Beverage Startups
9 Things To Know About PLANTUS
The story of 100% organic, one of a kind beverage called PLANTUS begins in 2005. Adrien Perret started his journey towards PLANTUS with continuing his family interest in beverage making. After more than a decade, a plant-based drink with only infused natural plants was introduced to the market. Today, I have a pleasure of talking with Adrien Perret, the founder of PLANTUS.
1. PLANTUS is award-winning brand. How did you come up with the idea of such successful beverage brand?
At the very beginning, I discovered plant-based drinks thank to my family who has been in charge of taking care of a delicate mountain environment for hundreds of years. Toddler in these alpine lands, my grandmother made me discover the plants used for generations by our ancestors. Among them were violet flowers for herbal teas, or arnica and plantain to treat bruises. The elders were picking the génépi, used in herbal teas and liqueurs. Then moving while growing up, I discovered many other plants in other mountains, plains, and garrigue, with original and very appreciable taste. I used all these plants to create PLANTUS drinks.
In 2005, for pleasure, I began making plant-based beverages which showed up real natural tastes: liqueurs, wines, syrups, herbal teas, lemonades, and other non-alcoholic beverages. I was looking for a beverage line on the market which was able to refresh me without any sugars and alcohol, but I didn’t find any real natural beverages.
The idea I came up with was to create plant-based drinks with only real infused natural plants, 0 g sugars, and 0 kcal, healthy and pleasant to drink. The brand name PLANTUS was self-evident for considering majestic plants, living organisms of nature, not only sticking with herbs found on the ground.
2. PLANTUS is 100% organic, delicate sparkling soft drink. The beverage line consists of two different flavors. Can you tell us more about each? Which one is your favorite?
Currently, there are two different plant blends, as a kind of marriage between aromatic substances of real plants only extracted by a pure infusion process. PLANTUS drinks have 0 g sugars, 0 kcal, plants are 100 % French, contain no sweetener, no coloring or flavor added, and 100 % of ingredients are organics.
The first one is PLANTUS Vallée. It is inspired by a fresh mountain valley lake and by the chlorophyll of plants. Flavors are coming from lemon verbena and lemon balm, associated with fresh minty flavors. It brings an ultra-refreshing character.
The second one is PLANTUS Calanque. It is inspired by a sunny Mediterranean cove and by the expression of southern plants. Savors are coming from garrigue thyme and rosemary, associated with the beneficial sage. It brings just as much refreshment as PLANTUS Vallée with an invigorating character.
I personally like both blends as I like changing the natural taste to refresh myself. Some prefer the first one which is more consensual, others prefer the second one which has a noteworthy taste, others like the two or neither. Finally, this seems to be a very subjective choice and globally our current sales conclude at 50/50 between both blends.
3. The creation of a beverage product is quite a challenge. What difficulties did you face during the development of PLANTUS line?
The biggest difficulty was to create the best plant blend, showing not a too strong taste neither a too light, which will give the best final subtle natural tastes. We tried and retried to fine-tune quantities in recipes for years because each plant has its own ability to have its aromatic flavors extracted by infusion. The second difficulty is to get a beverage product with 0 g sugars pleasant to drink but without any sweeteners. It is for why we can also offer our services for the creation of personalized drinks.
4. The beverage market is extremely competitive. What makes PLANTUS differ in the market?
PLANTUS is definitely a real refreshment alternative with 0 g sugars and 0 kcal. It is a real local beverage as 100 % of plants are French and all ingredients come from a few hundred kilometers as well as its manufacture.
It can healthily substitute any waters, sodas, beers and wines/champagnes/cocktails. In other words, you can enjoy PLANTUS instead of sparkling water with lemon slices, for aperitif instead of a beer (drunk in a bottle) or instead of wine/champagne (drunk in a wine glass), or as a tonic in cocktails.
PLANTUS is also ready to drink, a perfect sparkling infusion of natural plants with 0 kcal that establishments do not have to be made by their own.
5. Congratulations on the recognition at UP by WABEL event! What are your thoughts about the event? In your opinion, is it important for startups to participate at such events?
Thank you so much for your kind words. This event was the first one organized by WABEL for drinks. We are very proud to have participated and to have won the award of “most disruptive brand”. We began to sell the first serial products a few weeks before the event. I mean, the business was just starting and one can say it was too early to participate at such event. But we decided to catch this opportunity for increasing the visibility of PLANTUS. We are completely satisfied to have made this choice because UP by WABEL recognized PLANTUS on the beverage market. This is a real asset today that we are actively communicating with all our prospects and customers.
For any startups we think this is important to participate at such events: they can win prizes or simply increase their visibility, to ease the marketing of their products in this competitive market.
6. In your opinion, what are the biggest trends in the beverage market every startup should notice this year?
We could listen to big trends for teas and also for the teetotalism movement, claiming for 0 % alcohol drinks. Following this trend, the majority of beverages are currently made of natural extracts, always using semi-products, with sugars because people think they need sugars.
I think there is a weak signal for a broader market than the beverage market alone, for all products and services today, where there is a look for not only authentic but true products. And then for the beverage market, I think this translates to using the most of real raw materials directly into the manufacturing process. The best would be to not add any gram of sugars of any kind nor flavoring agents and extracts, what PLANTUS drinks do.
7. PLANTUS is a French beverage brand. Is it available only in France? Are you planning to enter other countries? If yes, which one and why?
PLANTUS is currently available in France and Switzerland, in the alps from the Leman lake to the Mediterranean Sea, because it is a local product of high quality produced in small volumes. We are looking today for distributors wishing to extend PLANTUS in close places of quality in Europe and why not in the world if the opportunity comes.
8. What is the biggest milestone for PLANTUS you have marked for the next year?
PLANTUS has just been launched mid-2019 with two different blends only. For 2020 the biggest milestone will be to extend the beverage line.
9. What advice would you have given yourself before you started out in the beverage business?
Before starting a beverage business, I was seeing beverage products as a kind of ultimate products. I was thinking everyone were aware of how the beverages they were drinking were made up.
Actually, I see everyone follows its own reality and the world is very subjective for each of us. It takes all kinds to make a world particularly true for PLANTUS, and there is a gap between what people say and what people really do.
For example, real natural tastes revealed in the mouth by a delicate sparkling, with 0 g sugars without sweeteners, upset most people. Their mouth has been getting used to added flavors and extracts revealed by sugars used by conventional beverage makers. Some of them convert to PLANTUS drinks immediately while it takes more time for others to make the transition. In the end, 75 % of targeted customers are converted.
For more information visit PLANTUS website.
