Four years ago, a group of health-conscious individuals formed an organization which aims to seek an alternative to the sugar-laden commercial beverage products which are currently in the market. With this in mind, Greenchoice Selections Inc. started to develop juice concentrates made from calamansi.
“Greenchoice Selections Inc. was founded in 2009 by a group of health-conscious individuals who wanted an alternative to the sugar-laden commercial products found in the market today and came together and developed the Squeeze-C Calamansi Juice Concentrate as its product forefront,” says Nenneth Ilas-Siao, vice president for finance and operations of Greenchoice.
Siao says the company was incorporated in 2009 and began its manufacturing operations in 2010.
“As a new player in the food and beverage industry, we believe calamansi and dalandan with its high acidity content can create product stability and high nutritional benefits. We are quite familiar with the benefits of citrus-based products in health and wellness which make Calamansi a great potential high value product from the Philippines,” Siao says.
“Its applications are numerous from juices to jams to essential oils, dietary fiber and the like. We hope to be able to explore these other applications and market them worldwide,” she says.
The company is also currently looking at other fruits which can be used for manufacturing. “We have plans to expand our products using tropical fruits inherent in the Philippines such as pineapple, mangoes and guyabano to name a few, hopefully in the near future,” Siao says.
Greenchoice’s products now include Squeeze-C Calamansi and Dalandan Juice Concentrate or Sweetened Purée with honey, ready-to-drink Squeeze-C Calamansi Juice Drink, and Kalla which is 100-percent pure calamansi extract.
Siao says the company is set to launch Squeeze-T Iced Tea with Calamansi soon.
In just a few years after it started manufacturing these products, the company is slowly making its way as one of most successful manufacturers of juice concentrates. Recently, Greenchoice has started to export its products to Asian countries.
“We started exporting last quarter of last year 2012 in Asia and nearby countries namely Hong Kong, Singapore, Korea and Guam. We have participated in Hong Kong Food exhibits last year and HOFEX early this year as well as the International Food Expo IFEX in Manila last May,” Siao says.
The company recently joined the Asia Food Show in Osaka, Japan in September 2013 in its bid to penetrate the Japanese market.
Siao says with the prevalence of calamansi and dalandan products in the market, Greenchoice seeks to be different by maintaining the all natural and no preservatives added processing it is known for.
“We aim to capture the real taste of fresh calamansi and dalandan in every bottle of Squeeze-C. Furthermore, we utilize fresh, high-quality ingredients to maintain excellent standards, making Squeeze-C a premium brand. We also take pride in the added value of our packaging wherein we have invested in higher quality PET bottles as well as induction sealing to maintain freshness of our products,” Siao says.
The company teamed up with the Oriental Mindoro Farmers Association to ensure the top quality of calamansi and dalandan supplies.
“We do not have any calamansi or dalandan plantation but together with other members of the Philippine Calamansi Association, which we are one of the founding members, and through our direct long-term business relationship with OMFA, we are able to ensure quality and supply [of raw materials] and through the assistance of the Department of Agriculture,” Siao says.
Siao says the Agriculture Department has provided a big help in the success of the business. She says the agency has assisted the company and other members of PCAI in terms of supply production, technical training to business matching and marketing.
She says despite the company’s success, there are still a lot of things that they hope to achieve in the coming years. “We hope to be able to elevate the status of the calamansi fruit from farm to table and proudly bring this all over the world. We hope to be able to bring the numerous benefits of calamansi through our Squeeze-C brand to other places like Canada, Middle East and Europe,” Siao says.
“We believe that calamansi is the next big thing and that various applications of calamansi will make a positive mark for us Filipinos to be proud of. Our company vision is to make calamansi the preferred drink of all,” she says.
Siao says PCAI initiated to register the Philippine calamansi as a collective trademark with the Intellectual Property Office. “We hope to capture a geographical indication to claim our calamansi as uniquely Filipino,” Siao says.
Source: Manila Standard