Green smoothies

[AmyQ]

I would want to just package and freeze pre-washed, pre-sized quantities for a smoothie to blend. High shelf life and easy packaging. Does that take away from most people's need to not have to clean up? All it would be is a blender.

No, great for clean up. That is what I thought it was since I buy a (very different) smoothie pack now.

I share your excitement. Hoping you make this product so that I can buy it!

Also, some argue that flash frozen veggies have comparable nutritional value to fresh http://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/features/frozen-vegetables-are-hot Not trying to argue that point myself since I don't know enough about nutrition, but it could be good to include on your label.

 

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[DeletedUser2]

Austin-based Daily Juice secures funding to go nationwide - CultureMap Austin

Z

 

[LeungJan]

Although its not exactly the same product..

Somewhat reminds me of soylent, they have the recipe on their site for "make your own" but I'm simply too lazy to gather
all the ingredients and make it myself, would rather purchase theirs.. except they don't have a UK one yet.

Soylent : The Biggest Pivot in YC History
http://blog.soylent.me/

I think you should pull the trigger!

 

[forchunet]

Naked Juice :: Our Products

You have seen those, right? No veggies in it but its portable and solves the same need to want to be healthy.

 

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[MamaD]

Sounds good. Something perfectly measured for 1-2 servings. Maybe different combos for different 'purposes'. That's a nice and convenient green smoothie kit.

I did a 30 Day GS challenge and was introduced to a variety of ingredients and combinations.

 

[InLikeFlint]

Naked Juice :: Our Products

You have seen those, right? No veggies in it but its portable and solves the same need to want to be healthy.

They do contain veggies. They also contain a lot of sugar. Not to mention the price per is fairly high.

 

[Lauryn]

I think it's a great idea, simply for the fact that:

1. People have excuses as to why they can't get organic ingredients.
2. People have excuses as to why they don't have the time to make the smoothies themselves.
3. Get a great website up - like www.BlueprintCleanse.com (*NO AFFILIATION*) - and marketing and you can get this started ASAP.
4. Once you have a good amount of business online and locally offline, you can then approach major retailers.
5. Yes, we see smoothies in the frozen aisle, but not GREEN smoothies - and an AMAZING GREEN SMOOTHIE is hard to find.

I'm all for it.

 

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[forchunet]

They do contain veggies. They also contain a lot of sugar. Not to mention the price per is fairly high.

Yes, but the point of my post was that as for the general need of wanting to being healthy, the bulk of consumers will grab one of these and call it a day, imo.

Not saying OP doesn't have a differentiator, but I just wanted to put to light competitors who are already in this market.

Also, all the sugar in the Naked drinks come naturally from the fruits. This is no different from what OP is proposing. In fact, OP's recipe for 1 banana, 1 apple, 1 orange would probably have more sugar than Naked's formula.

 

[Astral Explorer]

Surely something to look into, on another forum I frequent their was a huge thread about green smoothies...

Most people within the whole paleo and raw diet are big into smoothies, so surely something to look into.

 

[Bigguns50]

dknis...I still like the idea..I'm wondering if people like me who have a good blender and make smoothies, but are rushed to buy, clean, cut, and store, all the greens and fruits...would buy them frozen and packaged. I believe they would. It would be a HUGE time saver, dish soap saver, fruit and veggie 'soap' saver, dishwasher detergent saver, ..etc.

I know a little about getting a product shelved in the big stores and it's VERY expensive and stores have pretty much all the control. However, all the specialized stores, and smaller stores are much, much easier to get your product into.

I love it.

 

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[Soulipsyz]

This is the closest thing I could find, I remember seeing this on Dragons Den a while back, although I think your idea has alot more potential if done right:

Dragons’ Den: Why the Cookin’ Greens deal fell through | Financial Post

"Ms. Davidson set about making frozen Kale, collards and rapini sexy in North America. The dark leafy greens are picked fresh and within six hours washed, blanched, chopped and individually quick frozen locking in all the flavour and nutritional benefits. “I was first to market globally for blended leafy greens. The hard part has been educating people,” she says. “Sales haven’t been hitting the targets."

See where she went wrong and do better!

 

[dknise]

This is the closest thing I could find, I remember seeing this on Dragons Den a while back, although I think your idea has alot more potential if done right:

Dragons’ Den: Why the Cookin’ Greens deal fell through | Financial Post

"Ms. Davidson set about making frozen Kale, collards and rapini sexy in North America. The dark leafy greens are picked fresh and within six hours washed, blanched, chopped and individually quick frozen locking in all the flavour and nutritional benefits. “I was first to market globally for blended leafy greens. The hard part has been educating people,” she says. “Sales haven’t been hitting the targets."

See where she went wrong and do better!

That's pretty much EXACTLY what I was talking about, specifically packaged together for daily use.

I'm definitely going to be looking into it...

 

[jgsketch]

My wife use to make these smoothies for breakfast. She has no problem shopping for the items, a little problem with per-preping. The big problem... she hates the blending process and the clean up afterwards. She would rather have a bowl of cereal and drop it off in the dishwasher. Mornings are hectic for most people with busy lifestyles, so most do not want to be bothered with the time needed to make and clean the blender afterwards.

She has since switched to a powdered green supplement. She mixes it with orange juice and it tastes great. The best part, it has more vegetables in it and less sugar. It's easy to make and very little cleanup.

Did a little research and yes, you can find about 4 different pre-made green juices in the stores, but they are all high in sugar and lacking in the vegetable department. As for the powders, there are hundreds in the market place. Most are just not well marketed.

So is there a market? Yes! But not for the DIY blending option. It needs to be more convenient, less messy and less sugar. Something you can pop in your water bottle and run. No Fuss.

 

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[dknise]

My wife use to make these smoothies for breakfast. She has no problem shopping for the items, a little problem with per-preping. The big problem... she hates the blending process and the clean up afterwards. She would rather have a bowl of cereal and drop it off in the dishwasher. Mornings are hectic for most people with busy lifestyles, so most do not want to be bothered with the time needed to make and clean the blender afterwards.

She has since switched to a powdered green supplement. She mixes it with orange juice and it tastes great. The best part, it has more vegetables in it and less sugar. It's easy to make and very little cleanup.

Did a little research and yes, you can find about 4 different pre-made green juices in the stores, but they are all high in sugar and lacking in the vegetable department. As for the powders, there are hundreds in the market place. Most are just not well marketed.

So is there a market? Yes! But not for the DIY blending option. It needs to be more convenient, less messy and less sugar. Something you can pop in your water bottle and run. No Fuss.

This is what's getting me... I don't spend more than 5 minutes of my day cutting, washing, and prepping my breakfast drink. I go to PCC once a week on Sunday to get everything I need for the week. The blender cleanup is literally a quick 5 second rinse, and setting it upside down on a towel to dry. I know there ARE people who are SO freaking lazy that they consider that the same amount of work as a full time job, but if they really are that lazy, how likely is it that they're going to make an effort to even eat healthy in the first place? I say not likely at all. These people are most likely to drive through McDonald's on their way to work and down two breakfast sandwiches with a large Coke than pick up an Odwalla Green Machine on their way out the door.

 

[Paul Thomas]

Love the idea. The inconvenience of making/cleaning up the smoothies is what keeps me from making it a regular habit and some other people I know. I would definitely buy it, price considered of course.

EDIT: Just read the above post... definitely eliminate any possible mess and I think you've really got something.

 

[dknise]

Love the idea. The inconvenience of making/cleaning up the smoothies is what keeps me from making it a regular habit and some other people I know. I would definitely buy it, price considered of course.

EDIT: Just read the above post... definitely eliminate any possible mess and I think you've really got something.

The only way to get rid of the "mess" would be to preblend it which there are already products for.


Since there were A LOT of people in this thread who claimed making a smoothie creates a mess, can I ask how often you go out to eat? I've been brainstorming with my roommate whether or not there's an actual market here.

As far as cooking at home goes, I think making a smoothie is one of the fastest, least clean up jobs there is. You just rinse the blender out and toss it in the dishwasher. So, if that's considered a lot of work and an annoyance, I can't imagine someone making eggs and bacon, a chicken dinner, or even a bowl of cereal without having a life crisis haha.

Fill me in on the deets!

 

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[jgsketch]

It depends on how you make it. My wife normally makes enough for two. One for morning and one for lunch. She keeps the other half in the blender in the fridge. When lunch time comes, she reblends the smoothie.

So what happens is leftover smoothie dries up a little while in the fridge. Making it a scrubbing type of cleanup and not a dishwasher type cleanup. Sure, she could just make one portion, rinse and reuse the blender later in the day. She claims it's inconvenient.

She may be an anomaly in your demographic. i don't know.

As far as a market, she was in a local facebook group of fellow smoothie drinkers. The group had 350 women in it. That's just a small portion of possible smoothie drinkers in one town. She also found out a ton of info from support forums, such as Pregnancy and Cancer forums. You can also find a ton of facebook groups that you can tap into for more market research.

If you get this off the ground, here's some advice to ponder. There are different recipes for different outcomes. My wife used one recipe for Fertility and Egg quality. Once pregnant, she switch to another recipe for a healthy pregnancy. And she used a postpartum recipe to help with weight control and milk production. That's three recipes you could package into a subscription model. And they would most likely stay on during the entire process, about a year and a half. I like that model.

 

[Yankee427]

I make a protein smoothie around the time of my workout everyday and it is kind of annoying because it takes about 20 minutes for me to cut up the fruit and have all the other ingredients available. I make enough for two usually, but have to keep it and drink both then usually or they seem to go to waste and the smoothie if you put ice in the mix does not freeze well and does not go in the fridge well so I would just loose it. It does not have staying power all that well.

I am convinced there is a fastlane business in there somewhere, either selling frozen smoothie drinks or something of the sort. Sometimes if I am not feeling like doing it I will buy a smoothie from Red Mango or something at my gym with some protein powder in it.

 

[nausbot]

I think it's a great idea!

Here's an idea based on my own practice: I buy frozen spinach that's cut in cubes for breakfast each morning. 90 seconds in the microwave and I'm good to go with egg whites and lentils.

What if you provided your mixture in a frozen cube? Maybe you mix say 3 cubes each smoothie with say 2 cups of water? It's fast, already been partially blended, comes cold, easy to clean and stores for months vs. buying veggies every couple days? I think each bag of spinach I buy has ~15 cubes per bag. They're not overly large and super handy.

 

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[Mouse McCoy]

From my botanical knowledge and experience: once picked the plant begins to wither and die, this process can be significantly slowed by flash freezing.

The plant material begins to die much quicker once the cell walls have been broken by blending/mixing, obviously. The more you process it; (store it, reconstitute it) you lose nutrition at every turn. Flash freezing at the point of picking when it's already in "smoothie form" or in raw materials in the correct proportions bundled together and frozen in a bag would be the most healthy, in my experience.

Try to process it as little as possible, is my advice.

 

[CommonCents]

One big reason why there aren't more fresh commercial smoothie/juice products is liability. You are dealing w/ fresh produce in a product with no kill step(generally getting product to 165deg to kill pathogens). Freezing is not a kill step. The Naked brand smoothies (getting flack for a number of reasons) are flash pasteurized as most other 'fresh' juice products are. Fresh produce in grocery stores are not generally tested for pathogens(ecoli, listeria, salmonella, etc...). The regulatory agencies wait for enough people to get sick or die before investigating. So WASH your produce thoroughly! Especially for the sick, the young, and elderly who may have compromised immune systems.

I had a food mfg company and this was always on our minds and we went to great lengths to mitigate this risk (HACCP programs etc..) One incident can possibly put you out of biz overnight.

Not to scare anyone from this opportunity, but rather do your homework and do what you can to mitigate risk upfront.

 

[Mouse McCoy]

One big reason why there aren't more fresh commercial smoothie/juice products is liability. You are dealing w/ fresh produce in a product with no kill step(generally getting product to 165deg to kill pathogens). Freezing is not a kill step. The Naked brand smoothies (getting flack for a number of reasons) are flash pasteurized as most other 'fresh' juice products are. Fresh produce in grocery stores are not generally tested for pathogens(ecoli, listeria, salmonella, etc...). The regulatory agencies wait for enough people to get sick or die before investigating. So WASH your produce thoroughly! Especially for the sick, the young, and elderly who may have compromised immune systems.

I had a food mfg company and this was always on our minds and we went to great lengths to mitigate this risk (HACCP programs etc..) One incident can possibly put you out of biz overnight.

Not to scare anyone from this opportunity, but rather do your homework and do what you can to mitigate risk upfront.

I did an essay on this for English class. So I may be just talking out of my a$$ here, I defer to you and your food mfg company experience, but in my research and personal experience most produce (98%) and meat on the store shelves is X-Ray or Gamma (less common) Radiation treated to kill pathogens and harmful bacteria. I attribute this FDA mandated X-Ray treatment to why the crown of broccoli in my fridge is still rigid, solid green, and not rotting/turning yellow whatsoever after sitting for over 2 weeks.

Before X-Raying of foods was so widespread; a similar crown wouldn't have stayed more than several days in that 'perfect' condition. Apples sit in warehouses for a up to a year before finding themselves on store shelves to be sold. Your food will lose nutritional value, just as fast as the rotten produce (as I understand it, and I could be wrong), but will always maintain it's primped and perfect look.

I digress and I may be wrong, but X-Raying your produce before freezing will kill any and every living thing on it, including the bacterium or whatever it is responsible for rotting the fruit and 'recycling' it back into the earth.

 

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[CommonCents]

Food irradiation is approved but not mandated as far as I know. Organic produce is not irradiated. Whole Foods says it does not as well as many other stores. It has been a PR struggle with the term 'irradiation' as consumers think you'll glow. There is a symbol that is supposed to be used on labels of products that have been irradiated, but I've also seen reports where regulatory agencies allow unreported irradiation. I think many mexican exotic fruits are more likely to be irradiated. Additionally studies show it can damage the phytonutrients, similar to microwave, which reduce its antioxidant benefits of produce.



irradiation symbol

I get local organic produce in a co-op during growing season, as well as meat/poultry. It's price competitive too.

Sorry for going a bit off tangent, but back on topic, just do some homework in this area when looking at this opportunity because there may be a good reason(or big oppty) why this want/need hasn't been largely commercialized.

 

[Mouse McCoy]

Personally I think Americans are addicted to garbage food, so you're going to have to combat addiction to bad food in addition to convincing them to replace it with much healthier -- often worse tasting food.

And I was speaking a hyperbolically before, as I get pretty passionate about food.

 

[teabag]

I agree with others, the mess after making a smoothie is what prevents me from making one everyday.

I make a breakfast smoothie at least 4 times a week, but I get over cleaning it out

Pre-packaged ingredients which only needs milk/water/ice sounds like a great idea.

 

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[Mexidan]

I saw this product in the frozen food section at sams club.

Large back with fruits and veggies pre-packaged... Add water, blend, done.

 

[evlttwin]

This is a good idea, but I personally have ZERO mess when I make my green smoothie. I use a Nutribullet. 99 bucks at Bed Bath and beyond and all you do is rinse the blade and cup when you are done. It literally takes 10 seconds or less.

 

[dknise]

This is a good idea, but I personally have ZERO mess when I make my green smoothie. I use a Nutribullet. 99 bucks at Bed Bath and beyond and all you do is rinse the blade and cup when you are done. It literally takes 10 seconds or less.

See! That's what I'm talking about! Mines a 10 second job even with a full sized blender.

 

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[Blueskies4me]

The market is definitely already there. A lot of people are already making green smoothies not only by personal choice (organic, healthy) but as an option for weight loss or by prescription / Dr advice (unhealthy, unmotivated) so there's another demographic with the potential to be captured because they want to make healthier choices but aren't necessarily committed to the lifestyle of a vegan. The prepackaged option definitely makes it easier for the lazier crowd to commit temporarily. I would probably suggest a fresh prep pre-package since leafy veggies tend to turn to slime when they're frozen and then thawed but kudos! I think it's a slam dunk.

 

[hotshot]

I think this is a great idea.. have you dropped this project since starting Kuizza?

I would probably suggest a fresh prep pre-package since leafy veggies tend to turn to slime when they're frozen and then thawed but kudos! I think it's a slam dunk.

Maybe I'm missing something but why would these veggies need to be thawed? Can't you just blend them frozen?