Eli Ridder
A Humber College alumnus has turned an everyday grocery store item into a luxury product, selling Champorange which is made from Brazilian champagne oranges, for $40 a bottle in the U.S.
Champorange started in February 2019, a year after Adam Morris graduated from Humber’s Graphic Design program.
“I saw that there was a gap in the orange juice market,” Morris said in an interview, explaining there was “not a luxury offering at the upper echelon of the market.”
Champorange is produced and bottled in Brazil before making its way to the U.S. Customers can order a bottle through Beverage Universe, a digital store Morris described as the “Amazon of beverages.”
The premium orange juice sits in a warehouse in New York before being sent to customers.
The whole process experienced a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic that first raged through the world in the spring, repeatedly delaying Champorange’s launch.
‘Credits Humber education’
Morris, 24, cited his Humber education as a big factor in the success of Champorange.
“If I did not go to Humber, I wouldn’t have the top-level education in terms of actually being able to design myself,” he explained.
Morris’ education allowed him to have “more of an understanding in terms of what can make or break a luxury design.”
Morris’s said his focus on making connections and taking advantage of every opportunity set him up for success following graduation, one of his professors told Humber News.
Bianca DiPietro, the Graphic Design Advanced Diploma Program head, described Morris as “one of a kind” but also “proof that something like this is doable.”
It was Morris’ ability to build and make connections that made him stand out at college.
“Humber definitely sets up the ecosystem and the environment for that to happen,” DiPietro said, but the “magic happens” when students like Morris “really leverage those opportunities.”
Business program student Prince Solanki agreed.
“Humber is giving us 100 per cent to make you better, but it’s the person’s responsibility as well to understand the education,” he said.
‘Just go for it’
Morris, he encourages students or graduates that want to pursue a business endeavour to jump right in.
They “should just go for it because it’s much easier being young, and not necessarily having a wife or kids,” Morris said.
Morris also recommended finding a mentor through a business incubator as he did through Innovation Guelph.