New local beverage maker targets the mid-end market

Another original Cebu business concept will hit the Philippine beverage market providing affordable and decent health drinks to the masses.

Orange Drew is a juice product that will be widely available in the side streets, wet markets, carenderias, terminals, canteens, school premises and other areas that comes in a 5-galloon (dispenser) that can be bought by retail through a distributor school.

Manufactured by Cebuano-owned Alternative Foods Manufacturing Corporation, the company's vice president and director for manufacturing, Andrew Quiñones said this will uplift the quality of beverage products that is consumed by the mainstream market.

In the past, juice products sold in this type of markets were home-mixed juice products and usually quality and health safety is not assured, especially the kind of water being used.

"Orange Drew brand provide decent and healthy juice products to the masses, our 7-oz only costs P3.00 and 12-oz is P5.00," Quiñones said.

The company is partnering with distributors initially around Cebu, but it currently offers franchise package to interested entrepreneurs around the country.

He said Orange Drew juice product is processed carefully in its plant in Guadalupe City using "Reverse Osmosis" water requirement, in order to assure safety to the consumers.

A carenderia owner for instance, or small sidewalk vendor can be a distributor of Orange Drew product with an initial capitalization of P347, including already a table-top-dispenser, and a 5-galloon Orange Drew juice to be marketed in retail, and this can be refilled anytime.

The business, which only started in November of last year, is now hitting the Metro Cebu areas, and slowly hitting some parts of the country, through its franchise offer, he said.

Its plant in Guadalupe is now producing 1,000 containers a day, from a demand of only 30 containers a day in January of this year.

"Healthy drink alternative is now the trend, not only for the upscale and middle end markets, but also to the mainstream consumers. We are giving this opportunity for them to satisfy their thirst through healthy and safety drink alternative," Quiñones said in an interview with The Freeman.

A manufacturing plant will soon be opened in Mandaue City to be managed by a franchisee that would distribute the demand for Mandaue and other parts of Cebu.

The company is using an Orange extract imported from Australia, and eventually Orange Drew will introduce another variant for juice products.

Through the franchise system, Quiñones said the company is now hitting the nationwide market, as they are currently clenching a deal in Zamboanga, Dumaguete, and Luzon.

In this health-conscious generation, Quiñones said the company has seen the need to serve the masses, as this majority market segment in the Philippines is worth for decent beverage alternative, rather than availing what is only affordable for their budget, without counting the safety factor.

While still establishing its brand as an alternative drink maker, with target market primary the lower-end consumers, Quiñones said the company is planning to introduce more product lines in the future.

He added that in order to protect its concept, the company is also planning to apply for an Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) to protect their concept from the copycats.