How much will consumers pay for healthy-in-a-bottle?
As much as $10 and sometimes more. At least that's the belief of high-end grocers like Whole Foods Market and a spurt of small juice companies trying to move the cold-pressed-juice craze from small-batch to mass-produced.
A 16-ounce bottle of BluePrint Red, containing beets, carrots and ginger, among other ingredients, goes for $10 at some retailers. And Whole Foods customers are paying $9 for a bottle of celery-based Twelve Essentials vegetable juice, one of the top-sellers from Suja, an 18-month-old juice brand based in San Diego. Suja co-founder Annie Lawless says customers understand the high cost of what goes into the bottle, including organic produce that is cold pressed and then preserved using a process that leaves most of the nutrients intact. "When you buy a bottle, you're getting all the goodness without any of the effort," says Ms. Lawless, a 26-year-old former law student and yoga instructor. The company says it generated $20 million in revenue in its first year.
Just as carrying a Starbucks coffee cup has become a celebrity fashion accessory and a slung-over-the-shoulder yoga mat can signify a certain devotion to spiritual fitness, porting a clear bottle of green vegetable juice has evolved into a status symbol. Initially, the juicing market was supported mostly by people doing liquid-only cleanses, marketed as a way to rid the body of toxins and bloat. Now, more consumers are drinking juice as a meal replacement, a quick infusion of vegetables or to convey the impression of superior health and discipline.
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TK
Suja's product line is a slate of fruit-and-vegetable juices meant to dose the body with a palatable concentration of nutrients from organic produce. For people doing a liquid-only cleanse, Suja sells packages on its website. A three-day supply costs $225, including shipping on ice outside of California. It has flavors such as Glow, which contains apples, cucumbers, mint, kale and other ingredients, and Green Supreme, with apples, kale and lemon.
Health experts say the vegetable drinks have many beneficial nutrients, although some ingredients, like apples and carrots, can add a lot of sugar. Consumers should be careful to get enough fiber in their diets, since the process of cold-pressed juicing extracts the juice from the fiber-rich leaves and stems. Good sources of fiber can include whole grains and nuts, which aid digestive health.
A simpler route to a well-rounded diet might be to eat the vegetables themselves, rather than as juice, suggests Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. "It's a lot of money, why not have a salad?"
Juice companies say the high cost of the organic produce, and the expense of processing, prevent them from selling their product for less. Consumers making their own juice at home with similar ingredients would pay about the same or more, not counting the cost of equipment, they say. "We wish we could bring the cost down," says Zoë Sakoutis, co-founder of BluePrint
As much as $10 and sometimes more. At least that's the belief of high-end grocers like Whole Foods Market and a spurt of small juice companies trying to move the cold-pressed-juice craze from small-batch to mass-produced.
A 16-ounce bottle of BluePrint Red, containing beets, carrots and ginger, among other ingredients, goes for $10 at some retailers. And Whole Foods customers are paying $9 for a bottle of celery-based Twelve Essentials vegetable juice, one of the top-sellers from Suja, an 18-month-old juice brand based in San Diego. Suja co-founder Annie Lawless says customers understand the high cost of what goes into the bottle, including organic produce that is cold pressed and then preserved using a process that leaves most of the nutrients intact. "When you buy a bottle, you're getting all the goodness without any of the effort," says Ms. Lawless, a 26-year-old former law student and yoga instructor. The company says it generated $20 million in revenue in its first year.
Just as carrying a Starbucks coffee cup has become a celebrity fashion accessory and a slung-over-the-shoulder yoga mat can signify a certain devotion to spiritual fitness, porting a clear bottle of green vegetable juice has evolved into a status symbol. Initially, the juicing market was supported mostly by people doing liquid-only cleanses, marketed as a way to rid the body of toxins and bloat. Now, more consumers are drinking juice as a meal replacement, a quick infusion of vegetables or to convey the impression of superior health and discipline.
View Graphics
TK
Suja's product line is a slate of fruit-and-vegetable juices meant to dose the body with a palatable concentration of nutrients from organic produce. For people doing a liquid-only cleanse, Suja sells packages on its website. A three-day supply costs $225, including shipping on ice outside of California. It has flavors such as Glow, which contains apples, cucumbers, mint, kale and other ingredients, and Green Supreme, with apples, kale and lemon.
Health experts say the vegetable drinks have many beneficial nutrients, although some ingredients, like apples and carrots, can add a lot of sugar. Consumers should be careful to get enough fiber in their diets, since the process of cold-pressed juicing extracts the juice from the fiber-rich leaves and stems. Good sources of fiber can include whole grains and nuts, which aid digestive health.
A simpler route to a well-rounded diet might be to eat the vegetables themselves, rather than as juice, suggests Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. "It's a lot of money, why not have a salad?"
Juice companies say the high cost of the organic produce, and the expense of processing, prevent them from selling their product for less. Consumers making their own juice at home with similar ingredients would pay about the same or more, not counting the cost of equipment, they say. "We wish we could bring the cost down," says Zoë Sakoutis, co-founder of BluePrint
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