Pete’s Natural Co-Founder Talks How to Build a Better Soda Business

We lead by example, basically, we do what we say we do. What you see on the label is what you get.

What inspired you to start the business?

We’ve always worked alone and started our first business when we were probably 21 years old. Pete [co-founder] He’s a baker by trade and trained in Belgium, so it’s a very different journey compared to here in New Zealand. It’s very technical, but also practical, and they learned a lot about the ingredients and how they work together. Also, about 40 years ago, there were no enhancements available, just real ingredients.

Pete and I had a bakery in Richmond where we made everything from scratch. We had a drinks fridge full of soft drinks, like most places, but we didn’t really like the look of it. At one point we thought: why don’t we see if we can offer something instead?

We went to a friend’s party and he made homemade elderflower lemonade with real ingredients. After making a large batch, we gave it to our neighbors, who loved it. They said we needed to take it commercial, and we went from there.

How did you create the range of flavors? Do you have plans for more?

We started 15 years ago and the first thing that came out was our lemonade. Until two or three years ago, lemonade was the best seller. We had about 10 flavors and lemonade was about 25% of our sales, so it was really strong. Today, our feijoa lemonade is our top seller.

Over time we have slowly added different flavours, but we always make sure it is made with fruit available in New Zealand. Our ethos is to use fruit that would otherwise go to waste, which also helps growers across the country.

As for new flavors, probably not just yet, especially in this economy. Releasing a new flavor is quite expensive because the recipe is developed, but you also have to design and accumulate stock. We’ll want to try to get through this winter and then see what next summer has in store, but 10 flavors seems like enough, too.

He has been in business for more than a decade. What has been the biggest challenge?

There have been many ups and downs. When we started, we had another bottle under contract from the company, which brought many challenges. We also rented space at a brewery to get equipment so we could do it ourselves. It was great, but it meant long days because they were filling two bottles at a time, which was extremely slow. Setting up our own factory was also difficult.

I think something we really had to learn, and still do, is cash flow. Having a background in baking, money comes and goes very quickly, which is not necessarily the same here. We have also grown our business without investors; We have supported everything financially. At times it has put a brake on our growth.

What are your plans for the future?

There is definitely still a lot of growth available for us. We are not in too many supermarkets. We’ve never focused on that, so it could be an option. There is also a lot of capacity in contract work, but what we haven’t really touched on is export.

Now that we offer our drinks in cans, shipping is much easier because shipping glass can be quite expensive. We don’t have much experience in this, which means we need to learn what we can do and how to take it further. Australia could be a great market for us, as well as a few others, but for now we are reviewing it and seeing what the best options are.

What would be your advice to a budding entrepreneur who wants to start a business?

We’ve seen a lot of players in our industry come and go, and there are a couple of big players who don’t play well. It’s not an easy game, but I would say that if you have a dream, you try it. You can just try it, but be aware of the risks and what it entails.

Also, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. We have different avenues for our income, which helps when other areas are not doing as well.

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for Heraldcovering small business, retail and tourism.