Inflation may be hitting the average person’s wallet especially hard at the grocery check-out lane, but as Del Monte has learned, there's a market for a rare new "luxury" pineapple, even if it is selling for $400.
What makes the Rubyglow pineapple so pricey? The fruit—created in Costa Rica and boasting a rare reddish exterior though familiar yellow interior—is the result of 16 years of research using traditional crossbreeding techniques, according to the company’s website. Only a few thousand will be produced this year and are being sold in North America and China.
Melissa’s Produce, a specialty fruit and vegetable seller based out of California put it up for sale for $395.99…and it’s already sold out.
“Consumers are willing to pay for something that’s special,” Cindy van Rijswick, fresh produce strategist for Rabobank’s global research team, told CNN. The luxury fruit market, while small, “always” exists for “higher-end restaurants, or foodies, or certain online channels,” she noted.
Like other once-rare fruits, the price will likely come down in years to come, which has been seen with indoor vertical strawberry farm Oishii.
Oishii is selling more than just [strawberries]: It’s selling a luxury item. The berries are packed in flat boxes that spotlight each individual fruit, more like a package for hand-crafted chocolate truffles than the mold-hiding plastic containers you see at a supermarket. Each fruit is supposed to be perfect.
“Even at $50, we had thousands of people on the waitlist constantly,” said Oishii CEO Hiroki Koga.
Buzzy or not, $50 for strawberries is not a sustainable price. Today, after rounds of funding and improved technology, Oishii’s products are more readily available, and much cheaper. You can get Oishii berries at mainstream grocers for around $10-$14 per pack. (CNN)
The same is true of Del Monte's Pinkglow pineapple. Not only is it sweet and unique with its pink flesh, the fruit is wrapped in a gift box. In 2020, it sold for about $50 but that has come down in many places to around $9.
Still, even the Pinkglow's hefty initial price tag is a far cry from the Rubyglow.
One chef who tried it after Melissa's reached out told CNN the Rubyglow will likely be on charcuterie boards of the affluent during holiday gatherings more as a centerpiece than anything else.
The fruit “was absolutely delightful,” he said, but not worth the cost.