New entrant in beverage warsltraTropika International is ready to reap the rewards of two years of research, development and restructuring with the launch of three brands into the North American beverage market.

The brands will be entering two of the hottest beverage categories – fruit drinks and sport drinks.

But John Ashbee, chairman and chief executive officer of Tropika, believes there is room for another player.

‘We consider our products to be New Age `nutriceutical’ kind of products,’ Ashbee says. ‘People are looking for healthy, nutritious products, and we aim to supply some of them.

‘The category is growing quite significantly, and we want to penetrate part of that growth,’ he says.

The first of Tropika’s new products, Chudleigh’s brand apple juices, will start showing up on store shelves in southern Ontario later this month, where the Chudleigh’s name is already well known.

This will be in preparation for a Canadian rollout.

There are three varieties under the brand banner: apple juice, apple and pear juice and apple cider, and all are made by Chudleigh’s apple farm in Milton, Ont., near Toronto.

Next month, Cundari Group of Toronto will launch Chudleigh’s with radio, direct marketing and co-op advertising in addition to in-store couponing.

Tropika has been a company in search of product since 1993 when entrepreneur John Ashbee took over.

Ashbee has owned various businesses over the years, including a freight forwarding company.

When he bought Tropika, the company was two years old and had one product called Tropi-Fun, a milk and fruit beverage which is no longer on the market.

Today, Tropika stock is publicly listed on the Canadian Dealer Network, and the company is getting ready to challenge two growing beverage categories.

Ashbee has not discounted going beyond the food and beverage sector for new products, but, right now, the company is firmly focused on beverages.

‘Our basic philosophy was that we wanted to be a company that acquired new innovative products and then built brand recognition and brand identity,’ he says.

‘We were looking for products that fit that basic strategy and criteria of the company, and this is where we found ourselves.’

Tropika’s next product launch is expected by the end of the year.

Cundari is still market testing the brand name for the new beverage.

The new product is a reformulation of Tropika’s original dairy/ fruit mixture Tropi-Fun, which will be sweetened with fruit juice rather than sugar.

The beverage will be made by Beatrice Foods and distributed for Tropika by GayLea Foods.

Tropika is already working on an extension of the new drink, a fortified version with added vitamins A and E.

It is undergoing stability tests and because drug identification numbers are required, approval for the product is not expected until early 1996.

Next spring will also see Tropika enter the isotonic sports drink arena with Game.

Game will likely be first introduced in the u.s. where Monarch Beverages of Atlanta will be bottling and distributing the drink for Tropika.

One of Monarch’s own products is Dad’s Root Beer and the company already has a network of 200 bottlers in place.

In Canada, sales of sports drinks are a $39.6 million a year business, according to Nielsen Marketing Research.

The marketplace is dominated by Quaker Oats Company’s 30-year-old Gatorade brand. Coca-Cola Beverages introduced its contender, Powerade, this past May.

In the u.s., annual sports drink sales are US$1 billion. There is also more competition with Pepsi-Cola’s All Sport looking for its share of the pie.

Ashbee says Tropika does not plan to take on the giants, just participate in the growth of the category.

While the primary target market for the other sports drinks is males aged 13 to 24, Ashbee says the marketing strategy for Game will be a complete departure.

‘Others have pegged themselves as macho products,’ Ashbee says. ‘I think they’re missing the boat.

‘Our approach in general terms is anybody, if you perspire doing anything – from gardening to golf – is a target consumer for our product.’

Tropika will also be broadening Game’s appeal for women by featuring a wider range of popular flavors such as cranberry.