By Bev Wilkinson
The inspiring story of two entrepreneurs embarking into the health juice scene is what packed the first Hive Melbourne event of 2011.
With a vision to crack the Australian fruit juice market- Tom Griffith established smoothie company Emma and Tom’s with his childhood friend Emma Walsh.
Tom says a holiday to the United States gave him the initial idea of packing Australian fridges with natural whole fruit smoothies.
“I knew there was nothing like that in Australia. We were not hardened entrepreneurs where we watched every dollar,” he says. “We worked out what we were and started from scratch, we spent a year making juices and finding people who will back us.”
Tom says when major competitor Nudie launched a year earlier he was determined to make Emma and Tom a better quality product.
“We raced around Melbourne listening to people who loved the concept but they were looking for alternatives that made them look twice, we got quite a few customers quite quickly,” he says.
Tom says they took control by doing their own distribution locally in cafes in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane.
“I’m happy to go into a shop and sell bottles of juice, I’m happy to be there to develop a relationship,” he says
“We now have over two-thousand customers who are people like us. They are entrepreneurs who know what they want and expect good service.”
Watch Tom’s presentation at Hive Melbourne below:
