A local company known for its Tahitian Noni fruit juice and supplements opened its first U.S. cafe and visitors’ center at its corporate headquarters in Provo on Friday.

More than 2,000 Tahitian Noni International distributors attended Friday’s launch of the corporate Tahitian Noni Cafe at 333 W. Riverpark Drive in the Riverwoods Business Park — the fourth one after the first three opened in Japan over the past two years.

The company, a unit of Morinda Inc., also launched its new 2,000-square-foot visitors’ center, which will spotlight the company, its products and its French Polynesian origins. It will also serve as a venue for community events such as local and regional art exhibitions and BYU theatrical and musical performances.

Several more Tahitian Noni cafes will open in Dallas; Atlanta, Ga.; Japan; Germany; Taiwan and Sao Paulo by year-end. That’s part of the company’s plan to add 24 cafes by the end of 2006.

“We’re going global with the cafe concept because it’s a natural transition from the nutrition-based products we sell, and works well in getting the Tahitian Noni brand out there,” said Michael Olsen, director of operations for Tahitian Noni Cafe USA Inc.

“The cafes are collocated with the sales offices of Tahitian Noni in large markets where there is sufficient population,” he said. “We’re also locating the cafes in upscale retail areas. The idea is to allow distributors to point to the bricks and mortar of the company.”

Tahitian Noni has 1.3 million distributors in more than 70 countries, including 500,000 in the United States alone.

The Provo cafe, which is larger than its prototype 2,500-square-foot, 50-seat cafe, has 12 workers and will be adding eight more in the next two weeks. At 3,500 square feet, the Provo cafe seats 100 people and includes a menu development and recipe testing center as well.

The cafe offers a variety of Tahitian or island-themed items retailing for between $2.50 and $6.50, including fruit smoothie drinks and frozen yogurt desserts made with Tahitian Noni Juice concentrate, spicy noni chai and noni tea, as well as healthy sandwiches, muffins and cookies.

Mike Weingarten, the company’s spokesman, maintains the cafe won’t be used as a recruitment tool by its distributors. “We want our visitors to enjoy a relaxing atmosphere when they come to the cafe, and not be hounded by distributors.”

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page D6.

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