Colourful way to find customers

Apr 14 2009 by Chris Knox, The Journal

A FAIR trade dried fruit company is looking to grow after adding a splash of colour to its packaging and launching a bigger range of snacks.

Sunderland-based Tropical Wholefoods is looking to find its products on more supermarket shelves after redesigning its packaging.

The firm, which employs 35 staff and has a turnover of £2.5m, sources a variety of sun-dried fruits from as far away as Uganda and Pakistan, and says it aims to help establish decent trading standards in some of the world’s most impoverished communities.

It has expanded its range to include apricot kernels, which are found inside the stone of an apricot and taste like almonds.

Tropical Wholefoods is also exploring using the apricot stone itself in cosmetics as an exfoliant, thus every single part of the fruit will be used.

Marketing director Kate Sebag said: “We have high hopes that these innovative and delicious snacks will be hugely popular.

“We’re always looking for ways of increasing dividends to our farmer partners, and we are all aware now that the world has limited resources, so it’s wonderful to establish a two-fold way of generating income – from a single fruit – the apricot.”