Dealing in fruit salad can be profitable
Fruit salads on a supermarket shelf. Making fruit salads pays, especially if well thought about as a business and handled in a hygienic environment. PHOTO BY ERONIE KAMUKAMA
What you need to know:
- Fruit vending, especially on the streets of Kampala City and other urban areas in Uganda is gaining ground fast. This comes after small scale entrepreneurs realising that people enjoy eating fruits as a necessity. Dorothy Nakaweesi explores the monetary beauty in fruit salads.
- Mr Joloba adds that those with intensions of supplying supermarkets should make sure to have enough money to sustain the business. He further said: “To grow this business, just like any other, one should always keep records of the customers supplied.”
This idea of vending of fruits involves a door-to-door delivery of services and has no complicated technology involved.
It involves selling varieties of fruits such as mangoes, pineapples, paw paws, watermelon, apples and sweet bananas. These are bought in reasonable quantities, washed, peeled, cut into pieces to make the salad.
They are then packed in disposable containers of varying sizes for various prices and clientele.
Uganda Investment Authority senior investment officer John Musajjakawa, says: “The market structure and demand for fruit salads is relatively high, especially in urban areas.”
Production
Production capacity depends on the capital invested and capital capability.
Mr Daniel Joloba, the chief executive officer, Big Finance, a firm that does advisory and consultancy for small and medium enterprises, says that the beauty with this kind of business is that one can start small and grow big.
“With Shs100,000 one can start this business. You can use Shs80,000 for buying the fruits and Shs20,000 to buy the packaging materials,” he shared.
He adds that if every day one is assured of about 15 clients buying a pack at Shs2, 000, this can bring you Shs30, 000.
“If one gets a Shs1,000 profit on each pack sold, at the end of the day you will be assured of Shs15, 000 in profit. At the end of the month one gets Shs300, 000,” Mr Joloba said.
Large scale
If one is looking at producing on a large scale, and say, supply supermarkets, this business idea targets a sale of 250 packs of fruit salads per day. This would translate into 7,500 packs per month.
The revenue potential is estimated at $200 (Shs720, 000) per day, making it approximately $63,000 (Shs226 million) per annum, if the person rests on all Sundays in the year.
Investment experts put the total investment capital required to establish this project at about $704 (about Shs2.5 million), with a payback period of about one month.
Market
There is a high demand in densely populated areas.
Mr Joloba’s advice to anyone who wants to invest in fruit vending is to always start with a network of people who know him/her.
“Fruits salad is a food and extremely sensitive, so winning the trust of people who will be buying from you every single day is key in this business,” Mr Joloba added.
The business risk involved is health and safety related risks surrounding the manufacturing and processing but can be solved by employing food scientists and adhering to a strict safety and hygienic regime.
Mr Joloba adds that those with intensions of supplying supermarkets should make sure to have enough money to sustain the business. He further said: “To grow this business, just like any other, one should always keep records of the customers supplied.”
