A healthy growing business | Sandra Zammit

What led you to go into the nutrition or fruit drink sector?
"I was always very health conscious, not in an obsessed kind of way but in a common sense sort of way. I would always eat food that is good for me, anything that isn't, I would try and avoid. These ideas were probably instilled at the Convent of the Sacred Heart, where I attended school. I believe this was one of the first schools to introduce the subjects of home economics and food and nutrition in Malta.
"As a mother, I used to find the lack of convenient healthy foods on the local market, frustrating at times, rows and rows of sugar-loaded soft drinks and fruit juices made from concentrates, and different coloured milkshakes mixed with everything but real fruit.
"Out and about on a coffee break with the kids, the situation did not change much, the only options being milk or water and sometimes freshly squeezed orange juice, whereas the selection of sugary drinks was always overwhelmingly vast.
"In the UK, Australia, and USA smoothies made from pasteurised fruit started to appear and were rapidly gaining in popularity. I thought the smoothie idea was cool, it's a way of putting the much-need fruit into your body without the hassle of having to wash and peel the fruit beforehand.
"I honestly thought some local drink manufacturer would start making smoothies one day. It never really occurred to me that I was going to be the one, to open the only bespoke smoothie 'factory" in Malta."

Can you tell us about your 'fruit spa' factory in Zebbug?  
"Unlike many other smoothie brands we actually produce our smoochies ourselves. We purchase the nicest fruit available, because with a product like ours, with no additives and sugars added, there's nowhere to hide, if the fruit isn't the sweetest and nicest it won't result in a nice smoochie. The whole process takes place in our 'fruit spa' factory in a little industrial estate in Zebbug.
"Our mission statement is to produce healthy and tasty food and drink for people with a busy lifestyle.
"At the moment we are producing eight different types of delicious smoochies and a lovely freshly squeezed orange juice. We are however about to launch our 'not so thick smoochie' called 'my strawberries and other berries', which is more of a thirst quencher and does not contain so many bits and pieces of fruit. Our 'not so thick smoochie contains six types of fruit: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, banana, apple and lemon.
"We solemnly promise that our smoochies will never contain concentrates, preservatives or added sugar of any kind and that they will do you lots of good, under one simple condition: you would have to keep them cold.
"We'll also let you into our little secret: our next move is Smoochie soups, and Smoochie meal pots which should be out by winter, these will be mainly vegetarian soups with no additives, artificial stocks or creams of any kind.  
"This project was put on hold last year due to a lack of funds, however the situation seems much better this year, and we are really looking forward to launching this new range of healthy ready-made soups."

 How do you view consumer demand?
"There was the need but perhaps not so much demand, mostly due to lack of knowledge on the subject. However, consumer demand can be created through marketing. For example the 2012 Olympics-related publicity has boosted the appetite for British products among consumers in China and India by 60% saying they wanted to buy British products and 80% saying they were most likely to visit the UK!
"When we started producing smoothies four years ago, only a small percentage of the population  actually knew what a smoothie was. This consisted mainly of people who had travelled overseas and who had therefore been exposed to the idea of blended fruit without the use of sugar. The consumer demand was therefore quite low.
"To create more demand, we had to explain what we were not before explaining what we were. We had to create the demand by actually explaining the difference between our fresh fruit smoothie which is made from actual fruit with no concentrates, preservatives or sugars and the juices in the packets and glass bottles, some of which hardly contained any fruit at all.
"We had to explain what concentrates were, why they were used, what preservatives were and why they should be avoided,
"Basically, we have and are still trying to undo most of what the consumers had been told so far.
"We generally do not really do mainstream advertising. We did have a very funny advert with a naked man delivering smoochies this year though, as part of our 'Kollox Naturali' campaign. We try to be fun and original in whatever marketing we do, we also hold workshops in schools, where children get the opportunity to make their own smoochies. Rather messy, but kids simply love it.
"We also make use of social media as it is an effective way to keep in touch with our customers and smoochie addicts, as we fondly like to call them."

What would you say is unique about your business model?
"The Smoochie concept is unique from the way it actually started, being a mother of four kids with no business acumen whatsoever, and no financial backing, with a huge business loan and my house as collateral!
"When I started Smoochie I wanted to have a product that was better then any other product produced anywhere in the world. The idea being the simplest you can imagine. Blend fruit and bottle it, refrigerate immediately, without using any preservatives or heating treatments.  
"All other bottled smoothies and smoothies in tetra packs on the market are pasteurised, most of which do not even need to be refrigerated and have a shelf life as long as a year! When fruit is pasteurised the enzymes are killed and taste and texture as well as colour are completely altered.  
"I wanted a product which was completely unadulterated.
"Production of smoochies is made following rigorous hygienic procedures. HACCP is a mindset at Smoochie. We believe in the prevention of hazards rather then just the finished product inspection. However, to achieve this mindset you have to have collaborators who understand the product  and who feel ultimately happy and fulfilled when working at Smoochie.
"We therefore believe in making our working environment healthy and fun. We provide flexi hours and have sometimes moved production days to allow our employees to attend parents' day or sports day!
"Smoochie is not just unique in the way its is produced, it is unique in the way it is marketed and sold. We have to ensure that the retailer logistically can store the product in a cold fridge, and we ensure that he is stocked with fresh products at least once a week.
"Initially we used to do the marketing and sales and distribution ourselves, which was hindering us from creating new products. When Borg and Aquilina started handling our sales and distribution, we started gaining momentum."  
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As governments around the globe seek to tighten restrictions on the marketing of 'junk foods and beverages' to children, what kind of pressures are companies like yours facing to produce healthier products?
"Producing healthy products is not pressure for us, it's simply a passion and a pleasure.
"The pressure is on the multinational companies to produce something healthy or 'pseudo healthy' to satisfy the demand.
"We sincerely hope that the government in Malta will emulate other governments around the world to restrict the marketing of junk foods and beverages.
"Unfortunately, even though there is a healthy eating directive, it is not being wholly implemented.
"Many tuck shops in schools, football nurseries and other sporting establishments are still selling unhealthy food and drink, some don't even offer healthy options!
"To add insult to injury, even children's football nurseries are even being sponsored by junk food brands.
In the 'Healthy Way For Life Strategy' launched by the Ministry of Health earlier this year, one of the aims of the programme is to cut down on the consumption of sweets and sugary drinks by 10%. The question I would like to ask is: why only 10%?
Dr John Briffa, the London-based Maltese doctor, says that according to research, each daily serving (about 300mls) of soft drink is associated with a staggering 60% increase in a child's risk of obesity.
"40% of Maltese children consume soft drinks every day, and this is just soft drinks - sweets biscuits, doughnuts and pastizzi are not included!
"The sugar (or aspartame) content in soft drinks is no top secret, and yet we are aiming at reducing soft drink consumption by only 10%?
"The obesity issue is costing the taxpayer 20 million euros a year  because of obesity-related diseases.  Junk food and beverage industries are multinational and rich. Their advertising budgets are huge and damaging, therefore they should be curbed, they should carry a shocking health warning, just like with cigarettes, to start off with."

Do you agree with the idea of governments imposing a form of 'fat-tax' on soft drinks and 'junk food'?
"Sugary drinks have no nutritional value whatsoever, so a significant tax can be imposed without fearing a negative impact on nutrition. Caffeinated drinks in the form of soft drinks and energy drinks as well as sports drinks are so high in sugar. Poor nutrition.
"When you have a child who is drinking more than one sugary drink a day, it's a set-up for obesity. The earlier your obesity begins in childhood, the more likely it is to follow you in adulthood.
"No  one is to blame really but the beverage industry for marketing to children. I think they're very clever to put caffeine in a drink because it leads to addiction so that more will be consumed.
"'Fat taxes' would have to increase the price of unhealthy food and drinks by as much as 20% in order to cut consumption by enough to reduce obesity and other diet-related diseases. Such levies should be accompanied by subsidies on healthy foods and drinks  as well as continuous education, to help encourage a significant shift in dietary habits.
"It's happening in other European countries. Denmark has brought in a "fat tax", Hungary a "junk food tax" and France a tax on all sweetened drinks.  Ireland may also introduce such taxes.
"Evidence suggests that bigger health gains result from increasing the price of a broad range of foods rather than a narrow one, and sugary drinks offer the best proof that such a move can be effective. US research found that a 35% tax on drinks, sweetened with sugar, sold in a canteen, which added about 28p to the price, led to a 26% drop in sales. Studies have estimated that a 20% levy on such drinks in the US would cut obesity by 3.5% and that adding 17.5% to the cost of unhealthy food products in the UK could lead to 2,700 fewer deaths from heart disease."

Health drinks are becoming part of a crowded market; what is special or different about your products?
"It depends on how you would define health drinks. There are health drinks and there are health drinks. The pseudo health drinks like energy drinks and sports drinks are becoming part of a crowded market, and they are also quite heavily marketed.
"A large number of smoothies have come and gone, but its very difficult to compete with Smoochie, because it's the consumers themselves who have helped us grow, through their feedback and suggestions we have managed to build a brand that is tailor-made for the Maltese market.
"Our customers know that we are not after making a quick buck, they understand that smoochies are made with a lot of care and that they are the most genuine bottled drink on the market, and that they not only taste good but are really good for them.  If anyone writes to us with any suggestions  or complaints they know that we listen and that we act immediately, mostly within 24 hours, providing  an unrivalled customer service, and we are really proud of this."

What is the shelf-life for your products such as Smoochies?
"What would be the refrigerated shelf-life of a chopped piece of fruit? Around 10 days? Well, that is the shelf-life of our smoochies. Between 10 and 12 days.
"If we were to pasteurise our products they would last about 18 days, but we prefer not to. We have been asked several times to try to increase the shelf- life date but this cannot be done unless the product is either pasteurised or preservatives are added.
"Smoochies are delivered between once and three times a week, depending on the sales and shelf space provided."

What should consumers know on looking at your products?
"Smoochie is simply fruit in a bottle nothing more really, except that its been cleaned peeled and blended, and certainly nothing less.
"The fruit in Smoochie comes from Malta, the rest of Europe, Costa Rica and India, which is where we obtain our lovely mangoes from. We ensure that all the fruit is free from any GMO's.
"A Smoochie counts as two portions of your five-a day, even though they contain as much as five different fruits, even seven at times, but it's the portions that count.
"Due to the absence of additives and preservatives in a Smoochie, the only way it can make it through its shelf life is if it is kept refrigerated. If the cold chain is broken in any way, then the fruit inside the bottle will ferment, this creates gasses which will cause the bottle to bloat and eventually it could even explode! This is actually written on our label but funnily enough many think it's a joke!"
"When purchasing a Smoochie you must always make sure that the Smoochie is stored in a cold fridge, and the bottle must not feel hard, and that you should be able to press the sides easily."

Can you tell me about your company's 'green thinking'?
One of the important aspects of our business is to care for the environment as much as we can. We try not to leave a mess behind, because it would really not make sense to make healthy drinks but then pollute the environment.
"Starting from the bottles, they are produced in-house and they are made from imported PET preforms.
"Our fruits are never flown in, even if we're sometimes really desperate when we run out, the fruits are always shipped. We also make sure that the fruit come from sustainable farming and that the farmers producing our fruit are treated fairly.
"Our fruit peels are sold to confectionaries, sometimes to farmers as animal fodder whilst at other times for compost, depending on the type of fruit peel.
"We have a paperless policy at our office, however if we do use paper it is always recycled, and we also encourage to recycle the recycled paper. Our 'fruit spa' factory has been set up in such a way as to use as much natural light as possible and the water we use for washing is heated by the sun.
"We have also invested in energy-saving controllers for our refrigeration and this year we hope to put up photovoltaic panels on the roof of our 'spa'."