Juice player RAW Pressery plans to make food items out of leftovers

Firm has started investing into R&D and a team is working on what kind of food products can be made out of the waste

Cold pressed juices player RAW Pressery is planning to take the next step after having garnered volumes of about 100,000 bottles per month — make edible items out of its fruits and vegetable waste. 

The company, headquartered in Mumbai, has already started research and development (R&D) on developing 'chips' out of vegetable waste. Petfood is another option they are exploring.

"We generate around 100 tonnes of fruit and vegetable waste per month. Instead of incinerating the waste which releases methane gas, we have found sustainable uses for the waste. And now, we are also planning to process it to make products like chips etc," said Anuj Rakyan, founder and managing director, Rakyan Beverages which owns the cold-pressed juice brand RAW Pressery.

The firm has started investing into R&D and a team is working on what kind of food products can be made out of the waste; for example they have already tried making chips out of beetroot and carrot residue that are left are the juices are extracted.

The firm feels that there would enough takers for this healthier variant of chips other than the highly processed ones that are available in the market. Petfood is another option they are exploring.

This apart, RAW Pressery has already tied up with local farmers around its facility at Panvel to sell the fruit and vegetable waste to them at economic rates to be used as manure. "They get quality compost as a reasonable cost. This is organic as well as cold pressed juices do not use any chemicals," Rakyan explained.

Cold-pressed juices do not contain any preservatives, added sugar or even water. It is basically made by using high-pressure processing technology to extract juice from raw fruit and vegetables. The process also does not use any heat, which helps in retaining the enzymes in these natural items.

RAW Pressery now has presence across eight cities and follows a business model which is a mix of monthly subscription, modern trade and online sales. At present it claims to have around 25,000 subscribed consumers and sells around 1 lakh bottles every month which are priced between Rs 80-250.

It has more than 19 variants available in the market at the moment. The 100 per cent natural category in beverages has grown by over 40 per cent in the past three years. Banking on demand for organic items, RAW Pressery is eyeing a turnover of Rs 30-35 crore in FY17 from a turnover of Rs 7.5 crore in FY16.

So far it has raised is over $7 million, with the last round in February when it raised about $4.5 million from Sequoia Capital, Saama Capital and DSG Consumer Partners.