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APLETS & COTLETS, CASHMERE
Mike Irwin
The Wenatchee World (Washington)
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
July 10, 2011 Sunday
July 10--Location: 117 Mission Ave., Cashmere.
Owner: Liberty Orchards, Inc., a family-owned corporation
Year started: 1920.
Number of employees: 50 to 150, seasonal.
Products: Most famous for Aplets & Cotlets, our original products from
the 1920s. The company also makes a full line of fruit and nut candies
(which sell as well as well as Aplets & Cotlets), and high-quality
chocolate candies with fruits and nuts as the prime ingredient.
Are all materials or ingredients made in the U.S.A.? No. While most of
the company's raw materials and packaging are grown or manufactured
in the U.S., Liberty also purchases supplies from around the world,
especially raw ingredients like tropical fruits and nuts which do
not grow in the U.S. climate.
What separates Liberty's products or services from competitors? "We're
unique in the U.S. candy industry," said company president Greg
Taylor. "We compete primarily in the high-quality gift segment of
the industry, which is dominated by fancy chocolates." So, during
the holiday season, Aplets & Cotlets and Fruit Delights are often
the only non-chocolate alternative for consumers, Taylor said.
How'd you get started in the business? Founders Mark Balaban and
Armen Tertsagian were young Armenian immigrants who settled in
Cashmere in the early 1900s and bought an apple orchard, which they
named Liberty Orchards. After a few years, they began to wonder what
else they could do with their apples besides selling them as fresh
fruit. They developed a method for drying apples, which led to a
big business with the U.S. military during World War I. In 1920,
they developed a candy made from their apples, which was based on
the eastern Mediterranean confection, Locoum, which they had loved
as children. They named it Aplets.
What's the future of Liberty Orchards? The company has developed a
new nutrition-energy bar -- Orchard Bar -- designed to compete against
Clif, PowerBar and others in the rapidly growing nutrition bar market.
Taylor said that Orchard Bars are loaded with fruits, nuts, seeds,
and soy nuggets, "and taste better than anything on the market."
Source: Greg Taylor, president of Liberty Orchards.
Mike Irwin
The Wenatchee World (Washington)
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News
July 10, 2011 Sunday
July 10--Location: 117 Mission Ave., Cashmere.
Owner: Liberty Orchards, Inc., a family-owned corporation
Year started: 1920.
Number of employees: 50 to 150, seasonal.
Products: Most famous for Aplets & Cotlets, our original products from
the 1920s. The company also makes a full line of fruit and nut candies
(which sell as well as well as Aplets & Cotlets), and high-quality
chocolate candies with fruits and nuts as the prime ingredient.
Are all materials or ingredients made in the U.S.A.? No. While most of
the company's raw materials and packaging are grown or manufactured
in the U.S., Liberty also purchases supplies from around the world,
especially raw ingredients like tropical fruits and nuts which do
not grow in the U.S. climate.
What separates Liberty's products or services from competitors? "We're
unique in the U.S. candy industry," said company president Greg
Taylor. "We compete primarily in the high-quality gift segment of
the industry, which is dominated by fancy chocolates." So, during
the holiday season, Aplets & Cotlets and Fruit Delights are often
the only non-chocolate alternative for consumers, Taylor said.
How'd you get started in the business? Founders Mark Balaban and
Armen Tertsagian were young Armenian immigrants who settled in
Cashmere in the early 1900s and bought an apple orchard, which they
named Liberty Orchards. After a few years, they began to wonder what
else they could do with their apples besides selling them as fresh
fruit. They developed a method for drying apples, which led to a
big business with the U.S. military during World War I. In 1920,
they developed a candy made from their apples, which was based on
the eastern Mediterranean confection, Locoum, which they had loved
as children. They named it Aplets.
What's the future of Liberty Orchards? The company has developed a
new nutrition-energy bar -- Orchard Bar -- designed to compete against
Clif, PowerBar and others in the rapidly growing nutrition bar market.
Taylor said that Orchard Bars are loaded with fruits, nuts, seeds,
and soy nuggets, "and taste better than anything on the market."
Source: Greg Taylor, president of Liberty Orchards.