Spicy, sophisticated, and growing very, very, fast: Jin+Ja on track to quadruple revenues in 2014

By Elaine Watson

- Last updated on GMT

Reuben Canada: "I realized that people I didn’t know were actually prepared to pay for my product. It was super exciting."
Reuben Canada: "I realized that people I didn’t know were actually prepared to pay for my product. It was super exciting."

Related tags Supermarket Entrepreneurship Alcoholic beverage Canada

From kombucha to craft beer, US consumers are demanding more sophisticated beverages, and they don’t get much more sophisticated than Jin+Ja, a spicy ginger concoction that looks like it belongs in a swanky cocktail bar, but has also proved it can sell in mainstream grocery channels.   

The brainchild of Canada Enterprises LLC founder & CEO Reuben Canada, Jin+Ja was developed in Canada’s kitchen in 2009, hit local stores in 2011, Whole Foods in 2012, and then started to take off - pretty explosively - in 2013.

Today, the non-carbonated beverage - made from fresh ginger, cayenne pepper, lemon, mint, green tea, and cane sugar - is in more than 1,300 stores, says Canada, a Philadelphia-based electrical engineer-turned patent attorney.

“Revenues in the first three quarters of this year are already three times what they were in the whole of 2013, so we're on track to quadruple our revenues in 2014," ​he told FoodNavigator-USA.

From 20 stores in early 2013 to almost 1,000 stores by the end of 2014

The product itself has been pretty consistent throughout, and immediately impressed Whole Foods buyers when he first pitched it in 2012, says Canada.

But the packaging has evolved over time, says Canada, who first touted Jin+Ja in small glass "potion bottles​" before graduating to large green bottles that made it look like wine (with a price tag to match). 

Jin+Ja new
Jin+Ja has 50 calories per serving and is made from fresh ginger, cayenne pepper, lemon, mint, green tea, and cane sugar

In 2013, Canada ditched the wine bottles, overhauled the label, and - on the advice of Whole Foods - brought out a more affordable single-serve 187ml version, which retails at $2.99-$4.99 depending on the venue.

And the plaudits - and sales - quickly followed. He scooped the Outstanding Cold Beverage Award from the Specialty Foods Association, was picked up by Kroger’s Taste of Tomorrow innovation program for emerging beverage brands, and landed a distribution deal with UNFI.

2013 Outstanding Cold Beverage winner at SOFI awards

Pretty soon, buyers at chains from Albertsons to Jewel Osco started to take notice, and he also started to attract attention from bars and restaurants (Jin+Ja works well as a cocktail mixer and as a standalone beverage for restaurants looking to offer a more sophisticated non-alcoholic option than Coke or Pepsi).

“Every retailer is different, but some of the larger ones have been very receptive and willing to waive slotting fees if they think you have real potential," ​says Canada. "We haven’t really quantified the opportunity in bars but we’re finding that bars that do order us, are ordering a lot, very consistently."

Jin Ja founder and bottles
Reuben Canada (right): 'As an entrepreneur you are always going to have those moments when you wonder whether you did the right thing, but, that’s just a part of being the boss.'

This has been the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done

But none of it has been easy, says Canada, who says there have been plenty of moments when he’s wondered what possessed him to leave patent law and try and break into the beverages market, a career choice that for the vast majority of entrepreneurs ends in disappointment and - at worst - penury.

“You learn pretty early on that even if you are gaining traction, you are going to run at a loss for quite a while, and that’s something that investors that didn’t know the food and beverage industry didn’t always seem to understand,” ​he says.

“They would ask me, 'Do you have a guaranteed contract with this retailer?' But that’s not how it works. More sophisticated investors that knew the industry were more interested in same-store sales growth, what kind of lift I was getting from promotions, and so on. I'm actually now at a break-even point, which is really nice, but to start with, you are just trying to grow your business.

“I think as an entrepreneur you are always going to have those moments when you wonder whether you did the right thing, but, that’s just a part of being the boss, and you’ve got to developing coping mechanisms to manage the fear. But from a personal perspective, this has been the most fulfilling thing I’ve ever done.”

People I didn't know were prepared to pay for my product. It was super-exciting

His Eureka moment meanwhile, was less of a ‘a-ha’ moment than a dawning realization in late 2009, early 2010, that the cocktail mixer he was brewing up in his kitchen after work and impressing his friends with could open up a new career opportunity.

Jin+Ja with candles
As most co-manufacturers either won’t deal with you - or want a hefty minimum order volume for the first production run - Canada was able to scale up in a cost-effective way in 2011 and 2012 before he was ready to ‘graduate’ to a larger facility in 2013 by producing Jin+Ja at Bridgeton, NJ-based food incubator the Rutgers Food Innovation Center

After putting Jin+Ja into potion bottles he bought online, he started giving away samples, and was blown away by the response. By spring 2010, the tiny bottles were selling like hotcakes at his local grocery store and he realized that this could potentially become the day job.

“I remember the store owner said, I’ve never tasted anything like this before, so let's just try it and see what happens. But don’t be disappointed if it doesn’t work out, most new products don’t. So we tried it, and he was selling 40 bottles a week, and I realized that people I didn’t know were actually prepared to pay for my product. It was super exciting.”  

So who's buying it today?

Customers range from people looking for a more natural alternative to energy drinks to boomers with an interest in natural solutions for digestive health or an interest in the anti-inflammatory benefits of ginger. Others just think it is a great cocktail mixer, he says.

But as the success of Reed's ginger brew as demonstrated, ginger is a hot ingredient, he says, and more and more consumers are picking up on it.

Related news

Show more

Related products

show more

Consumer Attitudes on Ultra-Processed Foods Revealed

Consumer Attitudes on Ultra-Processed Foods Revealed

Content provided by Ayana Bio | 12-Jan-2024 | White Paper

Ayana Bio conducted the Ultra-Processed Food (UPF) Pulse survey, offering insight into consumers’ willingness to consume UPFs, as well as the variables...

 Four actionable steps to reduce allergen recalls

Four actionable steps to reduce allergen recalls

Content provided by FoodChain ID | 04-Oct-2023 | White Paper

Failing to mitigate allergen risks has serious consequences - not just for consumer safety, poor allergen procedures can also cause financial losses and...

Cracking Plant-Based Dairy Challenges with Potato

Cracking Plant-Based Dairy Challenges with Potato

Avebe | Recorded the 13-Jun-2023 | Webinar

Don’t let the idea of creating tasty plant-based dairy products intimidate you! Replacing animal - for plant-based ingredients can seem like a difficult...

Related suppliers

1 comment

Customer service is horrible

Posted by Susan Erickson,

Of course they are set to increase revenue they charge customers even after the customer cancels their subscription and doesn't refund the charges.

Report abuse

Follow us

Products

View more

Webinars