Even as the cola wars rage on, with Reliance brand Campa Cola currently giving others a run for their money, a ‘healthy’ drink wave is equally strong. Even the cola companies are reporting higher sales for no-sugar variants.
With health and wellness top priority for consumers, brands are following suit with a wide range of innovative drinks like flavoured tonic water, low sugar and no sugar juices and sodas.
The founder of homegrown natural fruit flavoured sparkling water brand Polka Pop, launched in 2021, Gaurav Khemka is bullish this summer. “We are expecting a good spike in sales this year. More people are moving away from sugar, and a harsher summer will have higher demand for drinks sans sugar. We have grown 4x since launch, and expect 5x growth by the end of 2025,” said Khemka. The brand is available on all quick commerce platforms, and produces 150,000 bottles a month.
Mumbai-based Habhit Wellness has various coconut water, basil seed drinks and juices under brands Alpha 8, Coco Nirvana, Mojo Mojo and Mojoco (tender coconut water).
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Paper Boat (Hector Beverages) has zero-sugar sparkling water in apple and cranberry flavours. Gujarat-based Dadu Fresh has various fruit juices such as mangosteen, lychee, mixed berries, soursop, anjeer, jamun, saffron mango, to name a few. Selling worldwide with a presence in over 90 countries is Thailand-based Mogu Mogu, which is flavoured coconut water.
“In a country with predominantly hot climate, coconut water should be national drink, and it will shoot up from where it is now in the next five years,” said Bharat Bhalla, co-founder of instant food brand Yu Foods, which last year entered the 100% fruit juice category, offering flavours like berry blast, cranberry tropical punch and orange burst, besides coconut water.
“We saw a huge gap in the fairly competitive ‘pure’ pack category. Unlike other brands using reconstituted coconut powder, our coconut water is natural and pure. There are no acidity regulators or added sugar and preservatives in juices too,” said Bhalla, whose products have garnered double-digit market share in the premium category in the past three months. The brand is planning a million units a month, which is 8x from its production last year.
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