Speaking on a conference call with analysts last week after entering into a letter of intent to acquire the raw juices firm - which was launched in 2007 by Zoë Sakoutis and Erica Huss - Hain Celestial CEO Irwin Simon said:
“It's not pasteurized, so you're getting all the nutrients... I come back and look at pasteurized juice today and it's almost like canned soup and where that's going."
He added: "I think they [Huss and Sakoutis] really got it right...The Blueprint product is a phenomenal product... One of the juices contains 6lbs of organic vegetables, it's like a meal.
"If you come back and look at be it Walla juices or Naked juices that goes through a pasteurization or Tropicana juices, I mean again, it's not dissimilar to what canned soup is..."
We think we can expand into other products
The plan is to extend BluePrint into new areas, he said: “There are a lot more opportunities with that product just not only with juice and meal replacement but going into bars and a lot of other products.
“Look what's happened with Lululemon from exercising and where that brand has gone and there's a tremendous correlation here.
“So we think we really can extend it on a national basis. We think we can expand into other products. We think if we get 9 million moms a month that hit our Earth's Best website and to tie in with that with them after they have their new baby.
“We really think the BluePrint brand, going after the younger consumer's lifestyle, is a great brand for us to win the multiple categories and the whole raw category, raw yogurt, bars, snacks etc.”
We feel we can get the shelf life up to 25 days without losing the freshness and the nutrients
The BluePrint brand has generated more than $20m in sales since 2007, 80% of which are direct to consumers, added Simon, who said Sakoutis and Huss will continue to manage the business.
“Right now, it's in Whole Foods, basically in the Northeast. We feel we can get the shelf life up to 25 days and we ship a lot of products today with 25 days on them.
There’s a lot of new technology coming out today that Rob [Burnett - ceo of Hain Daniels Group, which specializes in chilled foods] and his team have been working on in the UK that even could take the shelf-life longer and not lose the freshness and the nutrients.”
Hain did not disclose how much it had paid for BluePrint, which uses high pressure processing instead of heat (pasteurization) to inhibit the growth of Listeria, E. coli, Salmonella, lactic acid bacteria, yeast and mold.
BluePrint makes organic cold-pressed fruit and vegetable juices including BluePrintCleanse, a raw juice cleanse program designed to detoxify the body; BluePrintJuice, a line of juices; and BluePrintBar, a raw fruit and nut bar.
Click here to read more about high pressure processing (HPP).
Click here to read more about Hain’s Q1, 2013 results.