and watermelon are sold on one thing above all: sweetness. Get the Brix right and the category flies on impulse through the summer; get it wrong and no amount of promotion saves the week. So the whole programme is built around not cutting corners on maturity.
The temptation every season is to start too early, when the first fruit is big and the price is high but the sugars aren't there yet. We would rather hold a week and send fruit that eats the way the shopper expects — because the repeat purchase is where the category actually makes money.
Brix is a promise to the shopper. Break it once and they don't come back to the fixture that week.
Alongside sweetness, timing is everything: melon is heavy, impulse-driven and weather-sensitive, so the fruit has to land in the right volume at the right moment. We programme that with you rather than chasing it on the spot market.
What we hold the line on
- Minimum Brix before a line ships — no exceptions for early fruit.
- Volume timed to the weather and the promotional calendar.
- Variety matched to your format, from whole fruit to ready-cut.
It's a simple category to sell and a demanding one to get right. The discipline is all in the maturity call.
