From the elderly to young children, everyone enjoys one of the many flavors and brands of fruit juice on the retail market today. Fruit juices offer vitamins and nutrients that you can’t obtain in other drink products. The fruit juice companies and fruit juice producers of the world are aware of the unique and delicious flavor that fruit nectar products offer and how much many consumers enjoy these beverages. Thus, the fruit juices industry was constructed to make a selection of high quality products that meet the demands and tastes of modern society.

Gaining a complete understanding of a fruit juices industry overview is essential for your business to better understand what’s available, what rules govern the industry and how you should purchase your fruit juices. When researching the fruit juice industry and every fruit juice company on your list, consider the following:

1. Fruit juice suppliers and distributors are essential to the wholesale fruit juice market.

2. Associations are a great source of information about fruit juice suppliers and different brands of fruit juice.

3. All fruit juice producers in the United States are regulated by certain government agencies.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Find the best fruit juice companies and distributors for your business

Fruit juice distributors are some of the biggest fruit juice suppliers in the industry. These distributors offer many brands of fruit juice from apple juice brands to orange juice brands, and everything in between. While there are many distributors in the industry, only a few are large enough to be well known to most fruit juice business owners and are key players you should familiarize yourself with to get a better overview of the industry as a whole.

I recommend: Southern Gardens Citrus is one of the largest supplier of 100% pure orange juice in the United States. It provided over half of the not-from-concentrate orange juice for private label in the country. Another big company in the fruit juices industry, Andre Juice is considered one of the largest distributors of juice in the United States.

Include fruit juices associations and professional groups in your industry overview

Associations of fruit juice companies and fruit juice suppliers are the ideal sources for information on the juice industry. These associations and groups offer up to date websites that usually include the latest news and information about every fruit juice business and fruit juice manufacturer on its membership roster, which provides you with a good overview of what's going on in the industry at any given time.

I recommend: Juice Products Association represents everyone in the juice industry from processors, packers and marketers of all types of fruit juices. Join the group for members-only benefits and check out its Fruit Juice Facts pages to read more about what’s affecting the industry today. For specific information about apple juice brands and apple juice manufacturers, check out U.S. Apple Association. Its webpages offers useful information and an overview of the industry that you can pass on to your consumers.

Educate yourself on the government regulators for every fruit juice manufacturer in the U.S.

Before you purchase fruit juice products for your business, it's important to have some knowledge about the industry standards that these juices should meet. The best way to become familiar with these standards is to read about them through the juice industry's government regulators.

I recommend: The Food and Drug Administration is the United State’s largest government regulator for food items and you’ll find information from the FDA and other food safety programs at the FoodSafety.gov website. However, because fruit juices are produced from fruit the United States Department of Agriculture also has a say in industry regulations.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Always use caution when purchasing fruit juice brands from another country. Fruit juice companies based in foreign countries don't have the same regulations as U.S.-based companies.

If you're running an organization or event that caters to children, juice boxes are a must. A wide variety of fruit juice producers cater to children's juice favorites as well as current trends in health and the environment.

You may also want to purchase fruit juice products if you're in the health and fitness industry, where fruit juice supplements and concentrates are all the rage. If you're interested in fruit juice products for health and fitness, you can purchase premium fruit juice concentrates wholesale and save.

If you're looking for fruit juice producers, explore the following:

1. Find fruit juice distributors that serve your area

2. Get wholesale prices on the specialty fruit juice products you buy most

3. Find premium fruit juices and concentrates for your health-related business

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Look for fruit juice companies with stores or delivery options near you

If you're buying bulk or specialty juice products for a preschool or day camp, you need fast service and delivery. You can also benefit from buying fruit juices from fruit juice suppliers that additionally offer other food and beverage products.

I recommend: Fresh Direct delivers individual and corporate orders for fruit juice products of any size. Mamma Roma is another supplier of food and beverage products, including fruit juices and fruit nectar products of a number of types and sizes.

Shop for the specialty fruit juice brands and suppliers you trust

If you're searching for specific fruit juice brands or organic labels, make sure that the producer delivers or has retailers in your area. Most food stores offer natural or organic fruit juices, but you can also order some specialty fruit juices for wholesale prices from the manufacturer.

I recommend: Satisfy kids and parents by serving organic and natural juice distributed by R.W. Knudsen. R.W. Knudsen has a variety of organic and natural juice boxes and other products, including Sensible Sippers organic boxed juice with no sugar added. If you want premium juices, Xango's Mangosteen juice can be ordered online by the bottle or at wholesale price with orders of 4 or more.

Order exotic fruit and fruit supplements from fruit juice companies

If you're in the health and fitness industry, you may be in the market for some premium exotic fruit concentrates or supplements. There are many options for buying fruit juice concentrate, including from a foreign exporter or from a premium health and nutrition supplier.

I recommend: Heliconias is one of many juice concentrate producers based outside of the US in tropical locations. Heliconias offers exotic fruit concentrate and pulp in wholesale orders from Colombia. Fruit Advantage is a health and nutrition supplier that offers cherry, pomegranate, and blueberry concentrates and other fruit juice products for wholesale or retail order.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Research nutritional information before you buy fruit juices, as many trusted fruit juice brands have been criticized for selling overly sugary or high calorie products for consumption by children. Look for all natural and no sugar added products to steer clear of non-nutritional juice drinks. No matter who you're serving, your customers will be pleased to know you keep health considerations in mind when purchasing fruit juices.

Fruit juice is a healthy drink that contains many essential vitamins; however, a fruit beverage, fruit drink or fruit punch drink is much different. These types of drinks are just fruit flavored and not made from 100% fruit juice. Such subtle differences in drink labels are the reason why it’s important to understand fruit juices key terms before you order these beverages for your business.

Fruit juice companies and fruit juice producers use certain key terms to describe their products. Prior to making a purchase from a fruit juice manufacturer, be sure the fruit juice products you're buying are exactly what you need for your business. To ensure the perfect selection of products, keep in mind the following information about fruit juices key terms:

1. Fruit juice brands are only 100% fruit juice if it clearly states so on the label. Some juice drinks contain as little as 1% actual fruit juice.

2. Fruit nectar products can be pasteurized or not pasteurized.

3. Fruit juice suppliers offer juice from concentrate and others not from fruit juice concentrate.

Action Steps
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Educate yourself on the different percentages of juice found in various brands of fruit juice

Fruit juice companies offer fruit juice products of all types and percentages of juice. If you're looking for 100% pure fruit juice, make sure the products you purchase from a fruit juice suppler are labeled as 100% juice and not a juice drink or juice beverage. Under United States law, fruit juice companies are required to state the total percentage of juice content on the informational label that's on any juice product.

I recommend: Juice Products Association offers a useful glossary of terms associated with fruit juices and the juice industry. Also, check out Fitness and Freebies for explanations of fruit juices key terms.

Learn the juice pasteurization process and terms before purchasing fruit juices for your business

Fruit juices are drinks that sit on store shelves waiting to be consumed. These juices need a longer than normal shelf life in order to stay fresh for customers, which is where pasteurization comes in. Pasteurization is an important key term in the fruit juice business. Pasteurized fruit juice products have gone through a heating process that increases the amount of time these products can sit on the shelf in a store. On the other hand, most refrigerated juices aren't pasteurized and have a shorter shelf life. It's important to learn which juices are the best for your business and your customers.

I recommend: The Florida Department of Citrus’ FlordiaJuice.com is a great resource for information about pasteurization and other key terms specifically relating to orange juice. For more information about apple juice and its key terms, check out Mott's for a complete list of nutritional terms.

Include knowledge about frozen and fresh fruit juices in your business knowledge base

Frozen and fresh juices are very different types of drinks. Frozen juices are also called a juice from concentrate. While fresh juices are not from concentrate. Both types of fruit juice products are made with certain varying percentages of fruit juice.

I recommend: Publix Asset Management offers information on natural food label key terms, which includes fruit juices, nutrients and other types of fruit juice products. AskDrSears.com also has a great amount of information about fruit juice and certain key terms that are essential for your business.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Consider purchasing a variety of fruit juices for your business. Customers are sure to prefer different brands and flavors of fruit juice whether you sell them in a retail environment or dining establishment.

If you own or manage a restaurant or bar, you will most likely find yourself needing a lot of fruit juices. Even if you don't feature plain fruit juices or smoothies on the menu, you may need them for recipes and they are vital if you plan on serving mixed drinks.

You may not know that there are a lot of different fruit juices types and styles. You should pick the type you wish to order based on what you need it for, where you can store it and how long you need it to keep. Three popular forms of fruit juice are:

1. Fresh fruit juice you can either buy or make yourself;

2. Fruit juice concentrate that is easy to ship and store;

3. Fruit nectar products that are thick, rich and pulpy.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Look at fresh fruit juice products

If fruit juices are an important part of your establishment's menu, you will gain the best reputation by using fresh juice. If you can, buy fresh fruit wholesale and puree or juice it yourself. If you don't have the time or the staff to do so, consider buying juice that has never been frozen.

I recommend: Try buying your juice from the Organic Valley Family of Farms, one of the leading organic fruit juice suppliers. Ideally, purchase it from the farm closest to you so the juice spends as little time as possible in transit. If you would like to juice your own fruit, Restaurant Equipment World has several juicers for sale at affordable prices. If you want to serve bottled juice, ShopLet lets you buy multipacks of juice in bulk, choosing from several fruit juice brands.

Check out companies that sell fruit juice concentrate

If you have limited storage space, you may want to speak with juice concentrate producers. Concentrated juice is different from fresh juice, because the water is removed from it. This can make shipping cheaper and easier since the concentrate is lighter and takes up less room. You will, however, have to add the water back in before you serve the juice. It can be hard to get the right ratio at times so it isn't too thick or too thin.

I recommend: Look at the juice concentrates you can buy from Andre Juice. There are 10 different flavors available, including blueberry, apple and passion fruit. If you need more exotic juice flavors, get in touch with Dennick Fruit Source. The company imports banana and acerola concentrates, plus several more juices and purees from South American fruit juice producers.

Consider purchasing nectar from fruit juice companies

Fruit nectar products are different from traditional fruit juices, because they contain juice or water and a large amount of fruit pulp. Although it seems like nectar would be a healthier product than traditional juice, some fruit nectars has a lot of extra sugar in them. Be careful to read the labels if you plan to promote your fruit drinks as low calorie.

I recommend: Check out Liberty Imports. This company supplies Brazilian fruit nectar to the United States in bottles and stackable tetrapacks. Another place to buy from is WellnessGrocer. It has a large supply of Bionaturae brand fruit nectars, including lemon, pear and plum. The nectar comes in 25.4 oz. bottles. You get a discount if you order more than six.