ShowMe interviews Karsten from Juicebox
I casually meet Karsten at his ‘kitchen’ in Searle Street, Woodstock.
While still admiring the yellow and orange 70’s retro décor in the somewhat industrial space, two ice cold Naartjie flavoured Juiceboxes are popped open and we sit down at a table covered with a small black and white check tablecloth…
I taste the refreshing tanginess running down my throat and without further ado, my pen meets my notepad.
What is Juicebox?
Juicebox can be described as Artisan Fruit Juice. It’s handmade in Cape Town. There isn’t much machinery involved and we source farmers and then buy fresh fruit from their local farms.
Is Juicebox organic?
Well, we try and work as organic as possible, but South Africa is still way behind in this method of farming. We are able to buy organic quinces from Tierhoek, also some plums and peaches sometimes.
We mostly travel with the seasons and draw from Paarl, Stellenbosch and Ceres…
Where did Juicebox start?
In my kitchen at home.
Haha, okay, How did Juicebox start?
My partner Patrizia, and her friend came up with the idea of making jam. This was in October 2009. Coming from a hospitality background, I helped them make their first batch of strawberry jam.
In December that year we tried to make cherry jam after picking cherries in Ceres but soon figured out that the cherries were too small for making jam, so we came up with the idea of making juice…
I called home (Germany) and asked my mom to give me some advice as she used to make her own juices when I was a child; this was a skill she had learned from my grandmother. They used a home steam juicer that gently only extracted the juice from the fruits leaving the pulp behind. So we did this with our cherries. We managed to bottle some of the juice and after approaching The Superette in Woodstock, we sold a couple of bottles to them.
It took a few glasses of red wine and some brainstorming to transform our original jam name; Jam Session to Jukebox and eventually Juicebox.
How did Juicebox grow to where it is today?
Well, we asked local designer, Bradley Abrahams to design a label and a logo for us. Soon our lounge turned into a storeroom and our couch was replaced by boxes of fruit and crates of bottles and juice. I even sold my motorbike to create more space for storage. Pat and I found someone to help us out with our new business and slowly the word began to spread. Restaurant and café owners started to phone me asking us if we could supply them with a couple of crates of Juicebox.
We drove out to a farm once a week for fresh fruit and the rest of the time we were making juice in our own kitchen in Chapel Street.
Our waste slowly became more and sometimes our neighbours would ask whether we were making wine because of the fruit skins in the back alley that started fermenting in the sun!!
Before long we needed more space and I found this place just around the corner from our house. The amazing thing about this building, is that it is the place where Bashew soft drinks originated. Bashew also started in a small space in Searle Street, and I thought that this was quite significant.
So we renovated the place, bought a Cold Press for citrus fruits and apples and have been operating here since March 2012.
Tell us about the Juicebox flavours.
We continually experiment to see what works best but our
Winter Fruits include: Apple, Pear, Quince, Guava and Naartjie.
Summer Fruits: Nectarine, Peach, Apricot, Cherry, Plum and Grape.
Do you add anything to your juice?
No additives, no preservatives, no colourants, no flavourants and it is not made from concentrate or pulp. The only thing we might add to some of the juices is a diabetic-friendly, Low GI Agave sugar that we get locally from Cape St. Francis.
We basically get the fruit, press it, pasteurize it and bottle it. It’s a single-strength juice…
So what is the shelf life of Juicebox?
I would say a good year. Natural oxidation however starts changing the colour after three months, so in my opinion, I’d say that the juice remains perfect in colour and flavour for three months after being bottled.
How many bottles of Juicebox is produced each month?
In our first year, we still had large 750ml bottles. We sold anything between 100 and 150 bottles a month. In the beginning it wasn’t easy, sometimes a month would go by without selling a single bottle, yet we never stopped believing in our brand and its uniqueness.
We soon changed to smaller bottles and since then, Juicebox started taking off with a consistent growth- and this is very exciting.
How many restaurants and cafes do you currently supply with Juicebox?
About 50 of which 20 is fully active on a weekly basis.
Capetonian spots that sell our juices include The Superette, The Power and the Glory, Jason’s Bakery, Roundhouse, Tamboerswinkel, Deluxe Coffeeworks and Ours Café in Kalk Bay.
In Paarl, the Spice Route stocks Juicebox. In Franschoek you can find us in the Sacred Ground Bakery, Deluxe Coffeeworks and Reubens. We now supply even as far as Swellendam and until today it remains my biggest reward; picking up the phone and listening to a new client wanting to buy and stock Juicebox.
What is the most popular flavour and how much can we expect to pay for a bottle of Juicebox?
The most popular flavour would definitely be Cloudy Apple followed by Naartjie and then probably Plum, Peach and Nectarine. Secondly you can expect to pay anything between R15 and R20 for a bottle in selected restaurants and cafes, and now we even do house deliveries for those who have become addicted to the true taste of fruit juice.
What can we expect to see in the future?
Well, we are continually testing and experimenting with new fruits and ideas, but something we definitely want to continue exploring is creating refreshing cool drinks with natural ingredients and unique flavours.
Our latest twisted drink is already available at Ours Café in Kalk Bay;
it is called an ice cold Chilli Punsch, which is like a spicy apple with a hint of chilli…
Contact Details:
Juicebox
info@juicebox.co.za
072 820 2444