Want to avoid empty calories? Juice Up! Cold pressed juices enter the healthy beverage market

After successfully selling two education focused startups to EduComp, serial entrepreneur Riju Gupta, and his three childhood friends, forayed into the healthy beverage market with Fresh Food. The company’s flagship product Juice Up offers a range of 100 per cent raw and fresh cold pressed juices.

“The current beverage market in India does not offer a single product which is healthy,” says Riju. It was a need which Riju personally felt each time he went out; be it to the cinema, the mall or even an airport lounge. There was absolutely no option available to access fresh and raw juices.

In most developed markets there are cold pressed juice brands which are hugely successful niche businesses. “Clearly as Indians become more health conscious and aware they want to consume healthy foods. Juice up intends to emulate brands like Innocent in Europe and Evolution Fresh and Naked in the US,” adds Riju.

Juice up is a 100 per cent raw, natural and fresh cold pressed juice which has absolutely no added preservative, additive, flavour, colours, or sugars. All packaged juices in the market, including the ones that claim to be 100 per cent natural, use a technique called pasteurisation which heats the ingredients and kills most nutrients. “The shelf life of our juices therefore is only four days and that too in a refrigerator,” adds Riju.

No heat generation during juicing ensures preservation of essential vitamins, minerals and enzymes. Cold pressed juices minimise oxidation during juicing which increases the natural life of nutrients. Juice Up comes in five flavours including Red-o-steady, Melony, Green Mile, Orange Hello yell-o and Nutty Buddy.

Besides a web presence, it’s also available at offline outlets such as Fat Lulu’s, Olive, Bohemia, Studioprana, The Potbelly. Importantly, all of Juice Up’s juices contain less than 100 calories per bottle.

A brainchild of Riju, Chandan Agarwal, Rahul and Manu Bhasin, Fresh Food has a manufacturing unit in Noida with a corporate presence in Delhi. Riju is a serial entrepreneur. He started an online tutoring portal called Learninghour in 2005 which was acquired by Educomp Solutions. His next startup was a satellite based distance learning platform which was again acquired by Educomp. Rahul is a college dropout and certified yoga teacher while Chandan is an IIT Delhi and IIM Ahmedabad alumnus. Manu is an artist and an expert nutritionist.

At present, Fresh Food focuses on Delhi NCR. “Our target audience is people who are into health, and those who are looking to lose weight and therefore wanting to replace a meal with a juice,” says Riju. All its juices on an average contain about one kilogram of fruits and vegetables and can give you adequate calories without corresponding sugars to replace a meal. “It’s a huge opportunity,” says Riju. “In two years time, I want to create a very niche business which will produce 10,000 juices a day.” Fresh Food competes with two Delhi- based startups Antidote and JustPressed.

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