Nestlé smoothie venture in doubt after just four months

Boosted Smoothies, the joint venture between Nestlé and Boost Juice Bars, is in doubt just four months after launching because the product has struggled to get supermarket listings.

It is understood that the smoothie range, which had hoped to steal share from market leader Innocent, has failed to meet the joint venture’s sales expectations.

It is believed that the range has suffered because it is only available in the impulse size, 250ml, and the larger 750ml take-home size. Insiders suggest that the impulse product has failed to get listings and that consumers have been reluctant to try the larger bottle.

At its launch in April, the brand was expected to be stocked in Asda and Sainsbury’s, but it is unclear where it is currently available.

Boosted Smoothies was launched at the end of April this year with a reported £5m marketing budget. It was the first new product development to come out of Nestlé’s new business division, which was set up last year to drive the company’s health and wellness credentials.

Last year, sales for smoothies totalled £241m, of which Innocent took a majority 66% share, according to Nielsen figures provided in the Britvic Soft Drinks Report 2008.

Boosted Smoothies has four flavours: mango with guarana and ginseng; a berry dairy-free probiotic variant with Vitamin C; a strawberry flavour, also with ginseng and guarana, which claims to aid memory and concentration; and a tropical variant with green-tea extract.

Nestlé and Boost Juice Bars were both unavailable for comment at the time
Marketing Week went to press.