‘Health is wealth’ is a popular maxim that has been on the lips of several nutritionists, especially when the Federal Ministry of Health revealed that Nigeria loses about 2,300 under five-year-old children and 145 women of childbearing age every day.
The revelation has indirectly launched a campaign for fruit food supplement. This campaign, which had boosted the demand for fruits and vegetables, has opened the eyes of discerning investors to innovation that can increase peoples’ appetite for fruits juice.
Having observed that a lot of Nigerians do not have the patience of buying different fruits, cutting and mixing them for consumption, industry experts have advised both unemployed and employed Nigerians to create sources of income for themselves by selling smoothie as food supplement across the country.
Smoothie better than juice Smoothie is a thick beverage made from blended raw fruit or vegetables with other ingredients like water, ice and healthy sweeteners, but not sugar. On the other hand, juice is a beverage made from the extraction or pressing out of the natural liquid contained in fruit and vegetables.
Experts have thrown their weight behind smoothie, as they argue that it is better than juice. While the former is like taking the whole fruit, the fibrous portion of the fruit in the latter is removed and consumers are left with only micronutrients in liquid form.
This alone, they said, had increased the demand for smoothie, making it a lucrative business for any one. A certified nutrition and clinical weight loss specialist, Mrs. Ronke Edoho, explained that the attraction of the production of natural fruit drink is that the raw materials are readily available almost everywhere, as we have them in abundance across the country.
Some of the fruits are oranges, pineapples, mangoes, lime, lemons, pawpaw and water melon, among others. From a 50cl bottle of smoothie, the Chief Executive Officer of 9jaFoodie said, “The producer can make a profit of N150.
Depending on the fruit in the bottle and adopted marketing style, about 10 bottles can be sold daily at a cost of N600 each.” Utensils needed are boiler, blender, fruit extractor, and a filter for sieving the fruit shaft among others.
For instance, to make a strawberry fruit drink, the ingredients you will need are: a dozen of strawberries, squeezed juice of two lemons and fresh squeezed sugar cane juice to taste. How to prepare: Put the strawberry in a blender, then add 2 cups of water and puree until it is smooth.
Place your sieve over a large bowl; pour the mixture through the sieve, gently squeeze on the content of the sieve to remove left over juice, otherwise use a big spatula to press the mixture. Add 2-3 cups of more water to the squeezed juice, add the lemon juice and sugar cane.
To make sure your fruit juice is well preserved, “put your juice in a glass jar, with an airtight lid and fill it up to the very top. There should be a minimum amount of air in the jar as the oxygen in air (air is about 20 per cent oxygen) will “oxidize” and damage the juice. Immediately, store it in the fridge and consume it when you are ready,” she said.
In order to be able to market your product well, find a good location, you may have to consider your nearness to raw materials, as well as your proximity to your target market.
These two factors will go a long way in ensuring that your business runs smoothly, because the issue of transportation will be eased tremendously due to how close you will be to your materials and customers, saving you time and money. You will need to get a good place to properly package and store your products. A warehouse or a store will be needed for storing as well as packaging the products.
This will ensure they are in good order when they get to the consumer. The business still has a lot of potentials as it is widely untapped and has a lot of demand for the product.
RECALL
Fruit juice has nutritional benefits It is cost effective The raw materials for production is readily available The demand is high Production process is easy You can produce at the convenience of your house
