Chiquita to Sell Single-Serve Bananas

[SuzySushi]

Chiquita Brands International is starting to sell single-serve bananas in convenience stores and expects to reach 5,000 U.S. locations this year. Chiquita will sell the bananas individually, for 75 cents to 99 cents each. That's significantly higher than what a single banana would cost by-the-pound in supermarkets and provides a larger profit. The bananas will use a special packaging technology designed to keep them fresh longer. Link

Excuse me? I thought bananas already were single-serve, and they come in convenient individual wrappers, too.

Does this strike anyone else but me as overkill?

[JasmineL]

Worst.Idea.Ever.

[Chris Amirault]

I want a single-serve grape.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

I wonder how many people will fall for this. Oh, how I'd love to see the market research/panel reports on this big idea.

I'm constantly amazed at the number of people in groceries, who buy items priced per pound, in whatever sized bundle they're presented in. I've been gently chided by other customers when they've seen me do such horrible things as pull a bunch of bananas apart to purchase 3 at a time, and unwrap the asparagus to choose the spears I want. Lookout, Fabby! Here comes the produce police!

Of course, this will give the "experts" on all the TV shows something to natter on about. Can't you see the Pros and Cons debated on Live At Five?

[slbunge]

So it seems the story here is that some Chiquita employee will cut apart the bunches of bananas and then consumers will pay an exhorbitant prices (compared to the bunched bananas at a grocery) for that convenience. I'm not buying it but I bet it will work.

[Alex]

Read the linked article, folks. It says that Chiquita is going after placing this product in convenience stores -- venues that, I assume, don't normally stock bananas because of their very limited window of ripeness, so to speak, and not the kind of place where people normally do their produce shopping. Yeah, 75 to 99 cents is one expensive banana, but this isn't a supermarket. And if it can lure consumers, especially kids, away from the aisles of junk snacks, it's ok in my book.

Edited February 24, 2006 by Alex (log)

[prasantrin]

Single-serve bananas have been available in Japan forever, not only in convenience stores but at regular grocery stores. Maybe not forever, but for a long time. They do quite well here. Premium bananas (don't know exactly what that means, but the really expensive, perfect ones) usually come in single servings.

edited to add: It should be noted that in Japan, bananas are sold by pre-determined bunches. You don't get to tear one or two off a bunch and just pay for what you want. You either buy a bunch (already weighed and complete with a bar code sticker), or you buy one of the more expensive single servings. All fruits and vegetables are sold that way (I've never seen a scale at a checkout counter here).

Edited February 24, 2006 by prasantrin (log)

[Big Bunny]

My local 7-11 already has ordinary, ripe bananas on the checkout desk for 49 cents each.

BB

[MarketStEl]

Read the linked article, folks. It says that Chiquita is going after placing this product in convenience stores -- venues that, I assume, don't normally stock bananas because of their very limited window of ripeness, so to speak, and not the kind of place where people normally do their produce shopping. Yeah, 75 to 99 cents is one expensive banana, but this isn't a supermarket. And if it can lure consumers, especially kids, away from the aisles of junk snacks, it's ok in my book.

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Seconding Big Bunny:

Maybe it's your convenience store that needs upgrading.

Though I too have bought bananas from convenience stores--not just Wawa, but also 7-Eleven (the one near me sells singles for 59 cents each) and the indie convenience store right up the street from me.

This sounds to me like a solution in search of a problem.

[Jujubee]

I'd buy it.

Ok, before you write me off as a total nut, hear me out. I've done more than my fair share of travelling for work and eating on the road. It is REALLY difficult to find good looking fresh fruits and vegetables at convenience stores and the like. Often, the only choice is a sorry looking basket of apples, bananas, and/or oranges, and I almost never pick the banana. Why? Because bananas have a very limited amount of time between too-green-to-eat and so-ripe-I-would-only-use-it-for-babana-bread and these venues don't have very high fresh produce turnover. So I think some sort of special packaging (special controlled air-flow plastic something, I would assume) to keep the banana at optimum eating ripeness would increase sales and cut down on waste.

With all the lamenting about poor eating habits in the U.S. (and increasingly, the world), we have to be willing to embrace some of these "stupid" ideas as making the best of a less than ideal situation. In a perfect world, I would pack pristine fruits and vegetables in my car or suitcase for every trip, bought for the best price at the peak of natural freshness from my local farmer's market. But in the real world, when I run into a convenience store because I'm hungry and just need something - anything - to eat, it's nice to have a reasonably healthy alternative. And 99 cents isn't too much to pay for a fresh piece of fruit on the road, considering I'd spend that much on a bag of chips or whatnot anyway.

[M.X.Hassett]

This reminds me of the pre-peeled shrink wrapped oranges that are coming out, because people dont have time to peel an orange.

[prasantrin]

This reminds me of the pre-peeled shrink wrapped oranges that are coming out, because people dont have time to peel an orange.

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I'd buy those! I hate getting my nails all orangey and plugged up with orange peel (I'm really just a girly girl at heart!).

I just remembered, when I was in junior high, my mother used to peel, break (just the first one--not completely sectioned) and wrap my oranges whenever she made me lunch. She rarely ever made my lunches, so I think that was one of the ways she made up for it (not that a 14-year old can't make her own lunch, but most of the kids' lunches were made by their mothers). She used to make mayonnaise for our sandwiches, too.

[srhcb]

I just remembered, when I was in junior high, my mother used to peel, break (just the first one--not completely sectioned) and wrap my oranges whenever she made me lunch.  She rarely ever made my lunches, so I think that was one of the ways she made up for it (not that a 14-year old can't make her own lunch, but most of the kids' lunches were made by their mothers).  She used to make mayonnaise for our sandwiches, too.

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My Mother used to take the seeds out of grapes for us!

SB (will remember to thank her)

[M.X.Hassett]

My Mother used to take the seeds out of grapes for us!

SB (will remember to thank her)

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Ahh...but did she peel them also.

[tejon]

Back in first grade, I remember a girl who brought an apple in her lunch each day. Nothing at all different about that, but the apple was cored, sliced into wedges, and reformed into an apple shape and wrapped in plastic. The real miracle (to all of us) was that the apple wasn't brown when she ate it. We all clamored around her each day, hoping for a bite of her special apples. It was only many years later that I finally realized the secret was simply a little lemon juice. Mystery solved.

[prasantrin]

Back in first grade, I remember a girl who brought an apple in her lunch each day. Nothing at all different about that, but the apple was cored, sliced into wedges, and reformed into an apple shape and wrapped in plastic. The real miracle (to all of us) was that the apple wasn't brown when she ate it. We all clamored around her each day, hoping for a bite of her special apples. It was only many years later that I finally realized the secret was simply a little lemon juice. Mystery solved.

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Oops. I sometimes got those, too. But I might have done them myself sometimes (it's been so long, it's difficult to remember). And thinking back, those oranges were only sometimes completely peeled. Sometimes the peel was just scored with a knife, so it was easier to peel.

And as a very young child, I also got the peeled and seeded (doesn't that really mean put are being put in?), but I can't remember if it was mother or an aunt who used to do that. Just sometimes, as a treat.

Personally, I'd pay a little more for any kind of fruit that's already peeled and portioned (that needs peeling, that is). Fresh pineapple, for example, is much easier to eat if it's already peeled, and in Japan, little tubs of it are readily available. I don't worry as much about waste since there's usually only enough for one or maybe two servings. And I'm more likely to eat it because it's already cubed and I don't have to do anything to it.

[Bridie]

I have to agree that I like the idea of being able to buy a decent banana at a convenience store. When I am travelling, especially on business trips, I often find it difficult to get fresh fruit, and I would definitely buy a banana at a convenience store. I could also see myself buying one of the bananas on days when I am out running errands and I want a snack. I often find myself in a Starbucks, or a convenience store looking for the least bad option (on the otherhand, the Walkers shortbread at Starbucks would still be likely to beat the banana).

On a related note, I was recently on an airplane flying home from a business trip, and I was offered a package of apple slices. I wanted a piece of fruit, and I had recently read a NY Times article about how they preserve applie slices, so I decided to try them. The apple tasted fine, and looked fresh, the only strange thing about the appearance was that the flesh just next to the skin looked somewhat translucent. The other difference from a regular apple was that if you licked the slices, there was no flavour. It sounds bizarre, but I did lick a slice (subtly, so that everyone else on the plane wouldn't think I was crazy) because I had been reading about how they were coated with a flavourless substance to preserve them, and to prevent them from browning, and I wanted to see if I could taste the chemicals.

[natasha1270]

I don't quite know what to make of this single-serving banana... or pre-peeled oranges, for that matter.

I have seen these: Express Bake PotatOH! at the grocery store ($.79/ea @ Giant) right there next to the bins of potatoes. Not my thing but someone must be buying them. Well, at least its real produce rather than some frozen microwave "meal".

N.

[CaliPoutine]

and dont forget this to hold your banana. clicky

[andiesenji]

There are vending machines that sell individual fruits, apple, orange, banana, pear, at the hospital next door to my office.

Since the cafeteria is only open certain hours and some people may forget to bring a snack, this helps those working the night hours to get through.

[Alex]

There are vending machines that sell individual fruits, apple, orange, banana, pear, at the hospital next door to my office. 

Since the cafeteria is only open certain hours and some people may forget to bring a snack, this helps those working the night hours to get through.

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Yes! We had a couple of these in my high school cafeteria 40 years ago, and they were incredibly popular. I tell my current students (college) about this and they think it's so quaint. Sigh.

[FabulousFoodBabe]

and dont forget this to hold your banana. clicky

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this is a joke, right?

Feeling chided and rightly so, I went back and read the links. Yes, this is being targeted to convenience stores and yes, it would be nice to have fruit available. I used to commute, via car, 100 miles a day and all I could easily get at the gas station was pretzels. I somehow can't see a kid choosing a banana at a convenience store, though. Maybe it's because food outside the house was such a big deal for us as kids that I only bought food at the 7-11 when it was those wonderful soft stick pretzels in little wax bags ...

And count me among the "wrap the apple" and "wrap the orange" parents.

[MarketStEl]

and dont forget this to hold your banana. clicky

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this is a joke, right?

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Oh, my, my.

I could think of several uses for this product that have nothing at all to do with keeping your banana from messing up your notes or homework.

From its design, I'm not so sure that its inventors didn't have similar thoughts.