The Hindu Business Line : Juice Zone plans to increase presence

In a bid to cash in on the growing awareness about health, Canadian fast `health' food company Juice Zone is looking to expand its operations in the country.

The company, which had signed on the Cogent Group as its master franchisee in India, is planning to set up about 200 Juice Zone outlets over the next couple of years at an estimated investment of around Rs 75-100 crore.

Currently, the company operates around 26 outlets in the metros and is rolling out other sub-brands to increase its presence in the Indian market.

The company is looking to not only tap the health food segment but also garner a share of the unorganised fresh fruit juice market in India.

The outlets, in addition to selling fresh fruit juices, would have on its menu smoothies, salads, fortifiers and low-fat snacks among others.

"We have recently launched a new brand of outlets named, `Coke Junctions' that serve Colas and are largely for home-delivery or takeaways. The company has so far rolled out 15 such outlets and is aiming to increase the number to around 500 in the next two years," said a company official.

Ready-to-eat foray

The company, sensing the potential in the food-processing sector, has also forayed into the ready-to-eat segment of food products (RTE) and is marketing them under the brand `Insta-meal'.

"We are targeting a turnover of around Rs 250-300 crore by 2008 from the RTE business," said the official, adding that the products are 20 per cent cheaper as compared to other RTE brands.

The company is currently supplying its RTE products, which includes sandwiches and other snacks, to café outlets of Barista and Café Coffee Day.

In talks with oil cos

Juice Zone is also in talks with oil companies like Bharat Petroleum to start its Coke Junctions in petrol pumps.

"Our Coke Junction outlets are a high selling, low margin business model. Hence, its easy to kick-start operations in a limited space," an official pointed out.

The company is bullish on its business in the country and is hoping to maintain a year-on-year growth of 25 per cent.

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