A former Tropicana boss is targeting “recession-proof” shoppers with a super-premium chilled juice.

Steve Wheatley, MD of the UK arm of German supplier Eckes-Granini, is spearheading the launch of the six-strong Granini Freshly Squeezed orange juice range into Whole Foods Market and Booths later this month and Ocado next month.

“Now is the time to put value back into the category,” said the ex-Tropicana sales boss. “We’re starting to come out of recession. And anyway, our target consumers are pretty much recession-proof.”

The range includes plain, strawberry, mango & pineapple and pink grapefruit variants (rsp: £2.29 to £2.49 for 750ml). The plain and strawberry variants also come in 250ml formats (rsp: £1.39).