Eastcoast Beverages celebrates six decades of juicing

From its roots as a family-run orchard to a vast beverage company, the Lentini family is determined to squeeze every opportunity from their citrus operation.

For six decades the Lentini family from Kulnura, on the NSW Central Coast, have grown citrus fruit from a sprawling orchard of sunny lemon and orange groves.

But much like the maxim, when life gave the Lentini’s lemons, the family made lemonade, and are now industry leaders in the fruit beverage game focused on producing an Australian-grown, Australian-made product under their brand Eastcoast Beverages.

Founded in 1965 by patriarch Salvatore Lentini, the farm had roots in fresh fruit production, supplying fruit to the Flemington Market.

But a pivotal moment when tariffs were removed on imported fruit concentrate juice in the 1970s changed the dynamic of the beverage industry, making imported product cheaper than domestically-produced juice.

Eastcoast Beverages managing director and third-generation producer Samuel Lentini said his grandfather saw an opportunity to commit to producing a distinctly Australian product as a wave of imported concentrates hit Australian shores.

“They looked at their orchard, and they saw all the second-grade fruit basically going to waste. They made the call and said we’ve got nothing to do with our second-grade, let’s try and get into the fresh market. Everyone’s going towards concentrate, let’s go fresh like it used to be,” Samuel said.

“It was a risk, don’t get me wrong. I always think about how they managed to actually get to that point.”

The Lentini family is now in its third generation of producers growing citrus for their brand, Eastcoast Beverages. Picture: Supplied.

The Kulnura-based property now spans more than 80ha (200 acres) with the aim to buy more land in future to further expand the citrus farm.

Partnering with nearby farms to encourage them to grow more citrus is also part of future expansion.

“We all live on site, we grow on site … basically it’s a full-on family affair,” Samuel said.

WHAT’S INSIDE COUNTS

The enterprise has a focus on lemon production, which accounts for about 70 per cent of the fruit grown in the orchard.

“We grow oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit,” Samuel said, with additional fruit often purchased from other producers in the region to top up volumes required for beverage production.

“It’s our goal to keep everything wholly Australian, but at times there are climatic conditions that make it a little hard. Things like mangoes, for example, we get from up north in Queensland, and other citrus if we can’t get the volume required are pulled from other areas.”

While juice is the main focus of the operation, Samuel said some first-grade fruit is picked, boxed, and sold at wholesale markets as eating fruit.

“The second grade fruit, that sort of ugly fruit that people don’t really want, that’s the best because it doesn’t matter what’s on the outside, it’s what’s inside that counts,” he said.

Eastcoast Beverages will celebrate 60 years of farming in 2025. Picture: Supplied.

“We basically squeeze that and turn that into fruit juice.”

Fruit is harvested at different times throughout the year, depending on the variety.

Lemons crop four times a year, while oranges are twice yearly: Navels in the winter and Valencia oranges through the summer.

“That’s what you want when you’re talking about juicing, you want a Valencia,” Samuel said.

Orange’s yield approximately 10 to 15 tonnes per acre, while lemons can produce 10 to 12 tonnes an acre.

“We would roughly expect to produce 6.2 million litres of juice per year from oranges and lemons,” he said.

Eastcoast employs more than 60 workers, with about five to 10 employees per season working directly on farm depending on the yield of the crops.

The 2024 season, Samuel said, has been remarkably undramatic.

“From a climatic condition point of view, there hasn’t been any issues. We’ve had a fair amount of rain, and if there’s no rain in our orchards we use the irrigation systems,” he said.

JUICE IS WORTH THE SQUEEZE

The Lentini’s focus on beverages is not catering to a niche consumer base.

On the contrary: Eastcoast beverage has experienced 20 per cent year-on-year growth due to increased consumer demand.

The family has subsequently reinvested more than $4 million into facility upgrades in a bid to keep up with this demand, including upgrading infrastructure to double the bottling speed.

Other investments include high-speed conveyors, in-line cleaning systems, and a robotic palletiser, which has reduced manual handling of produce and products and created efficiencies along the production line.

Eastcoast Beverages is celebrating 60 years in 2025. Picture: Supplied.

Eastcoast beverages produces more than 50 products, from 200ml bottles of juice to 4 litre bottles sold at Costco, Woolworths and Coles.

“We also do spring water, and we also have a sparkling water, made in memory of my grandfather who started the business,” Samuel said.

“The brand is called Lentini, so we put the signature of his will, and we also wrote a nice story about him on there.

“Our mission in the future is not just to be Australia’s leading juice company, but to be a leading beverage company that’s family owned.”

“I think that’s what got us to where we are today, is continuing on that legacy, making sure we stay true to that quality.”

THE GENUINE ARTICLE

The Lentini’s have their sights set on the future, viewed through the bottom of a glass of juice.

At the centre of their enterprise, Samuel said, is the desire to cater to the increasingly-savvy consumer.

“I think the customer wants to know as much as they possibly can before they buy a product. Information is key, and I think the more you can share with your customers and consumers, being open and honest, the better for us,” he said.

“For us, it’s genuine. We hold events on the farm, we had Daryl Braithwaite playing a couple of months ago on the farm. We do days on the farm where people can come and pick their own food, factory tours, we have a genuine story where we grow, we squeeze, we bottle, we live, we distribute everything on site.

“There’s a cafe on site and people can come and see the process. We’re one of the only juice companies in Australia that welcomes people to our site.

“We’re genuine, come and have a look.”