11
de Gener
de
2017
Act.
11
de Gener
de
2017
Juices are all the rage. And even more so if they are cold-pressed. The latest incursion into the fruit and vegetable juice market comes from the Kimon Fruits company under the brand The Juice Lover, a bid by the company to squeeze more juice –and never better said- from a growing market that they know like the palm of their hand after 15 years working in Mercabarna.
"We know how and where to buy fruit and vegetables, we can store them and now we can work directly making juice," says Kimon Fruits food consultant, Àlex Barrachina, who sets the strategy for this new business. He says the company comes out of a commitment by two colleagues –Joaquim Forn and Ramon Ponç- after they realised they had everything they needed to launch onto the market, while he was charged with creating the ideal formulas for each type of customer.
A juice for each person
Their strong point is this: they want to create juices for all types of publics, but adapted to their specific needs. The first step has been to create a "basic subbrand", points out Barrachina, "it is called Ethics, which shows what we are: ethical, that we work with all types of basic fruits and vegetables."
This recipe is already to be found in different shops in Barcelona for a price of around 5 euros, but soon new juices will be launched for sports people, pregnant women or children, among others. What makes them stand out is the combination of fruits and vegetables, which are adapted to the needs of the moment.
Aware of the concentration of brands devoted to selling juices, shakes and smoothies, the firm uses a bottle that provides added value. In Ètics' case, it is a bottle with a label that comes with a seed. "We want you to plant it and grow it, to see how it is completely natural," argues the consultant.
They are still studying the format for the juices targeted at sports people, but everything points to a more ergonomic design or one that allows the container to be assembled and disassembled depending on its use. "What we want to do is target each subbrand to a sector and for the bottle and the product to have a distinctive feature," he insists.
At the same time, it is a strategy aimed at making the consumption of juices a year-round thing. As he says, "a cold juice is not for winter", but giving a specific function to each juice will help them boost sales outside of the summer months. And always staying away from the detox craze, a "war" they are clear they do not want to get involved in.
100% natural juices
The whole proposal earned them second prize in the Mercabarna Innova awards, highlighting the organisation among the 700 agri-food SME's located there.
In fact, everything stays close to home because Kimon Fruits already purchased from suppliers located in Mercabarna, meaning that these companies will contribute to making the juices. As Barrachina says, "the two founding partners every morning arrive on bicycles, passing by the stands to see what there is and purchasing produce both to sell and to make the juices."
They also make the drinks themselves. "We take charge of cleaning the raw materials, we ensure that they pass the necessary controls, and we also package and label them," he says.
So far, when they have been on the market for only five months, they have already sold close to 5,000 bottles. All of the sales have been in Barcelona, but they are already in contact with a French client to distribute the product in Paris in 2017. Thus, they do not rule out increasing the team, currently made up of four people.
So, they begin the new year with the aim of consolidating the product both on the national and international markets, work that, he says, they will do through Acció to "expand the brand in Europe" and leave far behind the 4,500-euro turnover with which they expect to end 2016.
"We know how and where to buy fruit and vegetables, we can store them and now we can work directly making juice," says Kimon Fruits food consultant, Àlex Barrachina, who sets the strategy for this new business. He says the company comes out of a commitment by two colleagues –Joaquim Forn and Ramon Ponç- after they realised they had everything they needed to launch onto the market, while he was charged with creating the ideal formulas for each type of customer.
A juice for each person
Their strong point is this: they want to create juices for all types of publics, but adapted to their specific needs. The first step has been to create a "basic subbrand", points out Barrachina, "it is called Ethics, which shows what we are: ethical, that we work with all types of basic fruits and vegetables."
This recipe is already to be found in different shops in Barcelona for a price of around 5 euros, but soon new juices will be launched for sports people, pregnant women or children, among others. What makes them stand out is the combination of fruits and vegetables, which are adapted to the needs of the moment.
Aware of the concentration of brands devoted to selling juices, shakes and smoothies, the firm uses a bottle that provides added value. In Ètics' case, it is a bottle with a label that comes with a seed. "We want you to plant it and grow it, to see how it is completely natural," argues the consultant.
They are still studying the format for the juices targeted at sports people, but everything points to a more ergonomic design or one that allows the container to be assembled and disassembled depending on its use. "What we want to do is target each subbrand to a sector and for the bottle and the product to have a distinctive feature," he insists.
At the same time, it is a strategy aimed at making the consumption of juices a year-round thing. As he says, "a cold juice is not for winter", but giving a specific function to each juice will help them boost sales outside of the summer months. And always staying away from the detox craze, a "war" they are clear they do not want to get involved in.
100% natural juices
The whole proposal earned them second prize in the Mercabarna Innova awards, highlighting the organisation among the 700 agri-food SME's located there.
In fact, everything stays close to home because Kimon Fruits already purchased from suppliers located in Mercabarna, meaning that these companies will contribute to making the juices. As Barrachina says, "the two founding partners every morning arrive on bicycles, passing by the stands to see what there is and purchasing produce both to sell and to make the juices."
They also make the drinks themselves. "We take charge of cleaning the raw materials, we ensure that they pass the necessary controls, and we also package and label them," he says.
So far, when they have been on the market for only five months, they have already sold close to 5,000 bottles. All of the sales have been in Barcelona, but they are already in contact with a French client to distribute the product in Paris in 2017. Thus, they do not rule out increasing the team, currently made up of four people.
So, they begin the new year with the aim of consolidating the product both on the national and international markets, work that, he says, they will do through Acció to "expand the brand in Europe" and leave far behind the 4,500-euro turnover with which they expect to end 2016.