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Brand Calculus to invest in more Booster Juice outlets in Indian metros
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Monday, 10 August, 2009, 08 : 00 AM [IST]
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Nandita Vijay, Bangalore
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Brand Calculus is a Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) franchising company and the India master franchisee for Booster Juice. It will focus on launching Booster Juice outlets in the metro cities in the first phase of expansion in India. The investment per store ranges from Rs 20 lakh for a kiosk to Rs 35- 40 lakh for a stand alone / inline store.
Booster Juice launched its first store at Select Citywalk in Delhi in mid-Aug 2008 and in early 2009 two stores were added in Bangalore at HomeStop Magrath Road and the Total Mall on Old Airport Road. The second quarter of 2009 saw store launches at Garuda Mall and Forum Value Mall at Whitefield in Bangalore.
The response has been very encouraging at all stores and we are witnessing a high degree of repeat customers. We feel that this is indicative of the response that the brand will receive in other major markets too, Anoop Sequeira, CEO, Brand Calculus told F&B News in an email interaction.
With the brand being new to India and offering a range of new products (smoothies) in the Indian market, there has not been any adverse impact in-spite of the brand being launched in difficult recessionary times. There is in an element of freshness with the brand being one of the few to be launched in the QSR segment during the downturn, he added.
According to Fazle Naqvi, Chairman & MD, Brand Calculus, the main objective is to bring the best QSR brands to India. This is where the Canadian based leading international smoothies chain Booster Juice will be the front-runner in a market that is seeing the entry of many international brands. As a healthy and convenient offering, we are certain that the consumers in India will find the health and fitness positioning of the brand relevant to the current lifestyles.
The smoothies are priced from Rs 69 to Rs 129 and offer tremendous value. It is prepared with the best fruits from the world. Our IQF berries come from Europe and South America. We are the only Smoothies or juice business to offer Acai, the Brazilian wonder berry from the Amazon forests. We are the only business to offer a pure fresh wheatgrass drink. This makes our product portfolio very differentiated, informed Sequeira.
The juice Tetra Paks available in the range of Rs 15-20 do cater to the retail market but a Booster Juice product is highly differentiated by the fact that the product is freshly made in front of the customers using fresh ingredients, with no added sugar, synthetic syrups or water.
The most popular products in the respective categories from Booster Juice are Fresh Juices - Orange and Tahiti Squeeze, Smoothies - Strawberry Sunshine and Brazilian Thunder and Super-foods - Wheatgrass and Acai
One of the major problems associated with innovating successfully is capturing consumers' imagination. Most Booster Juice smoothies provide the 5 portions of fruit that doctors are recommending as vital for an individual, in a healthy diet today. This is where Booster Juice is gearing up to provide a healthy fruit drink to a coffee at the coffee bar. Therefore the marketing communication will focus on educating the consumers on these product differentiators. The FM radio will be the desired route to reach the consumers on a mass platform, said Sequeira.
Owned by AW Holdings, Canada, Booster Juice is the numero uno chain of smoothies in Canada and amongst the top five in the world. It is the fastest growing Smoothie business in the North America with over 200 stores.
The smoothie market has experienced rapid growth by delivering consumers healthy convenience. This trend is evident from North America, through UK and Australia. Booster Juice is at the vanguard of the smoothie movement in India.
Like most companies in the Food &Beverage segment brand Booster Juice also relies on the availability of fresh ingredients through a well serviced chilled / frozen supply chain. "It will equally be critical for us to build a good supply chain system to support the front end in every city that we launch in India. The availability of good A-grade locations at reasonable rentals will also be critical for the success of our brand in India," said Sequeira.
Among the future efforts are launch of Mango Mania Smoothie specifically developed in India for the Indian consumers. We have also worked closely on the back end support to ensure the availability of the fruit right through the year for the Indian consumer to enjoy a fresh Mango Smoothie right through the year. This is a path breaking initiative in the Indian juice and smoothies market. Development of such products that will cater to local market will be an ongoing effort.
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