Says managing director Rachna Kapoor: ``With people becoming more and more health and hygiene-conscious, the brand is being launched to satisfy their thirst.''

The company has entered into an exclusive arrangement with a New York-based firm, for the import of special juice-making machines. The automatic juice-maker is a transparent, easy-to-operate machine which takes three seconds for the entire process: peel the fruit, crush it and extract the juice. The juice can be served in sealed or non-sealed glasses or PET bottles. All this, without the touch of human hands.

National Foods has imported eight such machines at the cost of Rs 4.5 lakh each, and will be investing in a total of 50 such machines over the next two months. A total of eight machineswill be installed at various locations in Mumbai, with another 8-10 earmarked for Delhi. At present the company is only serving citrus fruit juices. ``In the next three months, we should be able to serve all kinds of fruit juices,'' says Kapoor.

Ju's Fresh will be vended in Mumbai through two mediums: the Orange Boy Kiosk and the Mobile Juice Bar, each of which will be equipped with one juice-making machine. The kiosk is essentially, a road-side hygienic counter in the shape of an orange. It will be housed at restaurants and institutions such as hospitals. The kiosk is priced at Rs 7.5 lakh, and the company expects sales of 1,500 glasses per day, per kiosk.

On Sunday, the company launched one kiosk and one van in Mumbai-the van has been designed by auto designer Dilip Chabbria at a cost of Rs 25 lakh. While the first kiosk has been set up at the Hindola Restaurant in the Lokhandwala Complex, Andheri, the van is to cover six schools and five colleges in the Western suburbs, to start with. The company istargeting two more vans by December 1999 which would cover the whole of Mumbai. Significantly, the company is looking at institutional sales more than retail sales. Currently, it is in the process of tying up with airlines, hotels, parks, schools and colleges. Says Kapoor: ``At present, we are comfortable dealing with institutions. At a later stage, depending on its success, we might look at retail sales.''

ICICI Bank for example, has expressed interest in setting up a machine--without a kiosk, as the Orange Boy covers an 8 by 8 foot area--while certain hospitals have asked for a regular supply of juice in sealed glasses. The company has also started a `Dial-A-Dozen' scheme whereby on ordering a dozen glasses of juice, a consumer would get free home delivery in any part of Mumbai. The company will be releasing an ad-campaign next month. National Food Products will be looking at the other three metros in the next one year. It has already set up a marketing staff in Delhi as a prelude to a launch.