Fruit dealers wary of name change

Press, 21 July 1980, Page 11

Fruit dealers wary of name change

When Is a grapefruit not a grapefruit? When it is a goidfruit, according to the Citrus and Subtropical Fruit Council. The council decided at its conference in Auckland last week to change the name of the fruit to help exports. Local retailers and merchants think' that the name change may help overseas sales of the fruit, but they are not so sure about the local market. Mr G. Turner, the general manager of Turner and Growers, Ltd, which is one of the companies behind, the name change, said New Zealand grapefruit had not been accepted on the overseas market as a true grapefruit. Mr Turner said his com-

pany had tried to improve sales several vears ago by changing the name of the fruit to New Zealand grapefruit. Before that it was known as poor man’s orange. New Zealand grew only a few “true” grapefruit, which tended to be of poor quality because the climate was not suitable, he said. The most popular grapefruit overseas was the Marsh seedless variety. Mr J. A. Deyell, secretary of the New Zealand Citrus and Subtropical Fruit Council, said the name of the fruit would change on the local market as a natural follow-on from the overseas market. Growers had wanted a new name for some time

to create a New Zealand identity for the fruit New Zealand grapefruit was different from other varieties, being a gold colour. The name was chosen from more than 300 entries to a competition run by the council. Mr Deyell said the name still had to be checked and registered before it was promoted. The manager of McFarlane and Growers, Ltd, (Mr A. Cahill), said he thought the change would improve exports of the fruit. The name was brief and related to the fruit. It would mark the New Zealand variety of grapefruit as distinct from other varieties. Mr Cahill said kiwifruit, which used to be known as Chinese gooseberries, had gone ahead on the overseas market since its name had been changed. The manager of Market Gardeners. Ltd (Mr D. L. Good), said the new name would probably improve overseas sales provided it was promoted in the right way. However, he did not think the new “goidfruit” would go down so well on the local market. “Our population really considers that grapefruit is grapefruit, and we would have to wait and see whether it accepted a new name,” he said. Local retailers said there had been little customer reaction to the name change. Mr J. A. Tanner, manager of L. G. Tanner, Ltd, said the fruit needed something to make it popular overseas. The new name would help to establish New Zealand grapefruit as a particular type of the fruit that was distinct from other types.

Other retailers were not so keen about the change. One said that some people were still not accustomed to the name, kiwifruit. The new name for grapefruit would create confusion and cause a downturn in sales until consumers accepted it.