Breedx was established in 2017 by industry veterans with more than two decades of experience in vegetable breeding. "Our company was established by people who are coming from this industry, with more than 20 years of breeding experience," explains Ziva Razon, Marketing and Sales Manager for Europe, who is also responsible for building the company's signature brand, Pepperito®.
Pepperito mix - red, yellow, and orange
Focusing on what matters: taste and convenience
While many breeding companies gear their innovations toward growers or retailers, Breedx chose a different path. "The main thing that is different at Breedx from other companies is that we focus on the consumer," says Lior Carmeli, CEO of Breedx. "In most cases, the growers and retailers don't care if the pepper is with seeds or without seeds, but our focus is the consumer."
This commitment is most evident in their two main crops: seedless sweet snack-size peppers and taste-driven cherry and mid-size tomatoes. "As of now, we are dealing with only two crops, the pepper and the tomatoes, only because we believe that in these two, we can create something different while being focused."
Pepperito: A brand with global ambitions
The focus of their Pepperito pepper program is a range of small, sweet, seedless peppers. "We have three colours for the Peperito - red, yellow, and orange - and we are developing different lines in this product," Ziva says. "There will be different sizes and shapes in the future." In Europe, Pepperito is sold as a branded product, while in North America, it is privately labeled by distributors and marketers. Nonetheless, Breedx is pushing hard to establish Pepperito as a recognizable global brand.
The company sees the seedless pepper category as a game-changer. "We believe that in five to ten years, 100% of the sweet pepper will be seedless in the market," Lior mentions. "We're not the only ones that's working on it, but we believe the consumer will be able to enjoy quite a wide range of segments and products with better taste, more convenience, and better quality."
Orange Pepperito
Going beyond uniformity: Segmenting seedless peppers
To drive adoption, Breedx has created sub-categories within its seedless pepper offering. "We divided it between several segments, sub-segments - from one-bite, 2Bites, Mini-Kapia, and other segments," Lior explains. By doing so, the company is able to appeal to a wide range of consumer preferences, all while enhancing eating quality and user experience.
Importantly, Breedx has no intention of entering the mainstream market for seeded or hot peppers. "We have no interest in competing with everyone else on the sweet pepper with seed or hot pepper with seeds," he says.
Helping growers adapt to a new crop
Introducing seedless peppers to growers comes with challenges. "It's a new crop, and growers need to keep it separate from their seeded varieties - especially during the trial phase," Lior explains. "That's not easy for them. It means changing workflows, isolating areas, and managing harvests more carefully."
Market feedback from North America
Breedx recently toured North America to assess market reception. "What's unique in North America is that it's quite a big market," Lior says. "We have seen adoption to the seedless pepper in the past two years on the conical seedless pepper specifically. You can see very good feedback from the consumer, the grower-shippers, and retailers."
While seedless peppers are not yet widely available in every U.S. retail outlet, momentum is growing fast.
Developing tastier tomatoes
In tandem with its pepper breeding efforts, Breedx is also working on tomatoes, specifically cherry and midi types, with superior flavour. "We are developing taste tomatoes, cherry size and a little bit bigger, midi size tomatoes that have a special taste," says Ziva. These are currently being trialled in different locations in Europe, the US, and elsewhere.
Improving tomato flavour remains a key objective. "We need to improve the tomato from a taste point of view in order to bring something different," Lior adds. The company is currently working on various sizes and shapes to provide consumers with more diverse and enjoyable tomato-eating experiences.
Breedx Taste tomatoes
Conventional breeding with strategic collaboration
"We are using conventional breeding techniques, using hybrids in both crops," Lior confirms. They collaborate with leading research institutions, including Israel's Vulcani Institute. "We don't develop all the knowledge by ourselves. We have used governmental and private R&D centres in Israel and outside of Israel in the past, and we intend to continue to do that."
Breedx's small size gives it agility. "One of the things that is good is that it's a small company, so we can easily and quickly make good decisions to support the growers," he says. "We are very close to the growers to understand what they need, from resistance and better yield to better fruit quality."
For more information:
Breedx
Ziva Razon
[email protected]
www.breedx.com