‘ROGUE’ DRINKS EXECUTIVES BRING NUTRI-SHOT CATEGORY TO AUSTRALIA

SYDNEY, 13 December 2018

Following the success of the nutri-shot category in Japan, a group of Australian senior executives have left long-time corporate jobs in the Asia-Pacific drinks industry to launch a range of functional tonics in Australia. The break-away group established Rogue Beverages last year, which has just launched its first product in a range of 100ml ‘nutri-shots’ designed to promote ‘general wellness’.

Now available at Harris Farm Markets, selected SUMO salad stores and in cafes across metropolitan Sydney, the 100ml ‘SHOJO Turmeric Tonic’ has Curcumin as its primary ingredient and is believed to be the first of its kind in Australia. Curcumin is the active compound found in turmeric and is widely known to be high in antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties. The drink also contains Vitamin C and B Group vitamins which support the immune system, metabolic function and reduce fatigue.

Co-founder of Rogue Beverages Sean Cunial said these ingredients were chosen for their proven anti-inflammatory properties and ability to support healthy liver function – which explains the drink’s tagline: “love your liver!”. Sean is an ex-Coca Cola executive who worked for the organisation for more than 20 years, 15 of which were spent in Asia. It was during six years spent in Japan that his eyes opened to the success of vitamin drinks, inspiring him to bring the lucrative category to Australia.

“Nutri-shots, or wellness tonics like SHOJO, have been around in Japan since the early 1960s. The first of its kind was Lipovitan which quickly became a household name in the country and across Asia. Since then the category has flourished covering a range of benefits from energy, cognitive performance and immunity, to healthy liver function, blood sugar levels, skin and sleep. Today the category’s global market value is estimated to be worth about USD $68bn,” he said.

Other members of the Rogue team include: Nikki Hart, one of New Zealand’s leading nutritionists; Myles Davis, ex-Commercial Manager at Lion; and Paul Fitzgerald and Dan Nistor ex-senior executives with Coca-Cola in Australia and Japan. The team like to describe themselves as ‘a group of mischievous personalities’, and this mischievous theme has played out in the SHOJO name, which is based on a playful Japanese theatrical character that likes to live life to the full.

According to Sean, SHOJO will be an innovative entrant to the Australian drinks industry.

“SHOJO will break new ground because its delivers functional health ingredients in a convenient form that tastes good. It will deliver so much more than flavoured water, fruit drinks or carbonated soft drinks currently on offer. We think SHOJO will be embraced by Australia’s health conscious consumer,” he said.

According to Sean having dietitian and nutritionist Nikki Hart on the Rogue team has been key to the drink’s development, which was also supported by ingredient supplier and ‘flavour house’, Directus Australia. Nikki also has a relationship with the University of Otago which is currently assisting on the development on the next generation of Rogue’s products.

“Our nutritionist Nikki Hart had enormous influence on the development of SHOJO as well as our other drinks currently in development. The ingredients used in SHOJO have been vetted by Nikki, as well as being supported by peer-reviewed medical journal articles that substantiate the functional benefits derived from these ingredients,” said Sean.

“Directus worked with us for nearly 18 months to adapt the ingredients into something that tastes good. We went through multiple versions to ensure we got the balance right between the curcumin and vitamins, testing these versions with consumers along the way,” he said.

Future nutri-shots being developed by Rogue Beverages for its portfolio include tonics to support energy, lung health, blood sugar and cholesterol management. These are scheduled for launch in 2019.

‘Many consumers are looking for truly functional foods that contain ingredients which support specific health and wellbeing objectives. Nutri-tonics and their specific functional ingredients may help them to achieve this, which is why we plan to lead the creation of the nutri-tonic category in Australia,’ said Sean.

…ends

https://www.shojotonics.com/

http://roguebeverages.com.au/