YUMA, Ariz. — Dates just had their best year in a decade. Retail sales are up 27 percent, making them the fastest growing and the #1 dried fruit in the country. Today, North America's largest grower and processor of Medjool dates, is betting that momentum turns into a habit and launches Oasis Dates, a new consumer brand that aims to make dates a new go-to healthy pantry essential.
The new brand debuts with whole and pitted Medjool organic and conventional dates alongside two brand new functional health boosted date snacks. The launch is backed by the category’s largest-ever advertising campaign called “Earth's Most Versatile Fruit™,” built to introduce the fruit to a whole new audience of healthy snackers. The new products will roll out this fall at Kroger, Sam's Club, and Whole Foods Market stores nationwide, with additional availability at select national and regional retailers, including Costco, Hy-Vee, H-E-B, and The Giant Company.
“We’re excited to disrupt the date category and build the next iconic produce brand with Oasis Dates,” said Adam Cooper, CEO of Oasis Dates. “We’re taking a unique approach to bringing that vision to life, guided by a leadership team who helped develop and execute brand playbooks at major produce companies. Through unprecedented investment into research and marketing, and my experience building a multi-billion-dollar portfolio of brands at The Wonderful Company, including Wonderful Pistachios, Wonderful Halos, and POM Wonderful, we’re capitalizing upon the category momentum to make dates a beloved healthy sweet snack in more households across the country.”
The new brand is backed by the largest farming and processing scale in the industry. Oasis Dates fruit – 100% U.S. grown and processed – is grown on over 5,000 acres of Oasis Dates farms, which accounts for over half of the entire U.S. Medjool date supply. A vertically integrated operation, with more than 500,000 square feet of processing, drying, storage, and packing on site, Oasis Dates controls quality from the farm to the shelf in North America’s largest Medjool date operation.
Oasis Dates is also committed to sustainable farming practices, including operating the first and only Regenerative Organic Certified® date farm in the world. These farms feature advanced precision farming technology to navigate unpredictable weather and yield the best quality dates during every harvest.
Oasis Dates is launching with an initial line of seven products, including organic and conventional whole and pitted Medjool dates, two newly introduced health-boosted Medjool snacks, and coconut rolled Medjool date treats. The new two boosted snack items that include added functional health benefits are:
- Cinnamon Oat + Gut Health Boosted Dates that pair the natural sweetness of Medjool dates with three sources of fiber, delivering an excellent source of fiber at 8 grams of fiber per serving.
- Salted Caramel + Energy Boosted Dates provide 100 milligrams of natural caffeine from green coffee bean extract, about the same as a cup of coffee, while also delivering 4 grams of fiber per serving.
Ahead of its launch, Oasis Dates conducted the industry’s largest ever consumer research study into date consumption, which found that half of current date eaters already use the fruit in four to six different ways on average, from snacking and smoothies to sugar substitutes and pre-workout boosts. That versatility is the backbone of the brand's messaging and new multi-million-dollar “Earth’s Most Versatile Fruit” advertising campaign, built on three pillars – healthy sweet treat, natural energy boost, and culinary secret weapon. This new campaign will show up everywhere from media and social platforms – including Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, and Tik Tok – to new cart-stopping in-store displays in the produce aisle. Showcasing the campaign’s colorful and bold imagery in-store will attract new consumers to the category and increase sales velocity throughout the year.
“Our goal is to not only grow the Oasis Dates brand, but to double the date category over the next five years. Our research shows that there are many more potential date consumers than current date consumers. We look forward to partnering with our retailers and continuing to develop more innovative products that will introduce consumers to this delicious and versatile fruit that meets a variety of health and lifestyle needs,” said Adam Cooper, CEO of Oasis Dates.
Oasis Dates is on shelves now at Kroger and Sam's Club locations nationwide, along with availability at select national and regional grocery stores and retailers, including Costco, Hy-Vee, H-E-B, and The Giant Company stores in the U.S. Products will also be available at Whole Foods Market stores nationwide later this fall, along with other retailers. To learn more, visit oasisdates.com.
