Coco Fresco Hyderabad-Promoting tender coconut water - eNidhi India Travel Blog

Coco Fresco Hyderabad-Promoting tender coconut water

Coco board of Hyderabad has launched a new concept for promoting tender coconut. It has set up over 20 mobile units dispensing tender coconut water. These units are called COCO Fresco. The green coloured carts have a chamber to store over 100 coconuts in it, mechanical devices to cut open the coconut, filter the coconut water and then the coconut water is distributed in a plastic glass to the customers.  This post contains a video on how this Coco Fresco unit works and also analysis pros and cons of buying tender coconut water from these units, vis-à-vis buying from other street side coconut vendors.  Video on how the Coco Fresco tender coconut juice vending card operates:  

 Advantages: 1. Guaranteed volume: You get one glass full of coconut water (Priced at Rs 10 per glass) When you buy individual coconuts, there’s no guarantee on volume of consumable coconut water inside, because the outer size of the shell is not always proportional to the volume of the core containing water. 2. Cooler This cart stores coconut under a closed chamber, unlike other roadside vendors who usually expose the tender coconut to direct sun. The cart also comes with an umbrella, under which you can take shelter while drinking. 3. Filtered coconut water: The water is filtered and free from non consumable objects 4. Slightly hygienic: This cart appears to be more hygienic than a roadside vendor, but coconut shell is heavily protected by itself and is usually free from external infections. Contamination if any can happen only while opening and drinking. 5. Ease of operation: Cutting open the tender coconut will take some extra effort if one is not physically strong. This unit has mechanical tools to assist the operator in that 

Disadvantages: 1.Mixed water: If one single coconut doesn’t fill the glass, water from another coconut is mixed with it. Though coconut from a same bunch of a given tree will be usually similar in taste, not all coconuts will have same taste. Some are sweet, some are plain, and some are even sour. If you’re not lucky, the combination of different flavors might spoil the taste. 2. Loss of gravy: Tender coconut often contains white gravy (cream, Known as Coconut Meat in English (Thanks to Dharani for this input)) which is also a consumable part. But Coco Fresco doesn’t have a mechanism to extract that and allow consumers to eat it. The operator simply throws coconut shell after extracting water. 3. Use of plastic: They’re distributing coconut water in plastic cups, which is non bio degradable waste. The cart doesn’t have a place to store these waste plastic or consumed coconut shell and the operator simply throws them away to the roadside. 4. Non competitive pricing: Rs 10 per glass is not competitive enough I feel. (Retail pricing of tender coconuts in Hyderabad is Rs 5 onwards and go upto Rs 10 (depending on size, freshness etc)) I still prefer to drink coconut directly from the shell by placing it next to mouth, instead of drinking via a straw or from a glass. But Coco board’s Coco Fresco will certainly manage to attract those people who prefer branded and well marketed products. Because the concept is new people are checking it out at least out of curiosity. I find at least one or two people around this cart whenever I drive by... Related: How to select good tender coconut?* Upadhya's tender coconut Opener (A trendy and easy to use tool to drill a hole into tender coconut and extract water) * Branding tender coconut with a sticker * A list of natural drinks for this summer *

12 comments:

  1. Very interesting concept. Will it be a success during the summer months?

    Anything to wean us away from Cola!

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  2. I feel their business doing is pretty good. I see atleast one or two customers near the cart everytime I passby. They would be selling couple of hundred units every day.

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  3. Sure seems like a wonderful concept... especially with more Indian cities moving towards cleanliness & consumers becoming more health conscious (avoiding aerated drinks)... this idea is sure to catch on. The disadvantage of plastic cups does not appear as a big problem... there are cups available made with alternative materials pro-environment, and to make a switch to these would not be very difficult/challenging.

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  4. Upadhyas tendercoconut opener!
    Saligrama Upadhya stores sells (not yet patented) a simple screwdriver sized equipment to open tender coconut with ease. Moreover it makes such a nice hole in the TC, one can directly drink from that, without use of a plastic straw. Costs less than 100 rupees, provided with english/ kannada instruction manual!

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  5. Respected Acharya sir,

    thanks for the comment.
    Yes, I am aware of this invention. Please standby as I am planning to write a new post on this, along with photo and video...

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  6. Of all the nuts to respond to this post, V. S.Acharya!? the same nut who sleeps while women are beaten leaving pubs?

    I am so pissed of, my pants off...

    Anyways, you are forgetting about the advantages of a coconut, dude. Part of its composition is the fruit in it. Aha, that's the sumptous part. If the coconuts water sweet to taste, then I betcha, the fruit is much too good to waste. What a shame, they come up with these dildo toys which are hardly worth the effort. Oh, by the way, if you haven't heard, they have these machines which shear the nut out of its green fibre for the last 40 years atleast. I think this Coco Fresco is headed the same way as cocojal..

    Why don't you write on some useful topics?

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  7. Why should`nt a politician/minister comment on these? Remember that knowledge of finer aspects of life is important for being a good human being. Otherwise you might end up like a 6th commenter!
    Since he has raised the issue of pubs, here goes...
    - creators of "pub attack" did not use for election campaign- Why?
    - even to date the "molested" girls have not complained about the attack, then why bother?
    In view of all these drinking tender coconut water is 100 times better than those sered in the pubs!
    Moreover people who do not like topics written in other blogs, should start their own!

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  8. DR VS Acharya is a doctor by qualification and his knowledge of health issues can't be questioned. Its good to see that he takes interest in blogging and other activities.

    Of course-no one needs to advocate merits of coconut water or side effects of alcohol- Everyone knows them.

    About the pub incident, I understand that police did arrest all accused within 24 hours, but they were let out on bail later by court.

    Also why aren't we questioning the media people who were present? Since they knew what is going to happen, why didn't they alert the pub or police?

    Hope this clarifies.

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  9. Who is the guy writing abt pubs n nuts n dildos and what nots ?? Please see that Mr. Acharya has mentioned his name even in a blog and the other is using an anonymous ID..I dont think he has ever tasted coconut water. He is more interested in pubs n politics. I am reading this blog for knowledge and not for some anonymous little guy commenting uselessly.

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  10. Need your services plz revert back on kdesai_h@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Could you please contact us at meena.sasi@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  12. @Meena and Anon: Why? Pls give some details here or mail me on my ID given in contact oage

    @Kushal: not clear what you're tryng to say

    ReplyDelete

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