Beverage Startups
Fuel Your 10k Hours entrant of DrinkPreneur Live 2015
We are glad that you decided to participate in DrinkPreneur Live 2015. Why did you decided to be the part of this event?
As a new brand, competing in a very competitive space, it is clear to us that we need to take every opportunity to listen to feedback and guidance from others in the industry. So it is the chance to share our ideas and from this, know what we can do to ensure our brand has every chance of success.
Being an entrepreneur requires lots of strength and courage. How did you come up with an idea to start beverage business? Did you have any experience about beverage industry before this project? Can you share this story with us?
I have worked in large food and drink businesses throughout my career, including Coca Cola, Kraft Foods, Jamie Oliver and Tetra Pak, so I’ve been a part of lots of NPD projects in the past. Together with the rest of the FUEL10K team, we spotted the opportunity to offer a product that was relevant to the growing number of breakfast skippers – it was very obvious to us, but the large mutlinationals were taking their time to react. Having seen the success of breakfast drinks in other markets, we felt sure that our target consumer would take to the idea quite nicely!
These days many people are trying to live as healthy as possible. Why did you have chosen liquid meal?
Our target consumer is typically male, 16 to 35, and living an active lifestyle. Rather than taking the time to sit down for a bowl of cereal, this demographic are choosing instead to stop off at the convenience store, forecourt, or newsagent and are grabbing a can of Red Bull and a Snickers. You only need to stand outside a shop close to a high school or college to see this for yourself. So with FUEL10K, we wanted to make a brand that looked edgy, a bit different, and a bit disruptive, but at the same time provide the same level of fibre as a bowl of Bran Flakes, 20g of Protein, and with no more than 5% added sugar. It was the fact that breakfast was being skipped altogether that told us that we should focus on this as the opportunity.
Why consumers should your liquid meal? Who is your target audience?
FUEL10K contains, fibre, vitamins, protein and is less than 1% fat. With the sugar debate, we also kept our added sugar to 5% or less. With more and more consumers understanding the benefit of protein for staving off hunger, we felt that this was a better alternative to a carbonated soft drink. Our audience is typically, but not exclusively male, 16 to 35, and active.
What kind of difficulties have you had since the very beginning of your fuel your 10k hours project? Have you been able to overcome those difficulties?
The main difficulties are awareness and achieving the right visibility in stores where we are listed. As we are a breakfast brand, we are merchandised in the ambient shelves predominantly. We have plans in place to see the brand feature more in the chilled, front of store area.
In your opinion, what are the most important benefits fuel your 10k hours team will gain during the event?
Guidance on the product offer – where are the weaknesses? What could we do better or improve on to ensure solid brand growth? Is the product offer clear and easily understood? Does the brand resonate with our target demographic?
We are wishing you luck during competition and success for fuel your 10k hours. Do you have some advice for other startups?
Ensure that you love what you do and believe in your product totally – as this will be clear for everyone to see whenever you talk about your brand, and believability is everything.
