São Paulo – Imagine making a natural juice without having to slice a fruit, deal with dirty dishes or use the blender. That’s the idea offered by Juice in Time, a company from São Paulo that developed a machine for making juices using capsules that now wants to take its products to the Arab world.
This is how it works: the capsule containing fruit pulp is set up over a plastic cup. The cup is attached to the machine, which releases a thin water stream for one minute, melting the pulp, and the juice is ready to drink.
The system was created by business owner Marcos Roberto Pinotti. He came up with the idea in 2007, founded the company in 2010 and in 2014 he took his product to the market. The development of the product required a USD 1 million in investments.
The machines are already operating in 150 points of sale in the city of São Paulo. The clients are companies, schools, hospitals and diners that can purchase the machine, rent it or loan it for use, in the latter case with the client committing to the purchase of the capsules. “The pulp is made of natural fruit, with no additives, preservatives, sweeteners, flavoring or coloring”, emphasizes the business owner.
Eyeing the Arab market, Pinotti signed a partnership in July of last year with a trade operator in Dubai. “The operator will search for companies, schools and diners to install the machines. He will also search for other operators in the region. His job is to work the whole region”, says Pinotti.
The business owner said that this month, the first batch of machines and capsules arrived in Dubai. It had 60,000 capsules of the flavors orange, grape, lemon, pineapple, pineapple with mint, orange with acerola, açaí berry, passion fruit, hibiscus detox and green tea detox. Pinotti says that these flavors were selected as the ones that would sell better among Arabs. In all, Juice in Time produces 14 juice flavors.
“We did some studies, from the population’s per capita income to the availability of natural juices, their costs, etc. A survey was done and we prospected some companies”, explains Pinotti about the decision of entering the Arab market. Nicolas Daher, the operator chosen to represent the brand in Dubai, lived for 20 years in Brazil.
Besides the United Arab Emirates, Pinotti says to be interested in exporting to Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Egypt. Outside the Arab world, the company sent samples to the United States, Switzerland, Spain and New Zealand.
According to Pinotti, he is waiting to know which flavors were favorites in these markets. The business owner is also looking to sell in Canada, Germany, South Korea and Japan.
Pinotti proves to be well prepared to supply the Arabs with his juices. The capsules come with labels in English and Arabic, and the shelf life of the fruit juices is two years. Juice in Time will have, for the first time, a stand at Gulfood, the Middle East’s largest food fair, which takes place in Dubai on February 21st to 25th.
“We will also hold an event at the Arab Chamber’s space [at Gulfood] for approximately 40 to 50 companies. The idea is to have a tasting session with the juices and to show how the machine works”, he says. The Arab Brazilian Chamber of Commerce will have an exclusive space at the event’s mezzanine for its members.
According to Pinotti, his expectation regarding the fair goes “from getting end consumers [for the machines and capsules] to landing trade partners in the region”.
The Dubai prices for the capsules are yet to be defined. In Brazil, they cost from BRL 4 (USD 1) to BRL 7 (USD 1.75), varying according to the type of contract signed between Juice in Time and the company using the machine.
The machines are manufactured in São Paulo, while the fruit pulps are produced in Pratânia, 270 km from São Paulo. Per month, the company produces four tons of fruit pulp. The revenues forecast for this year is USD 1 million.
Juice in Time
Website: www.juiceintime.com
Nicolas Daher (the brand’s trade operator in Dubai)
Email: nicolas@juiceintime.net
Phone: +971 567 993411
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
