Sambazon: Saving the Rainforest
One Organic-Certified, Sustainably-Grown
Fair-Trade-Harvested Berry at a Time

By Kathryn Schuett

Never underestimate what a tiny little berry can do. Just a few years back, hardly anyone in the U.S. had even heard of açai (pronounced ah-sigh-ee). Today, thanks to a company called Sambazon, this small yet mighty fruit from the Brazilian Amazon is responsible for saving acres of rainforest, preserving the Amazon’s biodiversity and providing economic security for thousands of farmers.

Even more, the small group of passionate and dedicated folks at Sambazon have done all this good work while growing their business triple digits every year since 2000. In this time, they have established themselves as the leading global supplier of açai and turned this unknown fruit into not only the superfood to superstars but a favorite among health conscious consumers around the globe. The last two years açai has ranked in the top five best sellers in the frozen fruit and vegetable category, according to natural foods research group SPINS, Inc.

In just six short years their product has gone from one SKU—a frozen puree of organic, fair trade açai fruit with guarana called a “smoothie pack,” primarily marketed to juice bars—to a dozen SKUs, including ready-to-drink smoothies, sorbet, juice, three versions of their smoothie packs and even a supplement line. Their products can now be found in thousands of stores throughout the U.S.

Sambazon has become a success story not only for their own line of products but also as an ingredient. They have co-branded their “Sambazon Açai” with several products from other processors like Honest Tea, Nature’s Path and Hain Celestial, just to name a few. The company has provided bulk industrial açai to countless other processors, as well.

With this combination of successful market growth and their strong commitment to the environment and the native people who work with them, Sambazon—short for “Saving And Managing the Brazilian AmaZON”—has become a shining example of the triple bottom line business model. The company was recently recognized on an international level for this commitment when they won the Secretary of State’s prestigious 2006 Award for Corporate Excellence (ACE) for small- to medium-sized businesses.

The Little Berry That Could
Founders Ryan Black and Ed Nichols had their first taste of the berry that would change their lives while on a trip to Brazil to celebrate the new millennium. On advice from local surfers, they tried this well-kept Brazilian secret and were amazed by the pure energy they felt and the unique flavor, often described as a blend of ripe berries, with hints of red wine and chocolate. But, the real secret treasure was discovered in the nutrient profile. Research proved that this purple powerhouse packed over two times the antioxidants of blueberries, high levels of essential omega fatty acids, fiber, protein, phytosterols and a nearly perfect amino acid complex.

The two entrepreneurs saw a great business opportunity, and more than that, they saw a chance to create a sustainable, fair trade business model that gave back to the community and helped preserve the natural environment. Six months later they came back to bring açai to the world.

Building a Business on the Triple Bottom Line Philosophy
The Sambazon team met with local farmer co-ops all over the Vareza region of the Amazon, offering a guaranteed premium price for their açai. In exchange the farmers had to agree to operate by the USDA organic systems plan and wild harvest the berries in their natural existence, thereby protecting the biodiversity of the rainforest.

“If you are a poor guy living in the forest and someone says to you they will buy a ton of açai, what is stopping you from cutting down all your other trees and putting in as many açai trees as possible?” said Ryan Black. “So as part of our overall plan we established guidelines to keep this from happening.”

Today there are more than 10,000 people harvesting açai under these fair trade, sustainable practices.

Açai grows wild in the rainforest where the environment eliminates the need for pesticides, making it naturally organic. However, it still needs to be certified to market it in the U.S.

“No one had ever certified açai organic before and at first, with boats coming from all over the Amazon, traceability seemed like an impossible task,” said Jeremy Black, Ryan Black’s older brother and Sambazon’s global brand manager. Then they met Travis Baumgardner, a fellow American experienced in sustainable farming who knew of a certifier willing to put in the effort to certify açai.

“Even if it’s already organic we still had to make sure it was verified from the point it was picked to the time it was processed,” Jeremy Black noted. “It was a huge plan to take on especially once we added in fair trade and sustainability, but we wanted to show that you could have a successful business and still respect the people and the environment.”

While the guys at Sambazon realize they won’t be the only big açai player in town for too long, they hope that other processors will follow their lead. “We’re just trying to set a good example. Companies coming into the açai business must uphold these standards or risk damaging the triple bottom line model that we established.”

Going From Tribal Traditions to USDA Regulations
When Ryan first returned to find a processor, he discovered the majority of the facilities in the primitive Amazon region didn’t even offer pasteurization. He interviewed over 25 processors before choosing one and then worked with them through a multitude of tests to create a product that would meet U.S. standards.

Sambazon also spent a lot of time working with local workers to develop norms for the way fruit is handled. “The challenge was getting them to go from primitive, Third World thinking to First World thinking,” Ryan Black said. “In the beginning they were gathering the açai in primitive handmade baskets, the same ones they used for shrimp. They’d pick it up off the ground, put it in that basket and then it would go to a facility that might not do anything other than soak it in water, process it and put it into a plastic bag. That’s 100 miles away from industrial food processing.”

One of the biggest changes that allowed Sambazon to ratchet up their quality control was their new state-of-the-art processing plant.

“Before, there was no quality control or consistency and all these things you could never get away with in the export market,” Ryan Black said. “We were the first ones to come in and control the process from the time the berry is picked to the time it’s processed, frozen and sold. We took this quality to the next level by investing millions of dollars into our own facility.”

This facility gave Sambazon more control over their product, allowing them to create a standardized açai not only for the export market but the industrial market. “Processors need to know they will get the same thing every time. The color can’t be different. You can’t have the Brix higher or lower. You have to develop a pattern of consistency, which is what we have done,” he said.

Processing Lessons Learned
In addition to the work they put into quality standards, Sambazon also found out that the little berry is a lot of work to process. The berry is 95 percent seed, so to get the fruit you have to scrape off the thin, oily top layer. “It’s very labor intensive,” Jeremy Black commented. “Just for what we make right now we are processing close to a million berries a day.”

It also needs to be processed very fast, within 36 hours or less, or it turns brown and the oil turns rancid. “There are some products on the shelf in the U.S. that the açai has gone bad but they don’t know the difference,” he said.

With a product that is susceptible to spoilage like this, packaging becomes very important. Their smoothie packs were protected by the freezing process, but when it came to their ready-to-drink smoothie line, they had to find a way to keep oxygen from damaging their product. They tried a few methods and then discovered cold-filled aseptic technology, a process that uses flash pasteurization and then fills bottles in an aseptic, 100-percent sterile environment. The bottle they use also has a much tighter lid, which lets less oxygen in. This combined technology extended the shelf life of their product significantly. “When you go from a shelf life of three weeks to 60 days you can go from being a niche player to having national distribution,” Jeremy Black said. “A year ago we might have been in 500 stores across the nation, and now were in closer to 3,000.”

Creating their supplements also required investigating new ways of processing, specifically freeze drying. It took them a long time but in the end they created a proprietary product “Z-Dry,” which dries at a very low heat to protect the high level of antioxidants and other nutrients.

Spreading the Word
After the product is developed, the next challenge in any business is finding a way to get the word out. One of Sambazon’s first big awareness spikes came in 2004 after being listed in as the number one superfood in Dr. Perricone’s Book, “The Perricone Promise.” Oprah Winfrey had the doctor on the show and next thing they knew, açai was on Oprah’s website. “We were just plugging along, doing things at a grassroots level, and this happened and our website went crazy,” Jeremy Black said. “This introduced our product to Middle America. All of a sudden a ton of people who had never heard of açai were looking for it.”

Then last year, the brothers had a full-page article written about them in People Magazine. “This was huge for creating awareness and we had much better distribution by then.”

Even with all the publicity, what still works best for them is what worked for them in the beginning—“putting the product in someone’s mouth,” Jeremy Black said. “Whether it’s on a store level, a trade show or a music event, being able give people a taste and talk to them is what really works.”

Last year they demoed their product at more than 25 music festivals.

Banding together with other like-minded business also helps support their message. At trade shows Sambazon, Manitoba Harvest Hemp, Dagoba Chocolate and Guayaki Yerba Mate set up next to each other to offer support for each others products and their shared philosophies.

And the word is getting out about the little berry.

“We were at the Green Conference and people were coming up to us left and right saying how much they love the product. It’s amazing to think that there are thousands of people out there that wake up every morning and enjoy the products we created.”

Communication Challenges at Shelf Level
One issue that Sambazon faces as more processors get into the market is that there is no standardized industry definition of açai. The USDA still has yet to set official guidelines. “Right now there are many companies in the market selling what they call “açai,” but these versions are often clarified or watered down, stripped of most of the healthy fats and fiber in the full strength version,” said Jeremy Black.

With antioxidant levels comparable to that of pomegranate, clarified açai still offers great health benefits, and is sometimes easier to process. Sambazon even makes a clarified açai for industrial processors. However, the lack of labeling laws makes it hard for consumers to know what level of açai they are getting.

Looking to the Future
One of the biggest projects that Sambazon is working on is establishing their product within the Brazilian market, offering a higher quality, pasteurized product. Ryan Black compares the situation to that of Brazilian coffee. “For a long time the coffee that came out of Brazil was a heck of a lot better than the coffee you could get in Brazil. There are different standards when you export a product.”

They are also looking at expanding their line of juice and sorbet. “But really,” Ryan Black said, “we need to go deeper with what we have. We’ve come out with a big portfolio of açai products and now we need to focus on growing those and getting better distribution.”

Co-branding and industrial sales have been and will continue to be a great opportunity for their açai to be used in more products. Right now they work with several companies, but there are still many great products to be made. As for what products exactly, Ryan Black said, “There are endless possibilities but we’re hoping that someone like Ben and Jerry’s who specializes in ice cream, will make a Sambazon Açai ice cream someday.”

Açai lovers hope so, too.

Kathryn Schuett is the editor of Organic Processing Magazine. She can be reached at kat@organicprocessing.com.