Tucano Sales GmbH & Co. KG

A juicy prospect

One of the leading suppliers in the European fruit juice market, Tucano is focusing on its primary international board

As a direct result of the fusion in 2004 between two major fruit juice companies in Germany, Karlsberg Brauerei Homburg/Saar and Niehoffs Vaihinger Fruchtsäfte, one of the leading brand suppliers in the fruit juice sector was created: Tucano Sales GmbH & Co. KG. With the brands Merziger, Lindavia and Schloss Veldenz for food retailing, and Niehoffs Vaihinger and Klindworth for the restaurant, hotel and wholesale beverage sectors as well as the international brand, Tucano, the company is today one of the leading suppliers in the European fruit juice market. A carefully selected brand logo, the toucan, symbolises the company’s orientation: with its brightly coloured array of feathers it represents the diversity of the brands, assortment and packaging range.

With the Merziger brand in the food retail sector, tucano stands for exceptional and innovative consumption concepts for fruit juices, which combine the essential building blocks of an up-to-date, healthy diet with pleasure. Apart from a large assortment of classic fruit juices, Merziger has specialised in the composition of creative mixture recipes with an additional health component.

In addition to the retail food trade, tucano has adapted to the demands and needs of the upscale catering trade through the product ranges of the Niehoffs Vaihinger and Klindworth brands. Both brands guarantee exclusivity, customer satisfaction, quality, innovation and added value in the domain of fruit juices. Here Niehoffs Vaihinger is the national premium brand, while Klindworth, as a regional brand, has developed into one of the leading brands in the catering trade in Northern Germany over the past few years. As a proven specialist for returnable containers, Klindworth is exclusively distributed via wholesale beverage distributors and the catering industry. The assortment includes more than 40 different quality products: from natural direct juices to exotic fruit juices through to modern vitamin drinks.

With the brand Niehoffs Vaihinger, tucano offers an extensive and varied assortment with premium quality and the corresponding packaging to national upscale catering and hotel establishments. The containers developed especially for the catering trade include the one-litre returnable bottle in 37 flavours and the practical 0.2-litre returnable quarter flask with 23 varieties. Niehoffs Vaihinger is therefore an established part of breakfast buffets in all leading German hotels with classics such as orange and apple juice as well as multivitamin nectar.

In the future, Niehoffs Vaihinger will further expand its position within the catering trade, and in addition, a clear segmentation of the market in the areas of scene catering, classic catering and the hotel will be undertaken. “Through this division of the entire ‘catering’ market an optimal servicing of the market is guaranteed,” says Gerd Gründahl, the tucano distribution manager. “In this way, we can concentrate exclusively on the differing requirements of the individual segments.”

Particular attention is paid in this regard to scene catering, a multi-layered segment, which runs from hotspots to nightlife classics through to cocktail bars. The reason for this is the fact that Niehoffs Vaihinger, through high-quality products, has already developed into an indispensable component of every wellstocked cocktail bar in the last few years. Due to the variety of exotic juices and nectars as well as Niehoffs Vaihinger cocktail basics, the brand was able to extend its cocktail competency.

This competence has been further underlined by tucano with a new product range: the DCide Cocktail Premixes. Combined with the high-quality juices from Niehoffs Vaihinger and Klindworth, these pre-mixed, alcoholic and non-alcoholic cocktails give every catering establishment the possibility, even without any expert knowledge or equipment, of conjuring up delicious cocktails. With the introduction of DCide, tucano is reacting to the extremely positive development of cocktails in the catering sector. According to a study by the Gesellschaft für Konsum-, Markt- und Absatzforschung (GfK – Society for Consumption, Marketing and Sales Research, Consumer TrinkTrends, 2006) cocktails constitute some 40 per cent of all purchases by visitors to catering establishments in Germany between the ages of 16 and 29 – more money is spent in this area than on coffee, water or soft drinks, for example.

Tucano, the export brand, was created by tucano to present a selected assortment of high-quality fruit juices beyond the bounds of its home German market to the international top-class catering companies. It’s currently being distributed in several countries, not only in a refined and exclusive 0.2-litre green glass bottle or a 0.75-litre pack, but in a ten-litre dispenser as well. The assortment will be correspondingly adapted to the special focuses and drink particularities in the different countries.

Jens Stahmer, tucano’s key account manager for the hotel industry, comments: “The Tucano brand will be extraordinarily important for the tucano marketing company in the non-German markets in the future, as it’s easily pronounced and has been conceived exclusively for distribution abroad. As the German market has been saturated with an exceptionally high consumption per person, we expect foreign market to ‘catch up’ in coming years. As a result, there’ll be greater demand and sales opportunities, which we want to satisfy.”

“Tucano was introduced in 2004 solely for export purposes in order to meet the requirements posed abroad, like green glass bottles, and in order to counter international competitors. With our knowhow and concepts, we want to generate growth in coming years in foreign markets with the Tucano brand.”

He adds: “As a relatively ‘young brand’, Tucano is benefiting from a growing demand, hence an exclusive contract was concluded recently for the Russian market. Due to good concepts and product innovations, the brand is being made ‘fit’ for the varied requirements in a whole host of countries in collaboration with our clients. Our clients know their markets, and in collaboration with us, they obtain an export brand whose characteristics are attuned to their needs.”

Highlighting on where the brand is heading and should be positioned in the future, Jens concludes: “Tucano should receive strong placement, with special concepts, in the catering trade and hotel industry in particular. Here we are benefiting from the experience we’ve gained in the German market from our national brands: Niehoffs Vaihinger and Merziger.”