Juicy Details: Flo Eysler of iF Juice
In 2006, German natives Flo Eysler and Hans Au quit their corporate jobs to launch iF Foods Ltd, a humble juice bar inside Chaoyang Park. In due time they outgrew their “lemonade stands” and now operate a juice bar in the Central Business District and distribute through channels including their website and many venues throughout town. Prioritizing the freshness of their beverages and convenience, Hans and Flo reached out to hotels and schools in their catering services, as well as offices and homes through their juice deliveries. Agenda sat down with co-founder Flo Eysler to discuss his juice venture and healthy living in Beijing.
How did you have the idea for a juice bar, an unusual niche market in Beijing?
Initially, we wanted to do it all – food and beverages. But since we didn’t have experience with retailing food, we started with fresh juices first. We realized that nobody was really focusing on beverages alone, but thought that it would have a viable market. We chose juices because we wanted to do something that didn’t already carry an international brand, like Starbucks’ branding of coffee. Also, looking at the USA and Australia, they had a big market for juices and smoothies, and we realized we could bring this market to China, even if the Chinese were heavy soup and tea drinkers already.
What is the concept behind If Juice?
Convenience. The expat and Chinese community are already very attached to fresh produce. If you go to a restaurant, you can get many freshly made juices, but we are concerned with the people in the offices, on the streets and in shopping malls. Before our company came along, if people just want a fresh juice to grab and go, there was nowhere to turn to. Now, our company sells juices to supermarkets, caters to hotels and schools, and delivers to offices and homes even on the outskirts of Beijing. In the long run, we are promoting a convenient solution for a healthy way of living in Beijing. In America, convenience for health is synonymous to taking vitamins. On the other hand, Europeans try to intake very natural foods, as we are less of a pill culture. We believe Chinese people also prefer the natural over something in a capsule.
Why should people drink juice instead of consuming the fruits and vegetables raw?
Incidentally, juice itself is more convenient. We would drink a bottle of juice rather than eat an entire apple or carrot if they contained the same amount of nutrients, because it’s just easier. With one bottle of juice, you can get three servings of fruit that you would not have otherwise consumed, and it’s great for improving your immune system and hiking up your energy levels.
Is there a meaning to the brand’s name?
Our company’s Chinese name – ru guo (如果) – came first, because of the second meaning: “like fruit.” We were looking for English translations and decided on iF Juice.
What is the appeal of iF Juice? How is it different from the juice bars out there?
First of all, whatever we do is completely pure, free from additives, water, ice cubes, sugar or syrup, or anything that doesn’t come straight from nature. Juice companies like Hui Er claim their juices contain vitamin C, but the truth is that they make it from concentrate, and you end up with this syrupy gloop after the juice is heated and evaporated, devoid of nutrients. Other juice makers in other countries pasteurize their products to kill the bacteria as they want to give it a longer shelf life. We have one day – which means that we squeeze it in a clean environment, put it into our bottle, close our bottle, and from the moment the bottle is closed, it must be consumed in 24 hours.
Moreover, we are different from other juice bars in that we operate more like a bakery shop for our customers’ convenience. In a bakery, you don’t see how someone bakes a croissant, but your taste buds tell you that it is freshly made today. We adjusted our model accordingly and call ourselves a juice shop, because you know our juices are produced fresh from our shop and factory even if it isn’t produced in front of your eyes.
What are the difficulties of producing completely natural juices?
After we started the company, we found out that fruit tastes very different throughout the year. We adjust to the different seasons by having workers who know which fruit to buy and juice tasters. As you know, if our juices are not sweet enough, we can’t just add sugar. Instead, we incorporate sweeter fruits, like bananas, into the juice to hike up the sugar levels. On the surface, our orange juice looks like an easy product, but we mix four different varieties of oranges to get a stable taste throughout the year.
Have you customized your juices for specific clients? We had a customer who came into our shop looking for a way to lower his high blood pressure. When we supplied him with celery and lime juice, he could feel his pulse slowing down immediately, as the combination has calming properties. For me, seeing him recover is amazing because it proves that you don’t need chemicals to be treated – you just need the finest natural ingredients consumed at the right time. We do have the capacity and flexibility to personalize juices, and we’d love to continue helping people with medical ailments, as it’s a great story to tell.
Where do you see the company heading in the future? We have added a line of fresh fruit juice popsicles, and we’re branching out to more food items for the menu soon, and are considering offering natural, healthy, fresh and convenient cut fruits and dehydrated fruits. Obviously, plenty of stores offer dried fruits and fruit platters, but the dried fruits are infused with liquid sugar, and fruit platters do not offer the best fruits available. We are really about the taste experience, and we want to offer fruits that are at their best and ripest stage at the right time.
As we are fascinated with the properties of Chinese traditional herbs, we will experiment with elements of Chinese traditional medicine in our products, with ingredients such as goji (枸杞: Chinese wolfberries), ginger and ginseng. We infused ginger into our celery and lime juice, but dabbling with TCM is still a learning process for us.
Weirdest ingredient that ever went in your juicer?
Chili! We have a new recipe waiting to be launched, and it involves celery and apples with a little chili added. It’s awesome – it’s like a Sichuan variation of our regular juices.
What is your philosophy on maintaining a healthy lifestyle in Beijing?
Simply consume unprocessed foods, and eat as close to nature as you can get. As for healthy activities to occupy your time with in Beijing, I’d say get out of the city and bike around the countryside.
We wanted to do something that is healthy and tasty at the same time. If juices don’t pass the taste test we won’t launch it even despite great health benefits. Even with our celery lime juice, we developed a recipe that is drinkable. It is actually drinkable.
What restaurants around Beijing meet your approval for healthy and tasty food?
The restaurant scene in Beijing has vastly improved in the time I’ve been here, but I still wish for healthier options in the city. My business partner’s vegetarian, so we like to eat at Pure Lotus. I usually order nice salads at Panino Teca. Lastly, Element Fresh is definitely a destination for people with health-conscious approaches to their diet.
iF Juice Daily 8am-10pm. Shop 14, Bldg 11, Central Park, 6 Chaoyangmenwai Dajie, Chaoyang District. (6533 6569) www.ifjuice.com 如果,朝阳区朝外大街6号新城国际11号楼14号商铺
Pure Lotus Daily 11am-11pm. Tongguang Bldg, 12 Nongzhanguan Nanlu, Chaoyang District. (6592 3627, 8703 6669) 净心莲,朝阳区农展馆南路12号(通广大厦内)
Panino Teca
Daily 8.30am-midnight. S2-11, Bldg 2, Sanlitun Village South, 19 Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang District. (6416 1416) 品味店,朝阳区三里屯路19号三里屯Village南区2号楼S2-11
Element Fresh
Mon-Fri 10am-11pm, Sat-Sun 7am-11pm. S8-33, Bldg 8, Sanlitun Village South, 19 Sanlitun Lu, Chaoyang District. (6417 1318) www.elementfresh.com 朝阳区三里屯路19号三里屯Village南区8号楼S8-33
