It's a juicy affair!
It's a juicy affair!

Rivoli Sinha who introduced the Joost Juice Bars partnering with Australia based Boost Juice Bars in 2011, says after researching the Indian market for two years she is now planning to raise funds.

Hailing from a family of entrepreneurs who owns India’s security giant, SIS, what made you to venture into the juice segment?

I have had a special interest in the F&B industry, especially the beverage segment. In the early days of my career, I was associated with Marriott International and that experience came handy while establishing Joost in India. While my trip to Australia in August 2008, I came across the first Boost juice parlours and realised it as an interesting opportunity to start in India as I could foresee the need of a healthy beverage segment then. Hence, I introduced Joost Juice in 2011.

How profitable do you find juice business in India?

Beverages segment is the most profitable business in India as the juice market stands at Rs 1,200 crore today. Beverage business has very small model but the output is same in comparison to a restaurant brand.

What made you bring Boost juice to India though it has a disappointing Chinese operation?

Some countries work very well and some countries may go wrong. So, in China something went wrong but that doesn’t make any sense in not bringing Boost to India because Boost is a great brand and have faithfully done franchising in many countries.

Kindly tell us about the journey from Boost to Joost Juice in India?

We had to face a bit setback because there was already an energy drink by the name of Boost and hence we had to rename our product as Joost which now I think has given me a great opportunity to create my own roots in India.

What are your marketing strategies and who all are your target customers?

Presently, I am not focusing on marketing and advertising. My target customer is anybody who is looking for something healthy and honest.

What are you doing to stay away from your competitors as CapriSun, one of the largest juice brand recently entered into the Indian juice market?

I definitely love to see a competitor in the market but what we offer is very specific and healthy, so I am not worried about anybody entering in the same segment.

What is your share in the juice market?

The juice segment in India is still an unorganised market. I am part of a very niche crowd which encourages being healthy. And if I look at the competition in the market, I honestly feel that I do not have a real competitor in the market. First two years of my business was to let the product and logistics in place and I have not even started on sharing the market share presently.

How many stores do you have and what are your expansion plans?

We are presently operating seven outlets and are planning to open four more in the months to come. But this year, I will be focusing on establishing my business and raising funds before going to open market and cities like Mumbai, Bangalore and Hyderabad. However, currently I am keen on raising funds after that I will target all the four metros.

What are the different juice categories you offer and how do you keep them fresh?

We are presently offering three ranges of products; they are smoothies, crushes and juices. However, we have customised a lot of our products keeping in mind the Indian market. For example, to make the product local, the juice which we offer at Australia by the name Mango Magic has been customised and renamed to Mega Mango Magic in India.

From where did you source ingredients for the juices?

As far as sourcing ingredients is concerned, our mantra is to source from local places. We source the ingredients from Azadpur Mandi, Mangoes from Ratnagiri, Strawberries from Mahabaleshwar and Apple from Kashmir. However, a lot of products are brought from abroad, blueberries and raspberries from New Zealand.

 
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