“AT Market” LLC (Kiev), specializing in bottling Carpathian highland water under Voda UA trademark, has invested $600 000 to expand its product line and launched production of a beverage made from the tea mushroom – kombucha.
“We built a factory in Irpen before the war. During occupation of Irpen the plant suffered, but it was quickly restored”, – said the owner and founder of the company Dmitry Nikiforov to the agency “Interfax-Ukraine”.
According to him, while making decision about investments the company was guided by the absence of real kombucha on Ukrainian market. “There are some surrogates and tea-based lemonades,” Nikiforov claims.
He noted that the company has decided to produce “the right product”, that is why the process is managed by a “super technologist” and everything is done technologically very right.
According to his information the plant may produce 2 tons of kombucha per day, which will be sold in 0.33 glass bottles under Kombucha uno trademark. It is planned to involve 800-850 HORECA outlets, as well as 5-6 retail chains. In May 2023 the producer plans to start producing flavored Kombucha with 5-6 different flavors.
Nikiforov indicated that he expects the popularity of kombucha to grow in Ukraine following the world as “a healthy alternative to various kvasses and lemonades.
In Ukraine, the market for this drink has been doubling annually since 2019. In the military year 2022, the market capacity was estimated at 120 million bottles. In 2023, consumption is expected to increase by 150%, the company expects.
Voda UA also produces waters under trademarks Goryanka and Karpatska dzherelna visokogirna.
According to opendatabot, the revenues of AT Market in 2022 decreased by 5.9% – to 26.78 million UAH, while net profit increased by 31% – to 0.58 million UAH.
