Smoothies are Big Business, with sales of over $2 Billion per annum and more than 6,000 smoothie shops in the US alone in 2010.
Smoothie sales are rocketing in the UK too. Figures from Mintel (a consumer research firm), showed that sales in the UK had increased from an amazing 6.3 million liters in 2001 to an absolutely staggering 34 million liters in 2009. The value of sales was £134 million.
There has been a huge public health awareness push in the UK, with the 5 a Day campaign providing massive advertising and public information to increase the awareness of the importance of consuming five portions of fruit and vegetables every day. The campaign to improve our health in the short term and to decrease the possibility of diseases such as bowel and colon cancer in later life has largely been responsible for this increase in sales. According to a Senior Market Analyst at Mintel, Vivianne Ithekweazu, the growth in sales has been ‘exceptional’. The forecast is for sales to almost treble by 2011.
A smoothie is an easy way to top up on healthy fruits and vegetables with today’s hectic lifestyle. Mintel’s research shows that young people in the 15 to 34 age range are the most likely to buy smoothies. It seems that the sales are growing fastest in a group of smoothies specifically designed to contain ingredients to boost immune systems, although fruit smoothies still account for the majority of smoothies sold in the UK.
This success on the high street has had a knock on effect in our homes too with sales of smoothie makers growing rapidly. A smoothie maker is generally more powerful than a home blender as it needs to be able to crush ice and the frozen fruit that produces a more creamy texture to the smoothie without making it higher in calories!
Children love smoothies and families are finding it a great way to get the them to eat the fruits and vegetables they might otherwise refuse in a bid to get them to eat more healthily.
Perhaps another reason to buy a smoothie maker is that the recession has made everyone more careful about how they spend their money and healthy smoothies can be made at home for a fraction of the cost of shop bought ones.