After its launch in Finland, with 25,000 initial units to supply over 900 Kesko supermarkets, Casual Fruit will be heading to Japan.
As pointed out by one of the company's founders, David Ferreres, "our importer has 2,500 points of sale in various channels."
New project
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n addition to these markets, the company, which was founded in Barcelona with the goal of creating a new generation of snacks elaborated from fruit and fresh vegetables, is also starting as distributor for some French supermarkets, but just like in Spain, it is hard to predict which points of sale will sell Casual fruit, because each chain has a different set of criteria in this regard.Germany and England are the two main markets they hope to enter between this year and 2014. The goal is for foreign markets to represent 60% of Snack Saludable's 2013 revenue, expected to reach 600,000 Euro.
Casual Fruit, which was distributed at first in pharmacies and over the Internet, is already available in large retailers, such as Alcampo or Sorli Discau, among other local supermarkets. The founder also stressed that they aim to be present in 850 service stations within four months. The snack, available in three flavours (apple, pineapple and red fruits) is sold in pocket format (15 grams) and in 27 gram bags; the equivalent to one portion of fruit.
Ferreres explains that they needed to change their initial strategy, which was to offer a trendy product targeted mainly towards females and sold in pharmacies in 27 gram boxes. To reach a wider audience, they have launched this product in a reduced format and expanded the sales channels.
At the moment, the company is working on a new project, expected to be launched next year. It is a similar snack to Casual Fruit, but with vegetables. "The idea is to start selling this snack in Summer 2014," explains Ferreres.
Freeze-drying is a dehydration process that consists in removing all water from the products before freezing. As stated by Ferreres, "with this expensive method the fruit can be preserved without the need for additives."
