Get Your Vitamins! A Look at the New Juice Shop Enterprise

Interview

Vitamin Corner is a fresh juice shop selling all-natural juices and smoothies. It offers high quality drinks that are made only from fruits and vegetables and organic plant-based milks. It is the first of its kind in Tbilisi and chose to locate in a “corner” of the decidedly un-touristy Saburtalo district- perhaps with the implicit aim of enticing Georgians towards a healthier lifestyle with a new concept which has been widely embraced in the West and elsewhere. We spoke to one of the owning partners, Soroush Negahdari, to find out more.

Who’s behind Vitamin Corner?

The investors and designer are from Iran but I run the business with other Georgian members of the group.

What inspired you to open it?

Nowadays, drinking fresh natural juices is not that popular in Georgia when compared to other European countries, but that is one of the reasons we decided to open such a place here in Tbilisi. We would like to make some changes in how people choose their drinks and we are trying to introduce healthier options to people.

How do you expect it to be received?

We believe there is potential and when healthier options are available and affordable, more people will become interested. It might not be easy in the beginning, but we aim to try our best to make natural and healthy drinks more popular here. Our products are perfect choices for children, students, and people who pay more attention to their well-being.

This isn't the first health-food business you've invested in. How easy is it to start and maintain such a business in Georgia?

In general, thanks to the business-friendly laws, starting a business is not that complicated in Georgia and we are glad that we can benefit from that. However, the Georgian market is a special and complicated one and you need to study it very carefully to know which products to introduce and how to offer them. As our business is somehow the first of its kind in Georgia, there are going to be a few challenges. But hopefully we will manage to find our place in the food and drinks market.

What are your future plans in this direction?

Our future plans strongly depend on how our current project works out. At the moment, we need to do our best to become successful at what we are doing now. Future plans might include adding other types of healthy items to our list of products, or possibly having another branch of Vitamin Corner in another location in Tbilisi.

Is the attitude towards veganism/vegetarianism and its ideals changing in Georgian society? What can be done to change it?

I believe it is changing already and more people are getting interested. There are definitely more vegan/vegetarians in the country compared to a few years ago when we started. There are more people trying vegan food for the health benefits and/or for the sake of being nice to animals and the environment. I believe the more we try to give better products and more information to people, the more they will be interested.

By Katie Ruth Davies