Area OJ Tops Mega Juice Companies

National magazine proclaims it healthy, delicious

By Jessica Tuggle

jtuggle@hometownnewsol.com

FORT PIERCE - When a national food magazine put the squeeze on juice companies, a Treasure Coast business beat others to a pulp.

Natalie's Orchid Island Juice Company, based in Fort Pierce, was ranked No. 1 in flavor and nutritional value in a taste test with 10 national brands by Bon Appetite magazine's online edition.

The pulpy, 100 percent Florida orange juice processed, squeezed, bottled and shipped out of Fort Pierce, was selected over Tropicana Pure Premium 100 percent orange juice with some pulp and Odwalla All Natural Orange Juice. The scores were first published in October 2011, and Yahoo! picked up the story at the end of January, opening the news to a much broader audience.

Serious Eats, a food blog, also ranked Natalie's orange juice as the best in its blind taste test above Whole Foods, Simply Orange and Florida's Natural, in January.

Marygrace Sexton, the CEO of the 23-year-old company and mother of the "real Natalie," said the recognition, above other "industrial-strength juice companies," was quite exciting.

"It was very special and it surprised us," said Mrs. Sexton, a resident of Vero Beach.

John Martinelli, executive vice president, said the immediate exposure from the article being on the Yahoo! homepage was wonderful.

Within 24 hours, the company received 600 emails and 3,000 hits on its website in response to the article, said David Cortez, director of customer service and logistics.

In 2010, when Good Housekeeping magazine gave Natalie's first place in a taste test between 13 nationally available pasteurized orange juices, the company website crashed, but upgrades to the server since then allows them to handle larger traffic, Mr. Cortez said.

For a regional juice company like Natalie's to beat out larger companies is a huge indicator of the quality of the product, Mr. Martinelli said.

"It's very unusual for a national magazine to rate a regional product because customers can't get the product everywhere," he said.

A lot of credit goes to the Florida citrus growers that Natalie's gets their product from, Mr. Martinelli said. All of the growers provide top-quality fruit that makes Natalie's stand out among the rest, he said.

"One of the most sought- after juices around the world is Florida orange juice," said Mr. Martinelli.

"Even in Europe, and there they grow lots of oranges in Spain and a lot of people drink orange juice, but the delicacy, the upscale product that people want to drink is Florida orange juice. China is soon going to have the biggest citrus crop in the world, but Florida orange juice is what they seek out," he said.

The company is not only recognized for its delicious and nutritious juices, but also for its green and efficient practices.

The Environmental Protection Agency, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Fort Pierce Utilities have all given Natalie's environmental awards for their business practices.

In order to be good neighbors with the city, a large amount of work at the factory is done during nighttime hours, which means trucks carrying the product can be out on the street without interrupting daytime traffic, Mrs. Sexton said.

The company has also found ways to be as green as possible with their oranges, Mr. Cortez said.

The Florida oranges are brought to the plant and are squeezed, processed and shipped in unbleached, recycled paper boxes with water-based ink. The orange peel, the only by-product after the fruit is squeezed, is sent to local Florida cattlemen who feed it to their livestock.

The company is also looking to partner with other companies in the future who are interested using them for healthcare products, oils and even teas, Mr. Cortez said.

Natalie's produces between 4 and 5 million gallons of juice each year using only Florida citrus, unlike other companies that import from Brazil, Mr. Martinelli said.

Because they only use Florida product, Natalie's is not included in a U.S. Food and Drug administration investigation for having fruit, and subsequently juice, test positive for fungicide carbendazim, which has been found in oranges imported from Brazil.

With the Brazilian oranges banned from entering the country, local growers are suddenly finding themselves unable to meet the demand from the companies that now require more product.

"This has driven the price of oranges in the state of Florida to double," Mr. Martinelli said.

As a result, prices for the juices will have to increase to some degree, he said.

"We don't want to increase the prices, but we have to," said Mrs. Sexton.

For more information about Natalie's Orchid Island Juice Company, visit www.oijc.com.