Going smoothie-ly

Innocent founders: Adam, Jon and Richard

Many would argue that innocence and the tough world of business are a bad mix.

But the founders of Innocent drinks, a London-based juice maker, beg to differ.

Two and a half years after launching their company, Richard Reed, Jon Wright and Adam Bolon, are not only enjoying themselves but have built a business that shows every sign of success.

Innocent's drinks - either smoothies or thickies depending on the consistency you prefer - are sold in major shopping centres and food outlets around the country.

Humble

It's a long way from the trio's humble beginnings at a local music festival where they launched the company.

Richard Reed, Innocent's head of marketing, says, "We put out a big bin that said 'yes' and a big bin that said 'no'. Then we put a sign over our stall which said: 'Should we give up our day jobs to make these smoothies?'"

"We asked everyone who bought our smoothies to put their empty bottles in one of the bins. Fortunately the 'yes' bin was pretty full, so that gave us the confidence to resign from our jobs the next day."

Richard Reed: "Two and a half years in and we've broken even, which is a fantastic position."

The company grew its sales through local corner-shops.

And, in the past year, has tied up deals to supply some of the UK's biggest supermarkets, including Waitrose and Sainsbury's.

This sort of growth comes with its own problems, and key amongst them has been finding money.

Small change

The friends have not only had to buy a lot more fruit, they also had to pay for things like refrigerators and delivery vans.

"You can start a fruit juice business with the money you've got in your pocket," says Richard.

"You can go out and buy whatever fruit you can afford, then turn it into juice, then sell it and use the money to buy more fruit the next day," he adds.

You can start a fruit juice business with the money you've got in your pocket

Innocent's Richard Reed

"But when we went to start the business on a more commercial scale we obviously needed things like a refrigerator van to deliver the juices, some fridges to put the juices in, things like that required a bit of investment up front."

Innocent got the backing of a Business Angel - that is an investor who was sufficiently convinced by the strength of their business plan, to back the company.

The founders have also made a point of reinvesting profits to fund growth.

"There have been some months when we've made profits, and some months when we haven't," says Mr Reed.

"It very much goes in cycles. You might make money for a couple of months, then you have to hire some new people, buy a new piece of juicing kit or a new van, then you stop being profitable."

The company's pace of growth has meant they have had to borrow more money along the way.

But with a successful track record under its belt Innocent has found banks willing to finance further expansion.

The secret of success

The trio attribute much of their success to the way they've marketed their product.

In an already crowded juice market they have stood out by using the labels on their bottles to keep in touch with their customers and to have fun.

Innocent use their labels to connect with customers

Jokes, job adverts and tongue in cheek advice are all featured on the bottles.

It's a fresh approach aimed at people having lunch on the run who are looking for something different.

Problems

The pace of growth has not been without its problems.

Jon says: "The worst moment was when Adam (Bolon) came and said, 'you know we have been speaking to Sainsbury's for eighteen months? Well we have a week to get it into 200 stores'."

And suppliers have not always given Innocent an easy ride either.

Adam says: "This year, our bottle supplier called us up and said next week you can only have half the number of bottles you normally have.

"This was just at the start of the spring when we had been selling loads and we were set to sell a lot more."

Veggies

The trio have negotiated the hiccups.

And now they are planning further growth withthe launch of a new range of drinks called "Veggies."

For now the new product is being kept well under wraps.

But all going well, the founders of Innocent look set for a future full of the guilty pleasures of success.