CURRENT ISSUE
| Cover Story |
| Columns |
| Juice Joint |
| Cover Story | |
| By Kirsten Srinivasan | |
| Sunday, 15 January 2006 | |
 Vitality Foodservice aims to stay at the forefront of beverage industry trends. “Founded in the late 1950s, Vitality has led the industry in dispenser and product innovation and built the Vitality brand into one of the most respected names in foodservice,” Fuller states. “Vitality is the No. 1 supplier of dispensed juice to small and medium-sized institutional customers and the No. 2 supplier of dispensed juice to the foodservice segment overall.” The company also holds the No. 1 position in dispensed juice with street foodservice customers, “with a share of approximately 35 percent of total domestic dispensed juice volume,” Fuller notes. “In the cruise ship segment of the Vitality U.S. division, Vitality is the dominant participant, with dispensers installed on 178 of the 180 cruise ships in service worldwide.” Vitality provides dispensed juices, juice drinks, frozen concentrated liquid coffee and related products, as well as total beverage systems to the foodservice industry in the United States, Canada and Europe. Fuller says the company provides “state-of-the-art dispensing equipment that is installed free of charge; a broad selection of high-quality, premium products in easy-to-use proprietary packaging; and a dedicated national and international sales and support service network that provides complimentary maintenance and refurbishment of dispensers.” The company serves restaurants, hotels, businesses, cruise ships, institutions, healthcare facilities and colleges and universities throughout North America. It also serves gaming and military customers. In all, its scope is significant. “Vitality’s installed base of dispensers worldwide dispenses over one billion servings of the company’s products every year,” says Cindy Knarr, director of marketing. The company’s leadership position in its industry differentiates it from competitors and provides its own advantages, CEO Gary Viljoen asserts. “Vitality’s strong market position is attributed to several key competitive advantages, including the company’s large installed base of equipment, which represents a formidable barrier to entry for competitors; its longstanding customer relationships and a reputation for excellent service worldwide; and the company’s high-quality, extensive product offering that ranges from juice products to hot beverages,” Viljoen states. “Vitality offers the most complete product portfolio in the industry, supporting its strategy of being a total beverage solution provider.” An Industry Pioneer In addition to its wide scope, Vitality is an industry leader in introducing new and innovative products to its markets, Viljoen emphasizes. “Vitality is the only participant in its industry to have proprietary dispensing equipment for frozen concentrate juice products and was also first to market in December 2001 with a proprietary dispenser for not-from-concentrate (NFC) juice, allowing Vitality to capitalize on the increase in consumer demand for that product,” Viljoen says. The company was a pioneer in liquid coffee manufacturing in North America and engineered the operator-preferred Express juice dispenser in the early ‘90s, he notes. Vitality is still at the forefront of several industry trends, Viljoen asserts. He says Vitality is benefiting as consumers continue to eat meals away from home. He notes a general decline in the consumption of orange juice but a growing demand for NFC juices. He says Vitality has adapted to this trend with an NFC juice dispenser and a dispenser designed for lower-volume requirements. Vitality has also introduced new coffee flavors in response to growth in the liquid coffee category. The tea category is also growing, Viljoen adds. The company markets the Tetley brand of liquid concentrate tea and is increasing its presence in this category, as well. Changes In Ownership Vitality was a family-owned business for 45 years before Caxton-Iseman Capital Inc., a New York-based private equity firm, acquired a majority interest in the company in 1999. Caxton-Iseman Capital Inc. made the move “to create a platform for its plan to consolidate the juice industry,” Viljoen recounts. In September 2004, Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison Inc. acquired Vitality. Goldner Hawn Johnson & Morrison is a private equity limited partnership based in Minneapolis. The parent company introduced a new management team for Vitality, including Viljoen, COO John Minton, Fuller and CFO Kim Johnson. The company owns and operates manufacturing facilities in Chicago; Dade City, Fla.; Barrie, Ontario, Canada; and Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. |
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