A Letter from our ceo
Quarterly Note
Jake Samuel, CEO Sunrise Fresh Dried Fruit
Hello to all our Customers, Suppliers, and Friends. Welcome to the most exciting time of the year – Cherry Harvest.
Because our family are also growers of these amazing fruits, we are always anxiously excited around this time of year. And naturally, we want to share with all of you – where things are going.
This year, my brother Case, who is the Chief Sales Officer, has added a series of ‘Crop Reports’ talking about the status of the Cherry Crop and the upcoming Harvest. Even with the delayed harvest due to the extremely wet winter, we are still busy here at the facility. Over the last few months, we have added team members, so we have been busy onboarding and adding new processes.
In addition to our new team members, we are in some exciting R&D on some new fruits to offer all of you. As we grow, it is important to us that we maintain our goal of offering personal and professional customer service.
As always, our fruit quality is our number one focus as we start the season and expand our product lines – more to come on this exciting news. This includes not only adding new fruits but also expanding our offerings for our branded products. Check out our new 1-lb offering on our other fruits.
While I love our growth, but I have to admit, I miss being on a tractor at harvest time!
Jake Samuel
Q2 2023 Crop Update
We’re taking a quick look at our Cherry Crop for this year – just as the first trees are being picked. The California crop estimate is 8.3 million 18lb cartons. At Sunrise Fresh, we are expecting very high-quality cherries to dry this year.
We are estimating drying season to begin around the 22nd of May and lasting into late June, with most dark sweet varieties being harvested late. With ample crop yield, however, we expect to be drying some very high-quality fruit.
With a later drying season start, we anticipate starting with coral champagne varieties and Rainiers. Moving into Bings and later dark sweets in the 2nd and 3rd weeks in June. Although the season has started slowly, early varieties are already being picked in Arvin, Wesley, and Lodi. All three growing regions this year will be harvested for the first time together.
We anticipate drawing 10 to 15 truckloads of fruit per day starting the week of the 26th of May. We are also expecting higher bricks (sugar level) than normal due to the delayed growing season and how long the fruit has been hanging on the trees.
Pricing for fruit has been established at a good rate this year, and we expect no price increases for the 2023 crop. Overall, we are very optimistic about this year’s Fruit quality and drying season.
Case Samuel, Chief Sales Officer
Spring Has Sprung – And so Have the Savings!!
As we roll into Cherry Harvest – there are a lot of things in bloom out there!! (And your allergies, know it!!) But it's a cause to celebrate, and we’d love to get you to visit our Sunrise Fresh Website and our so-easy-to-use Webstore!
We’ve added some new features and information on the site, including the background behind the Upcycled Foods Association and why we upcycle here - and have for years. You can also get great info on substituting dried fruits for fresh in baking – and get your most Frequently Asked Questions answered!!
You can also purchase bulk sizes of all of our fruits and have them shipped to your home, business – or you can drop by and pick them up! Give it a try – and we’ll give you 10% off your purchase!!
Just use the code: springfling23 at checkout.
**Good on a one-time purchase; Offer ends June 30th, 2023.
Frequently Asked Questions
Frequently Asked Questions When Choosing Your Dried Fruit Provider
Here at Sunrise Fresh, we get a lot of questions. They come in by phone, email,
thru the website, and even Social Media. We think it’s because we are a
premier supplier of dried fruits to the industry and the ‘go-to’ provider for many
of our customers.
If you are looking to purchase larger quantities of dried fruit and want to
establish a relationship with a provider, we’ve developed a list of FAQ’s that we
think you should ask - us or any other purveyor of ingredient-quality dried fruits.
Here’s one of the most popular:
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Where do your fruits come from?
This is a question we get a lot, and although an easy question to ask, it is not always easy to answer. Fruit is grown all over the globe – under different conditions and farming practices, which yields varying quantities and quality of fruits.
Even the drying and dehydrating methods differ – and preservation measures widely vary – including the use of sulfites and other preservatives, which we never use at Sunrise Fresh.
We’ve made a commitment that in producing our Sunrise Fresh branded consumer products, we use only raw fruits grown in the U.S.A., and generally, that means primarily California-grown fruit with some coming from growers in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington State- all of which meet our stringent standards. You’ll see the ‘Product of USA’ certification on all our bagged products!
For some of our larger wholesale customers, we have also sourced fruits from Mexico and South America – from trusted suppliers – and because some of these countries are counter-seasonal, we can ship fruit to them in their winter and we can import theirs when our ‘crop’ has been exhausted. If you think your company will need larger quantities in the off-season, we’d love to have you sample some fruit from our Global Sourcing Partners.
If you’d like to know more about where our fruits are grown and/or processed, please feel free to contact us: at solutions@sunrisefresh.com, and we’ll get right back to you!
Dried Fruits – A Global Industry
Although Sunrise Fresh is located in the heart of California’s Central Valley, the
dried fruit industry is a massive worldwide one.
Although the majority of our products are grown and processed in California, we
also buy from growers in Oregon and Washington. One of the reasons is that, with
differing climates, some states are just better producers of certain items.
Fruits, of course, are grown everywhere in the U.S. – even in Alaska – but only
certain areas can grow to a volume that makes them commercially practical.
The same story where countries are concerned- most grow some type of fruits –
but not in a quantity to make exporting practical, and when it comes to dried fruits,
there are several countries across the globe whose ship products to the rest of the
world.
You might not know that the United States produces a large portion of that total
number. In fact, the U.S. ranks in the top three when it comes to the production
and exportation of dried fruits and dried fruit-related products.
Top 5 Dried Fruit Producers Across the World.
While dried fruit products are produced worldwide, five are known to be the top
producers, according to statista.com. They include:
United States – 16%
Turkey – 16%
Iran – 13%
Saudi Arabia – 7%
China – 5%
Different areas of the world produce a wide variety of fruits and nuts that are dried
and packaged for wholesale use, mainly based on what type of fresh fruits are
grown in that region. For more in-depth information on the global dried fruit market,
head over to our website.
While all of our products are grown and produced in the U.S.A. , Sunrise Fresh
also exports a smaller portion of our products for consumption in South America
and Asia. Our largest sales are dried fruits to be used as ingredients in other foods
made in the U.S. –like trailmixes, energy and protein bars, and baking products.
This means that purchasing professionals, foodservice pros, bakers, and
distributors, who want the highest quality products, want to purchase from
producers they trust. And that’s why so many of them choose Sunrise Fresh!
“Just the Fruit... And Nothing Else!
New Product Spotlight
Hello to '1- Pounders' !!
Please welcome some awesome new products to the Sunrise Fresh family: 1 Pounders!
For all of you who have been asking for larger bags of our most popular fruits, we present 1 Pounders – 16 oz. re-sealable bags of tasty goodness – available now on Amazon.com.
Yes, we’ve had 16 oz. packages of our cherries – both Dark Sweet and Rainiers, for years, but over time, you’ve asked us to consider adding out other fruits to this line-up – for families, for larger recipes – and of course, for our Foodservice Professionals.Now available at Amazon.com and Amazon B2B – we have Blueberries, Peaches, Pears, and Tart Apples!! These will be joined by Sweet Apples soon! More the merrier, and Prime eligible – try them today!!!
Current lead time for orders placed with Sunrise Fresh is 6 weeks. Please take that into consideration when planning for your future projects so we can do our best toserve you!
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