The latest range of colourful Yonanas machines.
"No other appliance makes a treat quite like Yonanas." This is the promise given to consumers by Healthy Foods, manufacturer and distributor of the Yonanas Maker, an innovative new appliance that creates a healthy alternative to traditional desserts.
The Yonanas Maker, which looks similar to a food processor, works by grinding and emulsifying fruit, especially frozen overripe bananas into a soft-serve-like form.
For those not enamoured with bananas, the Yonanas Maker also accepts most popular fruits, like strawberries, mango and pineapple to name a few. Fruit is fed into the appliance, producing a creamy, cool and healthy treat almost instantly, containing all the flavour of fruit with none of the sugars or additives of ice cream.
This contraption may sound a tad unappealing — taking overripe fruit and converting it into gelatinous gloop — but the response has been overwhelming, according to brand rep Gail Virgona.
"Yonanas is the only appliance that takes fresh frozen fruit and turns it into a healthy treat," she said. "Literally nothing else added — no cream, no eggs, no dairy at all — just frozen fruit."
The Yonanas Maker is not targeted just at those looking for a healthy dessert alternative. Virgona said it is also of great interest to those with allergies, particularly the lactose intolerant.
"For some," she said, "the Yonanas Maker allows them to enjoy an ice cream-like dessert for the first time."
For retailers, the Maker is touted as a product that will sell itself, but only once consumers have tried it.
"It's not a juicer or a food processor or even an ice cream maker. It's the sort of product that is impossible to resist once it has been tried."
One of the main selling points of the Yonanas Maker for retailers is its uniqueness.?One rival small appliance supplier said that while they impressed with Yonanas' sales, Australia is a market prone to fads and suggested that the early sales at launch, supported by aggressive above the line marketing, was unsustainable. That hasn't perturbed the Yonanas team.
"There really are no other products in this category. Yonanas is in a league of its own!"?Virgona said.
"An ever present issue is counterfeit or copycat goods. These companies cannibalise market share of trusted product suppliers with poor quality knock-off products, leading to increased consumer dissatisfaction.
"This drives retail pricing up, but inevitably results in less than ideal margin for all involved."
As there are no products similar to the Yonanas Maker, this threat is eliminated for retailers, Virgona said.
Yonanas has also undertaken several key marketing moves, including managing sampling stations at retailers and appearing on Channel Nine's Today show in September 2013, after which they sold out of their Australian supply in two days.
Yonanas has also formed a relationship with lifestyle guru Michelle Bridges, and will be showcased by her fitness program throughout 2014.
