Blueberry Tea Tim Woods UK Ag Economics

1. Ideas to Enterprise Case Blueberry TeaTim WoodsUK Ag Economics

2. Background • Significant interest in value-added blueberry products • Lots of direct marketing – Farm markets and CSAs • State bill authorized on-farm processing and limited direct market sales • Blueberries have many health and product versatility attributes

3. Information Needs for Product Design • What value-added blueberry products are going to capture the greatest interest? • Would these products be of interest in a CSA? • Does ‘organic’ or ‘sugar free’ carry any value? • Survey 1: 25 CSA patrons of a local small fruit CSA

4. Initial Findings for CSA Survey • Highest interest in organic formulations for • regular blueberry jam • blueberry yoghurt • blueberry raisinettes • canned whole blueberries • blueberry syrup • Relatively little interest in sugar free options

5. Information Needs • Tea, syrup, and vinegar are the easiest recipes to launch. • Keep rankings of other products in mind for larger development plan. • Focusing on tea, what is the demand and consumption locally? Is it mostly hot or iced? Is there an openness to loose leaf tea? How many households own an ice tea maker? How would blueberry tea compare to blackberry or a fruit blend tea? • Survey 2: 1,000+ KY food consumers

6. Willingness-to-Pay Estimates for Different Product Attributesfor Other Blueberry Products All values based on a 99% confidence interval except where noted by (*)

7. What is the KY Market?

8. Initial Findings for Food Consumer Survey 1= low interest 5=high interest Blends may be good Definitely bag over loose leaf

9. Information Needs • Does presentation of a physical product make a difference for an assortment of blueberry products? • Does health information make a difference?

10. WTP Equation Parameter Estimation Results Technical Market Research Who wants the product? How badly do they want it?

11. Blueberry Tea & Basil-Vinegar Sensitivity Analysis – Different Consumer Interest

12. Information Needs • At some point we need to get prospective customers to really open up about things they like and don’t like about a product – blueberry tea, in this case. • What is the interest in selected attributes we might want to feature; i.e. ‘local’, ‘blends’, etc. • A series of more specific questions on tea consumption, loose leaf, who one buys tea for, ideal sales venues, packaging, pricing. • Survey 4: Blueberry Tea Focus Group

13. Implications for Marketing Local Blueberry in Kentucky • Modest demand for organic options – could add significant expense with little reward • Lots of tea drinkers at fairly high consumption levels • Slight leaning toward iced tea over hot • Bagged tea in higher demand • Consider straight blueberry and line extension with other fruit and blends

14. Market Strategy? • Consider customer purchase decision • How do I protect the opportunity? • Other ‘BIG’ teas (Celestial Seasons) • Small/local entrants • See strategy table • What might they do?

15. Building and protecting your opportunity