Qi Juices: Just say fresh

THE Lebanese brand, Qi Juices was hailed as the best start-up in the country during the 2013 Bader Start Up Cup Business Competition. It is the first Lebanese company to provide home delivery of organic, raw, cold-pressed fruit and vegetable juices for cleansing the body and to support optimal health.

How did Qi Juices as a concept come about?

After becoming mothers we became much more conscious of what we were eating and how best to nourish our families, plus working full-time meant that we were always looking for natural healthy ways to increase our energy and vitality. We discovered the benefits of juicing a few years ago, but saw that it took a lot of time and effort to hunt down the organic produce, make the juice and clean up, and found ourselves wishing someone professional would do all of that for us. After Hana tried a juice cleanse in California one summer, we became convinced that this would be a business worth starting in Lebanon, and began to build a team of experts around us to help build the concept.  

Starting Qi Juices fulfilled all the things we wanted from work while we raised our families; We could start small, learn as we grow, build our business in a way that reflected our own lifestyle and values, and make a positive impact on others.

When you came up with the idea, did you envision the product to take off as easily?

At the very beginning, our customers were people who are typically early adopters of something new and others who were already health-conscious and very happy to see that a service delivering juice cleanses was available here. Beyond that segment, we have seen that people need to learn about the benefits of green juices before trying them, but once they see how it makes them feel, they’re hooked!

Are Lebanese typically health-conscious consumers?

Read the entire interview with Hana and Leila on the June issue of Food Manufacturing Journal - Middle East & Africa.