CHUCK CASANO, Co-founder, Pitaya Plus: Consumers are turning from juice to smoothies as they want the fiber from the fruit
Pitaya has the “look of watermelon, the earthiness of beets and the sweetness of strawberries”, says Chuck Casano, who spent seven months in Nicaragua with an NGO in 2008, fell in love with a fruit that “looked like a flaming pink artichoke”, and embarked on a mission to turn it into a household name in the US.
Three years later, Casano and Pitaya Plus co-founder Ben Hiddlestone started selling frozen Pitaya smoothie packs out of the back of a Prius in California in February of 2011, and pretty soon, it was clear they had a hit on their hands, he says.
“The frozen smoothie packs have been generating triple-digit growth for the past three years; they’re now in around 1,200 grocery stores from Whole Foods and Sprouts to Safeway and Wegmans, and 1,000 juice bars and we’re set to launch in the largest juice bar chain in America in January.”
Aside from introducing Americans to something novel and nutritious (Pitaya is high in antioxidants and fiber and, more unusually for a fruit, magnesium), Casano is most proud of the fact that he is supporting small farmers in Nicaragua and creating new jobs for people, many of whom are single mothers, he says.
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