Meet Saccha Sugar Cane Juice

Known for serving delicious freshly crushed sugarcane juice, Lez and Mai of Saccha Sugar Cane Juice share how they came to trade at Dandenong Market.

Mai and Lez’s decision to open Saccha Sugar Cane Juice came from wanting to spend more time with their children and each other.

Mai and her family migrated to Australia back in the late seventies and like a lot of other Vietnamese families, Mai’s parents worked hard to provide a future for Mai and her siblings, and established a well-known small business in the heart of Springvale.

As a child, Mai had always looked forward to trips to Vietnam in which she’d remembered the delicious and refreshing taste of sugarcane juice, served by street vendors. Although sugarcane juice is very hard to find in Victoria, Mai decided to research and investigate how she could bring the juice to the people of Melbourne. Mai was particularly attracted to the small farmers market scene and she knew the amazing health benefits of sugarcane juice would appeal to the healthy-conscious consumers.

Lez and Mai sourced the sugarcane and the machine from Queensland, and set up their first stall (and just in time for summer) at the Elwood Community Market back in 2013. Their first sell out market was at the Cowes Night Market that summer.

It was then they knew there was a huge demand for sugarcane juice, so they got serious and invested in a proper crushing machine.

After running their sugarcane stall at local fetes and weekend markets, Lez and Mai started to apply for larger events such as the Melbourne Latin Summer Festival at Federation Square. However, they really wanted to have a home to where they could direct their loyal and growing customer base.

As part of the Melbourne Food & Wine Festival in 2014, Lez and Mai participated in World Fare held at Dandenong Market. Again, they’d underestimated the demand and sold out. Saccha’s huge crowds they’d attracted was noted by Dandenong Market Management which led them to being offered a permanent home for their business.

Starting Saccha Sugar Cane juice has enabled Mai and Lez to be in business for themselves – just like Mai’s parents. Their number one aim was to provide a healthy but original product to the public.

A popular character at Dandenong Market, Lez loves talking to people and hearing their stories while serving them a healthy beverage. Also, Lez has developed some knife skills over the years working as a chef, which helps with cutting slicing and dicing to make the perfect juice.

Saccha’s fresh approach to sugarcane juice by adding real ingredients such as ginger, strawberries and pineapple, and sourced from Dandenong market makes Saccha so unique and very popular. Furthermore, it’s the winning combination of theatrics, that is, the crushing process and the sugarcane waste (or garden mulch) that piles up in their display bin; combined with lively music and genuine customer service that makes Saccha a trademark of Dandenong Market.