Chris Cotton has always had an entrepreneurial flair and has been successful in a number of business ventures, both here and overseas, including running a large brick paving and asphalting business. He was involved in the manufacture of the first polyurethane liquid-based waterproofing membrane in Australia. Six years ago, Chris embarked on a new journey to disrupt the F&B space, helping thirsty consumers and foodies mix their cocktails or prepare their favourite dishes quickly and easily by launching a range of natural citrus juices in convenient pouches.
ISB: What was the inspiration behind the launch of Really Juice?
CC: Returning to Australia after living overseas, we wanted to bring to market a juice as close to nature as possible that could be on hand for any occasion, so you need never run out. We determined to provide a great alternative to concentrated, reconstituted, diluted or imported juice. We started sourcing all our juice locally and packing it into foil pouches.
After all, what’s more refreshing on a hot day than a gin and tonic, lime and soda, or blood orange with sparkling spring water or lemonade? We know how often people run out of lemons or limes and how costly they become when they are not in season. We put our minds to it, given how thirsty we always seem to be, and created pouches of lemon, lime and blood orange juice so you can enjoy a gin and tonic or lime and soda anytime using our juices at a consistent price. We also wanted to offer a long shelf life and our process allows for a ‘Best Before’ date of 18 months from the time of manufacture.
We were motivated to be able to offer a product that is great to have on hand for cool drinks, cocktails, marinating meat, adding to salad dressings or sauces, or when cooking Asian or seafood dishes. Just replacing the tonic in a gin and tonic with soda and adding 30 mls of blood orange creates a refreshing summer cocktail. Lime juice is an essential ingredient for a margarita or mojito and so the list goes on.
ISB: And when and where did the business launch?
CC: The business launched in Melbourne in 2017, as soon as we were able to ensure a regular supply of juice, source suitable packaging and establish a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.
Due to its popularity in cocktails and other drinks, blood orange juice was added to the range in November 2021, thanks in no small part to the fact that it can also add extra flavour in a marinade or sauce for fish and seafood.
“The main marketing strategy has been to gain in-store visibility.”
COVID was something of a ‘blessing’ for the business as many of the population isolated in their homes naturally turned to cocktails to help them get through the extended lockdowns, and Really Juice became part of the cocktail repertoire for a growing number of people. Over this period, we also enjoyed the custom of many new start-ups in the online cocktail kit supply space, and sales to them continue. At-home cooking also became a popular pastime, so Really Juice enjoyed a spike in sales alongside its prime function as a cocktail ingredient.
ISB: What has been the biggest challenge in getting the business up and running, and how did you overcome it?
CC: The biggest challenge as a small supplier is to gain market coverage. We made a decision early on not to supply the major supermarkets, as we wanted to supply a quality product to our customers consistently without the business pressures of dealing with the majors. Hence, we found specialty distributors in each state to supply to independent supermarkets and specialty stores such as gourmet food stores, fruit and vegetable shops, fishmongers etc., where shoppers are more likely to browse and are looking for those kinds of products.
Beyond our distributor network countrywide, we are also the proud suppliers of pouched juices to Harris Farm Markets in NSW and Queensland. Harris Farm Markets offers us an ideal route to markets, as they specialise in the supply of a large range of fresh fruit and vegetables and speciality grocery products through their network of more than 26 stores.
ISB: What have been your primary strategies for marketing what is essentially a disruptive/innovative product?
CC: The main marketing strategy has been to gain in-store visibility with merchandising in the fruit and vegetable section so shoppers can choose between fresh limes and lemons or the Really Juice alternative. We know that this delivers the best sales results. This has been augmented with point-of-sale material and price promotions. The packaging design is, of course, critical to attract attention, with a large image of the fresh fruit on the front panel, enhanced by a colour-coded cap to ensure the product is noticed. The shelf-ready packaging that is created from a perforated box has also been instrumental in ensuring the product can be easily merchandised.
ISB: Keeping your products as natural and authentic as possible is clearly fundamental to you – how does this manifest itself in where you source your raw ingredients and in the way you put together your products and pack them?
CC: Having a product as close to nature as possible was fundamental to the creation of Really Juice and its differentiation from other juice products. The only thing we add to the squeezed juice is 0.01 per cent of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) to slow the colour of the juice changing over its shelf life. It was also important to us that we sourced the juices from Australian-based suppliers – all the fruit in Really Juice’s products is sourced from Sunraysia, a district renowned for its horticulture that straddles the northwestern Victorian and southwestern NSW border. When we started out, we were the first company producing Australian sourced citrus juices in pouches.
ISB: How do you see Really Juice growing and developing in the next couple of years?
CC: Really Juice is well suited to bottle shops and foodservice suppliers, so this is an area of distribution we have been exploring, with some successes to date. We need to continue to support our distributors and encourage them to place Really Juice front and centre when promoting their ranges. We have found offering the salespeople incentives to increase distribution is a very effective way to boost revenue and will continue to promote ourselves in this manner. There is also an opportunity to export, and we are working with parties in China, Papua New Guinea and Thailand. Our products are already available in Singapore through that nation’s specialist wholefoods retailer Little Farms Group.
This article first appeared in issue 43 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine
