There’s nothing like a fresh fruit juice to beat the summer heat. As it turns out, it’s also the best time of the year to rake in some money just by stirring up some thirst quenchers. Now, beat that!
Consider the number of juice stalls mushrooming just about everywhere – ritzy café-style ones with a menu that lists out fruit punches and mocktails with fancy names to buckets mounted on makeshift tables with labels like ‘watermelon juice’ or ‘sherbet’ scrawled on them. Market studies support the fact that we are witnessing a trend reversal of sorts where aerated soft drinks like Coca cola and Pepsi are being dumped in favour of freshly-made fruit and vegetable juice.
It’s about time that small scale entrepreneurs took the cue. The summer months can bring a windfall if you cash in on the demand for fresh fruit juice. Going by the trend, the early birds have already set to work, flooding the sun-beaten market with fresh juice, ready-to-mix fruit pulps, sherbets and much more.
Healthy is in vogue
Gone are the days when coke bottles were emptied by the dozens. Healthy is the new thunder if the demand for fruit and vegetable mocktails are anything to go by. Juice shops selling tasty blends of medicinal veggies and herbs are a runaway hit in many parts of the state.
Cucumber, ash gourd (kumbalanga), bottle gourd (churakka), banana stem (vazhappindi), and beet root are among the popular vegetables used to make juices. Cucumber varieties like ‘mullu vellari’, ‘kani vellari’, and ‘vella vellari’ which is mostly cultivated in parts of Kollam and Trivandrum, are ideal to make juice blends. These can be put in the juicer/mixer without removing the skin to retain the medicinal value. The juice can be mixed with gooseberry extract (nellikka), lemon juice or a dash of ginger extract for extra punch. Apart from being an excellent thirst quencher, these cucumber juices can help control diabetes, arthritis, and acidity.
‘Pottu vellari’ is another variety of cucumber which has found takers among veggie juice lovers of Alappuzha and Ernakulam. Juice shop owners who stock upon ‘pottu vellari’ need to ensure that they are used before they become too ripe as the cucumber splits open to expel the seeds when ripe. But the cucumber flesh blended with sugar and ice is a refreshing drink that will have customers asking for more.
The potential of ash gourd to tap into the juicy side of the market remains unexplored. Its famed weight loss properties are sure to make it an instant hit if made available to target customers. Ash gourd varities like ‘neykkumbalanga’ and banana stem juice are also known for their liver cleansing properties.
Bottle gourd tastes best when boiled and blended with with sugar and milk. You can serve it chilled, but don’t forget to inform juice lovers that bottle gourd cools down your body like nothing else without the ice too. There are less and less people wringing their noses when handed a glass of bitter gourd juice. Its ability to contain diabetes has made it a popular item on the juice menu.
Fruits galore to pick from
The last we heard, nobody had made up their minds on whether the melons – water melon, musk melon and yellow melon – are actually fruits or vegetables that got lumped in among fruits by some botanical bamboozlement. But they definitely are the chartbusters among summer drinks. Close on the heels are mango, pineapple, passion fruit, papaya, grapes, orange and apple. The relatively new star on the list is jackfruit juice/shake. It is easy to stock these up as either raw fruits since they are in season or as fruit pulp which can be refrigerated for a long time.
Syrups are in demand
Storing fruits as syrups is a great way to ensure that you can serve mocktails and fruit punches long after the fruits are out of season. You can both surprise and delight your customers with a refreshing syrup-based drink on a hot day and have them walking in round the year for more.
‘Naruneendi’ (sarsaparilla), nutmeg, lemon, rose petals, coconut water, ‘lololikka’ (coffee plum), ‘jambakka’ (wax apples), hibiscus flowers, ‘shatavari kizhangu’ (asparagus) etc are among the best options to be stored away as syrups.
RTS Clear Juice – a booming market
Ready-to-Serve juices aka RTS juices are the trending fruit concoction in the market right now. They are processed and cleared of pulp and other insoluble substances and reach customers in cans, bottles or tetra packs. These packaged juices have charted a burgeoning growth trajectory over the years and can claim to be one of the most popular ways in which fruit is consumed. According to the FSSAI standards, RTS juices should contain not less than 10% fruit content.
Get started with your fruit juice production unit
To look at the sunny side first, starting a fruit juice manufacturing unit almost anywhere in India is juicy peasy because fruits are available round the year. A unit in Kerala too can find a steady supply of fruits and veggies suitable for juice manufacturing any time of the year. The other highlight is that it is a relatively low investment business – the raw material is easily available and the manufacturing technology is not complex.
On the flip side is the generation of waste from the processing unit. Storing this high pollution load on-site can cause problems for people living nearby. In-plant disposal practices must be set up at the manufacturing units. If it is done in houses, it is necessary ensure proper disposal. Strict guidelines are laid down by the FSSAI regarding the setting up of juice plants which have to be followed by small scale units too. Compliance with FPO standards with regard to sanitary and hygiene conditions of premises, avilability of potable water, limits of preservatives etc are mandatory. As the business takes off, you can opt to buy equipment for refrigeration, water purification, pasteurisation and so on.
Even for small scale units, business opportunities can be enhanced by tying up with your local grocery stores and retail outlets. Set up small juice kiosks at summer trade fairs etc where people are on the lookout for thirst quenchers. Kudumbasree workers, home makers, college-goers and anyone who can do with some pocket money this summer can try their hands at this cool DIY business idea. So there, say aloha to sunny days!
