Beverage Startups
Famous Soda – A Masterpiece Born In Australia
If I have to choose my favorite beverage type, I would definitely go with soda. I know, not the healthiest choice. Luckily, there are such brands as Famous Soda, which gives the option of 100% natural and zero sugar products. Today, I have the opportunity to talk to Michael Pillon Director at Famous Soda Co.
1. Famous Soda is an innovative soda brand. How did you come up with the idea of creating Famous Soda?
We thought everyone should be able to enjoy a great soda without the nastiest, so we set out to change the world a little bit for the better. It took us two years in R&D to get it right, but I’m here to tell you we cracked it, Famous Sodas are wild, just sodalicious!
2. Let’s be honest! There are a lot of different soda brands in the market. What competitive advantages does Famous Soda have when comparing it to similar products?
Your right, here’s the thing, unlike the majority of our competitors we don’t use any chemicals or caffeine, our sodas are 100% natural. Our sweetener is derived from fruit, in fact it’s our secret weapon, as well as the highest grade of Stevia, which of course is a plant and natural as well. The stats are in, Australia has a Diabetes and Obesity crisis, of which 45% has been attributed to sugary drinks. We saw it as high time to do something right, time to disrupt the Soda Industry and change the world a little bit for the better. we have got a crisis and so we all have a responsibility to work at solving it.
3. Beverage development is a tough process with many ups and downs. What kind of difficulties you have faced?
Hmmm you got that right! Although I think sometimes it is good to jump into something you’re passionate about, we honestly believe problems are just wake up calls for creativity. One of the biggest issues for us was the stabilization and shelf life for the sodas.
I mean how do you preserve a Soda with no preservatives, right? (time to get creative) We tried tons of different methods, finally with the help of our biochemist, we hit upon pasteurization, (tried but true) which was a success. We tweaked flavours, carbonation levels and the like until we got the result we were looking for. A mid level carbonated, full flavoured, good for you soda that’s sodalicious and even though we weren’t focused on the calorie side of things so much, we managed to wrap these little babies up with only 8 calories to a bottle, so, good for the waste line as well!
4. Famous Soda is a beverage line with three different flavors. How did you manage to create great taste without any sugar added? Which flavor is your favorite?
Well like I mentioned earlier, it’s our secret weapon. That’s a tough question, honestly, every time I have a Famous Soda I change my mind and decide the particular flavour I’m drinking is my favourite,
For instance, I have never been a Ginger Beer fan, in fact I didn’t like it at all, I know this sounds kind of biased, but I love love our Ginger Beer.
Actually, I noticed one of our Fashion Bloggers just the other day (who has about 700K followers), posted – “This has gotta be the best Ginger Beer I’ve ever tasted”. But if I had a gun to my head and had to choose, just one, I would probably say Blood Orange by a nose!
That said, watch this space we’re just gearing up to launch, Famous Pink Lemonade (which needless to say has been taste tested by hundreds of the ladies) and I think it could just take the lead, if the reaction we have been getting so far is anything to go by. Orders for 100’s of cases for Girl Baby Showers, Weddings and Girls Hens Nights…we didn’t see that coming, haha!
5. Our readers are well familiar with the US and Europe markets. However, Australia is still a mystery to us. In your opinion, what Australia based consumers are looking in beverage products?
Well given the crisis I mentioned earlier, Australians are really becoming aware of how much sugar is in the majority of their everyday staple products, even light milk is loaded with sugar (who knew) and their not happy! On the whole we’re a fairly healthy bunch, or would like to think we are, you know we have beautiful beaches, blue skies, not much pollution, amazing weather, so we live outdoors for the best part of the year, which generally leads to an active society.
However the flip side of that is we have this (sugar crisis) which is wreaking havoc on our kids, everyone really! But if I’m any judge of my fellow Australians I don’t think it will be long before sugar loaded products will be a thing of the past. We already have major retailers in Australia taking all drinks that contain sugar off the shelves, this very week, the ball has started rolling, the momentum is building!
6. Famous Soda is made in Australia. Is it available to purchase your products outside the country?
Currently we are only available in Australia, however we have been getting a lot of International interest, Japan, Singapore, India as well as the United States, so I don’t think it will be long before this little Aussie Brand goes global.
7. Half population of Australian kids are overweight or obese, according to brochure you have sent to me. Does government takes any similar actions like sugar tax in the UK?
That’s an interesting question, it’s on the agenda and a lot of noise is being made about it as we speak. Currently we don’t have a sugar tax and we can only ponder why that is? However I believe with the momentum building, the powers to be won’t be able to hold out for to long!
8. What advice would you have given yourself before you started out in the beverage business?
Well honestly, it doesn’t get much better than working on something we love and changing the world (or the industry) a little bit for the better, I mean how cool is that for a job?
For more information visit Famous Soda Co. website.
