Let's get fresh
Squashes, crushes, smoothies - the juice sector keeps coming up with ways to attract new markets. Amanda Marcus gets fruity.
As the nation continues its quest for healthier, more natural drinks, the main winners, apart from water, are juice and juice drinks. Britvic estimates that consumption of juice drinks in the leisure and catering sector grew by 10% in value and by 7% in volume last year, a trend which is "undoubtedly set to continue", according to its latest Soft Drinks Report.
"The rise in popularity of juice bars such as Crussh, Jus Café and many others can leave no doubt that the fresh juice market is evolving into the biggest thing to hit the catering industry since the coffee bar boom of the 1990s," says Richard Gilbert, managing director of Gilberts Food Equipment, which imports Zumex juicing machines from Spain.
He goes on: "It's not so long ago that it was impossible to get a decent cappuccino or espresso in the UK, unless you were in an Italian restaurant. Now, almost every bar and restaurant has a good-looking coffee machine, and customers are impressed by the theatre of watching the coffee being produced fresh on site. The same can be said for producing freshly prepared juice on the premises."
Gilbert points out the benefits of squeezing on site. "Many of the vitamins within the fruit are lost within a short time of juicing," he says, "so squeezing in front of the customer is not just theatrical but also the only way to ensure that the nutrient content remains high." It's also likely to be more cost-effective than buying in bottled juice, offers greater flexibility and, says Gilbert, it's not unusual to achieve a mark-up well in excess of 500% on cost.
Where fresh-squeezing is not possible or desirable, the next best thing is bottled or packaged fresh juices, and companies offering these are proliferating. Demand for high-quality pure juices in single-serve packs is growing, and several companies are launching offers specifically into food service as a result.
According to supplier Cawston, orange juice is still the most popular flavour, with apple juice next. It has launched a range of pure fruit juices, aimed specifically at the food service market, which are additive-free but pasteurised for longer shelf life. Varieties include apple, apple and cherry, and apple and cranberry in individual portions.
Juice4U was launched in June 2000 and claims to be selling 7,000 litres of juice a week, with orange juice its biggest seller to the hotel and breakfast market. According to the company, fresh, non-pasteurised juice sales are growing by 20% a year.
Whereas fresh orange juice remains by far the most popular, today's consumers are now demanding something extra, with blends such as peach and orange or apple and cranberry. Exotic ingredients such as ginger, ginseng or schisandra are also becoming popular, acting as natural stimulants to replace the caffeine kick.
Lawrence Mallinson, owner-director of James White Drinks, says that contract caterers are beginning to offer customers organic ranges in response to a niche but growing demand which is mainly "young and urban". His company first launched a range of organic juices to complement its premium classic juices four years ago, mainly aimed at fine-food outlets, farm shops and delicatessens, but the bottles are now moving into contract sites.
The latest addition is Apple and Crushed Ginger. "A short shelf life can discourage people from stocking products for a niche market," Mallinson says, "but ours are packed in bottles which can keep for months, despite the fact they contain no preservatives."
RDA is another organic juice provider, currently offering three flavours but promising many more in the future.
Cranberry brand Ocean Spray is launching a 250ml can and a bar dispense system. "With cranberry juice consumption at an all-time high in the UK, this launch is our response to the growth in demand for cranberry drinks across all trade sectors," says general manager Sarah Johnson.
Take-away vitamins
As the grab-and-go market continues to increase, hand-held fruit juices are growing with it.
Thejuicecompany's ready-to-drink Smoothiepack range can be stored for six months, thanks to new packaging in cartons aimed at the grab-and-go sector.
Johnson's launches Smoothease this month, this being a new range of pure fruit and yogurt smoothies in six flavours, including Strawberry, Banana, Apple & Orange and Vanilla & Honey.
And Innocent is launching a new range of pure fruit juices this month, said to be lighter and more thirst-quenching than its traditional smoothies. Lucy Ede, the "head fruitologist" at Innocent, says that there was an obvious gap in the market for a range of premium fresh juices, and Innocent believes people will pay more for good-quality juices if the benefits are communicated to them. Ede says: "This market is small and quite niche at the moment, as it was with our smoothies, but we believe that there is long-term growth potential as people start to enjoy the benefits of fresh juices rather than concentrated or long-life drinks."
For kids, Fruit Shoot has been very successful, according to Clare Starling, marketing manager at Wimpy International, who says that, with increasing demand for resealable packs for drinking on the move, consumers are moving increasingly to packaged drinks.
Squeeze yourself
Gilberts Food Equipment has launched in the UK the latest Zumex fresh orange juice machine, capable of producing 120 litres per hour. The Zumex Self Service is aimed at sites with high throughput. With a simple-to-operate lever connected to a non-drip tap, customers can serve themselves. The machine feeds in oranges from a hopper, slicing each in half and squeezing out 98% of the juice. Price is £3,900 excluding VAT.
Johny automatic orange squeezers - distributed in the UK by Gilberts - are suitable for orange, grapefruit, lemon or lime or cocktail mixers, and need three oranges to produce half-a-pint of fresh juice. They are available in eight colours, in automatic and non-automatic models, at prices from £350 excluding VAT and £220, respectively.
A final word
While water and juice are this year's success stories, the water sector is still less than half the size of the cola market (Britvic Soft Drinks Report) and many of the most popular new soft drinks are currently holding only a fraction of the market. They are growing in parallel to the dominant brands rather than cannibalising them. Clearly, the trend towards functional, healthier drinks looks set to continue as the soft drinks market expands, and competition will be intense. For the consumer, it should mean being spoilt for choice.
Leisure and catering: the leaders
| Beverage | Volume (million litres) | % share | % change |
| Cola | 854 | 31 | +3 |
| Water | 689 | 25 | +6 |
| Fruit juice | 388 | 14 | +4 |
| Flavoured carbonates | 373 | 14 | +2 |
| Lemonade | 216 | 8 | -1 |
| Dilutables | 39 | 1 | 0 |
| Mixers | 45 | 2 | -2 |
| Juice drinks | 92 | 3 | +7 |
| Energy | 29 | 1 | +7 |
| Total soft drinks | 2,725 | 100 | +4 |
Source: Synesis/Britvic Soft Drinks Report 2002
Beverages: the market
| Consumer group | % hot | % soft | % cold |
| All consumers | 57 | 26 | 17 |
| Kids | 16 | 63 | 22 |
| Youth | 41 | 41 | 19 |
| Adult | 67 | 17 | 16 |
