Natural drinks companies Bottlegreen and RDA Organics unveiled ambitious plans at this week's Food & Drink Expo to tap into the fledgling premium kids' drinks market.

Bottlegreen is launching a three-strong range, branded Junior, which it hopes will fuel the growth in premium kids' cordials to create a sector worth £17m in five years. "We have seen a real shift in the adult dilutables market in recent years towards premium," said director of marketing Andrew Mallinson. "However, premium products that are crafted with care and not mass-produced are virtually non-existent in the children's market."

With premium cordials accounting for nearly one fifth of all sales, or £43m, within adult dilutables, Mallinson said there were easy wins to be made by encouraging just 3% of consumers to trade up in the £565m kids' market.

The range, aimed at four to 12-year-olds, is rolling out next week with listings in Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury's. It will be backed by press ads in the summer and will also be extended into other categories next year with products such as a kids' version of Push Ups sorbets.

The move is part of Bottlegreen's drive to double sales to £25m by 2012.

RDA Organic is also entering the kids' market for the first time with a Squeezy-branded juice line and Sqqquishy-branded smoothie, rolling out now to Waitrose and Ocado.

Aimed at the same age group, the company claims the ranges are the first organic chilled offers on the market. They come in a foil pack with a built-in valve that allows the juice to be squeezed out, but then re-flattens to seal it so there is no need for a cap.

"There are increasing numbers of babies and toddlers being brought up on organic food, but there's a real gap in the market for the toddlers-to-teens age group," said RDA director Karen O'Neill.

The launch follows the introduction of RDA's first one-litre bottle for its core range last month to grow its share of the take-home market. RDA also rolled out its new Fresh Functional Superfruit sub-brand last month. The range contains juice from Evesse apples, which contain a high level of flavenols.

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