These juice vending machines are crushing it

In recent years, vending machines specializing in orange juice have sprouted up all over Singapore.

Many of these are operated by IJooz, whose revenue and net profits more than doubled by the end of the fiscal year ending May 2023 (FY 2023), according to its audited financial statements.

Image credit: IJooz

Operating under the business name IJooz AI Pte. Ltd., the company’s 35% gross margin for the year was down from 45% in FY 2022.

While that may look like a substantial drop, the company looks to be in growth mode, as its reach – not just in Singapore – is expanding.

In 2020, IJooz only had 400 vending machines across Singapore. By early this year, that number had grown to 1,000. That’s more than double the number of 7-Eleven store branches in the city-state, the largest convenience store chain in Singapore.

These vending machines are also strategically located in areas of high footfall – from train stations to schools, and residential estates to malls. Customers can grab the juice cups and drink them on the go.

Each cup is sold for S$2 or about US$1.50, which is around half of what it might cost if you bought a glass in the mall.

IJooz founder and CEO Bruce Zhang initially planned to open a chain of fruit juice stalls but was deterred by Singapore’s high rental costs. Instead, he designed an IoT-enabled vending machine to serve fresh juice at the press of a button, leading to IJooz’s launch in 2016.

The company, on its website, claims the machines can each handle 500 to 600 oranges, which could create about 180 cups of orange juice. Each vending machine is also equipped with an IoT device that allows IJooz’s staff to remotely track when replenishment is needed.

In an interview with the Business Times in 2020, Zhang said he chose orange juice as the vending machine’s main product, as it has an “international taste” and is a familiar flavor across the world.

Zhang declined to be interviewed for this story.

Indeed, the promise of cheap, quick, and convenient orange juice seems popular even outside of Singapore – IJooz’s vending machines can be found in 32 countries.

Not all of these branches are company-owned, however. It has opened the business for franchising, its website reveals.