It’s hard to characterize juice as any one thing, and that goes beyond its source fruit or vegetable. It can take the form of a childhood breakfast table staple, a buzzy health trend, a recovery drink, or a next-gen category-redefining innovation platform. But however you cut it, one thing is consistent – juice is in a slump (again).
According to Circana, in the 52-weeks ending July 14, 2024, dollar sales of aseptic juices in U.S. MULO and c-store were down -1% to around $1.
9 billion. Shelf stable bottled juices – an $8.8 billion segment – also dropped -1% and refrigerated juices fell -0.
9% to $7.9 billion. Only shelf-stable canned juices, the smallest segment at a relatively puny $1.
4 billion, saw growth in that time span, up 4.2%. Four years removed from the immunity-driven pandemic bump, and with supply chain woes and crop disease still impacting fruit supply, juice is again experiencing a market slowdown.
But at all levels of the category, from the entrepreneurial startup to the old guard giants, brands aren’t just sitting down and taking the punches. We spoke to several juice manufacturers to learn how they’re working not only to stay afloat as the tide recedes, but drive growth via innovation, marketing and a shored up supply of fresh fruit. Loom is a brand new juice drink that launched over the summer, so it might seem a little audacious that when it first hit the streets it did so on trucks that announced “Juice is Dead.
” But that announcement actually.
