Eureka! Juice is making Australians rich
WHAT is it about Australians and juice? The craze for fruit-and-vegetable concoctions seems to know no end, and our entrepreneurial minds are cashing in.
WHAT is it about Australians and juice?
The craze for fresh squeezed, pressed and blended fruit-and-vegetable concoctions seems to know no end, and our most entrepreneurial minds are cashing in.
We’ve all heard of the runaway success of such brands as Boost, Nudie and Emma and Tom.
Boost founder Janine Allis hit BRW’s Rich Women 2015 list in March with a net worth of $66 million, 15 years after founding the popular franchise, which now stretches across 17 countries with more than 350 stores.
Now a lesser-known chain that began with a tiny family-run fruit shop in Sydney’s eastern suburbs has emerged as the sector’s latest success story.
Top Juice has just won two major accolades for its rapid expansion, appearing at number eight on BRW’s Fast 100 list of Australia’s fastest-growing companies, before being crowned Top Franchisor at the SmartCompany Smart50 Awards on Thursday night.
It’s an incredible achievement for what began as a simple shop in Double Bay established by Lebanese immigrant Ali Sawan in the early 1990s.
In the early 2000s, Mr Sawan nabbed a coveted spot in Sydney’s David Jones food hall, and by 2012 he had built on its success to open seven more stores.
That’s when general manager Barry Barber came on board, and the franchise really took off.
Top Juice now has 42 stores and counting in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria, and turned over a whopping $31.7 million in the last financial year, up 148 per cent on the previous year.
People living outside of Sydney may not have encountered the chain, but that is likely to change as the company plots its next stage of growth.
“I think we’ll be talking mid-40s by the end of the next financial year,” Mr Barber told news.com.au, adding that the results included turnover from 13 stores that were yet to complete their first year of trading.
Mr Barber said the chain’s success lay in its ability to tap into multiple segments of the fast food market.
“I think where we’ve been popular and effective is we’ve been able to offer a product that’s got broad appeal.”
Top Juice is pitched at health nuts and those looking to “make a healthy change”, along with occasional juice consumers and the booming youth market.
The menu is focused on fresh fruit and vegetable juices, along with fresh cut fruit, natural yoghurt and salads that you would find in a high-quality family fruit shop. They’ve even got chocolate-covered strawberries.
Smoothies are on offer, but unlike at Boost they are not the brand’s core business.
It’s for this reason that Mr Barber does not view Boost as its direct competitor, speaking instead of a highly-segmented juice market that is booming.
“We’ve been doing what we’re doing in one form or another since the early days,” he said.
“It’s only now that consumer demand has really caught up.”
And, he said, “We don’t do coffee.”
Despite Top Juice’s expansion gaining attention from the business press, Mr Barber said the company did not see itself as growing aggressively.
“We think we’re being conservative in our approach,” he said. “It’s not a matter of opening a store on every corner ... It’s been gradual growth.”
Top Juice had opened 10 to 13 news stores a year over the past four years, he said, mostly in shopping centres.
“It’s really about being in those high-traffic environments where there’s a lot of footfall,” Mr Barber said.
Mr Sawan still owned a one-third stake in the privately-owned company and took a hands-on approach to its operations, he said.
“He’s at the markets every morning picking the produce.”
We just hope he finds a moment at the end of the day to put his feet up and enjoy a few chocolate-covered strawberries.
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