I asked Josh Isenberg to join the blog to talk about the market potential for high pressure processing (HPP). Josh has industry experience in consumer goods with a specific focus on the launch and route to market development strategies for new beverages. It’s clear that healthier and more nutritious drinks are replacing the past success of unhealthier soft drinks and juices. And, their growth has increased the options available to consumers for fresh drinks with health benefits.

Within the confines of the current distribution landscape, most fresh juices with short shelf lives and high nutritional value only make it to urban areas with a very high price tag. Making these products available outside of urban areas has proven difficult, especially when most of these products only have a 10-day shelf life. Insert HPP manufacturing of fruit and vegetable juices. High pressure processing is a form of preserving or sterilizing food without using heat or chemicals.

Through this process, the microorganisms or bacteria are rendered inactive. What this means is that there is a more natural options, free of undesirable chemicals or heat that can diminish fresh food’s flavors. Through this process, the shelf life of these juices may be extended to 30 days or more.

The success and practicality of this is already reflected in the marketplace. 7-Eleven continues to make their foray into the health food arena, testing HPP juices under Tony Horton’s Kitchen brand. Just behind Instacart on the Forbes list of the 100 most promising companies of 2015, Suja Juice is the most obvious HPP success, having doubled their revenue from 2013 to 2014, and expecting to double it again in 2015.

What type of growth is sustainable for a company in this arena? How much market is there to capture before consumers are attracted to a cheaper competitor?

Further refinement of the HPP process and extension beyond regional distribution will introduce more affordable options and potential for private label options. There is an exciting path ahead for HPP juices as the most viable option to get fresh juices into less penetrated markets. Healthy brands deemed as natural or beneficial by consumers are clearly winning in a stagnant food industry. HPP in manufacturing provides an alternative for conventional juice brands to meet that demand. But for existing markets where informed consumers are seeking fresh products fully loaded with original vitamins and minerals, will the increased presence of HPP products in the cooler increase the draw to the 100% natural products?