Jamaican group acquires juice producer from Flanders

The fresh fruit juices served with breakfast in luxury hotel chains, sandwich stores and retailers are usually not prepared locally, but come from players like The Juicy Group. Producing a whopping 6.5 million liters per year, this East Flanders-based group is the Belgian market leader in ultra-fresh juices for the hospitality industry.

Among other sites, The Juicy Group operates a state-of-the-art production plant in Belgium that, in addition to orange and other fruit juices, also makes vegetable juices, smoothies and mocktails under the brand names Pure and Charlie’s Juice as well as under a private label. “Through cold pressing, the taste, vitamins and color are fully preserved. Our juices have a long shelf life, but taste like a home-pressed juice,” explains Stijn Vervisch, general director at The Juicy Group

Forty employees strong and with an annual turnover of around EUR 17 million, The Juicy Group is being acquired by Jamaica Producers. Headquartered in Kingston, this Jamaican group began nearly a century ago as the project of a local pastor who wanted to obtain better prices for bananas by setting up a cooperative for small farmers. The company grew into a player with over 2,000 employees in food and logistics.

With the acquisition of The Juicy Group, Jamaica Producers’ juice division will grow to reach over EUR 100 million in sales. “We have a strategic goal to become a pan-European leader in fresh fruit juices,” comments Jeffrey Hall, CEO of Jamaica Producers.

The acquisition includes not only The Juicy Group’s juice business, but also its subsidiary HPP Belgium, which is pioneering the technique of high-pressure pressing (HPP). This involves exposing food to very high pressure rather than high temperature as in a classic pasteurization process. Unwanted microorganisms are destroyed, while the desired properties of the food are better preserved.

According to The Juicy Group, the 140-ton HPP plant is the most automated in the world and allows freshly squeezed juices to be preserved for up to 55 days. The cutting-edge machine is also used  by other businesses and to press other foods, such as meat, dips and egg products.