KUALA LUMPUR: Juice Works Sdn Bhd plans to open three more outlets offering a variety of fresh fruit juices and smoothies by the second half of 2017, bringing the total to 30 to cater to the growing demand.
Founder and managing director Ling Mooi Li said the company registered sales growth of 10% to 20% year-on-year since its inception in 2004.
"We are still eyeing over 10% to 20% sales growth this year despite the challenging market, while planning to expand our footprint to Singapore, Indonesia and Thailand by year-end," she told Bernama.
"We plan expand to neighbouring countries first, instead of Sabah and Sarawak, but it all depends on the economic conditions," Ling said, adding that shopping malls would be the location preference.
Ling, a pharmacist by training, said demand for fresh fruit juices in the country was growing as consumers, especially women, were becoming more aware of healthy drinks.
She said the company's profit margins had shrunk due to lower sales growth since last year as consumers were cautious on spending, while operating costs surged more than three times compared with 12 years ago.
"For example, mangoes cost rose from RM2.99 per kg 12 years ago to RM14 per kg at present. And we need about 100kg of mangoes a week for each outlet," she said.
Fortunately, up to 70% of the fruits were sourced locally, hence the business was not much affected by the ringgit depreciation, she added.
Ling said Juice Works maintained good rapport with suppliers in order to get the best prices for the fruits besides being innovative by renewing its menu every six months to retain customer loyalty.
"We now have about 40 products on our menu, each of them is a fresh mix (blend) of several fruits or vegetables," she said, while assuring that the prices would be maintained this year.
She discounted the possibility of Juice Works going online as its fresh blended juices had to be taken within half an hour to reap the most benefit, otherwise they would be oxidised and lose their freshness.
However, the company is in talks with delivery service provider Foodpanda which has a 45-minute delivery guarantee, said Ling, who has been living in Australia since she was 11.
In a survey, market intelligence agency Mintel said Malaysia's juice market was expected to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 7.34% to reach 149.6 million litres from 2014 to 2017.
"The preference for beverages other than fizzy drinks will drive juice demand as consumers increasingly adopt a healthier lifestyle," it said. - Bernama
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