When it came to choosing to go into business together, Emma Welsh & Tom Griffith were pretty certain their partnership would work, having been mates for more than 25 years.
Emma and Tom's friendship started in the late 70's when the two met aged 12 at a swimming lesson at the Harold Holt Memorial Pool in Malvern, Victoria.
After successful careers in both Melbourne & London -Tom as a CFO and advisor to the UN, and Emma running the consumer marketing division at the NAB, the two used their accumulated savings to fulfil an all-encompassing desire to bring Australians super premium whole fruit smoothies.
While skiing in North America, Tom had noticed the local cafe fridges stocked full of natural whole fruit smoothies that tasted great - true health offerings without artificial
colours, flavours, preservatives or concentrates. Tom knew that there was nothing like that in Australia, so he called Emma and together they decided to change all that.
Today, Emma & Tom's juices are the leading whole fruit smoothies with functional botanicals like spirulina, Siberian ginseng and stinging nettle. Reading through the list of benefits of each juice really brings testament to the fact that each Emma & Tom's whole fruit smoothie is like a little nutritionist in a bottle.
Unlike many stewed fruit juices on the Australian market, Emma & Tom's whole fruit smoothies are flash pasteurised and cold filled, so the fruit flavour and goodness is retained and the juice is as close to the original fruit as possible.
The unique ingredients and fresh taste of Emma & Tom's whole fruit smoothies have aided Emma & Tom's success in outlets such as Thomas Dux, Villa & Hut and David Jones as well as in the high end route trade, achieving distribution in Australia's top 2,000 cafes and delis' no mean feat considering it's all managed through in-house sales reps!
'There's no hard sell' says Tom, 'We just introduce ourselves to the cafe owner, sell them a few bottles to try in the fridge, and the juice does the rest'. However once a cafe is on board with Emma & Tom's, they are visited weekly to make sure they are happy and feel well looked after.
Emma and Tom have based their business on key relationships by working closely with their orchardists, supporting their cafe clients and offering their customers a product that they are just so proud of.
Emma & Tom's brand philosophy, Look After Yourself, runs throughout the business, as they are committed to helping Australians to look after themselves, by offering nutritious vitamin-rich whole fruit smoothies - that taste great too!
Each year, Emma & Tom's donates more than $100,000 worth of juice to community groups, fundraising events and charities such as the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Second Bite and the Prahran and St Kilda Missions. Their square bottles, made from light, recyclable plastic, don't require the industrial amounts of gas that it takes to create glass bottles. They pack more efficiently than round bottles and therefore each pallet can be minimally wrapped in plastic. When the fruit is crushed all of the pulp goes into the bottle and the remaining orange peels, apple cores and banana skins are fed to the cows in Mudgee to complete a waste free circle of production.
They are committed to preserving the Earth for their kids by considering the environment, community and the wellbeing of their customers in everything they do.
Topics
- Company story
- Starting from scratch in a new industry (corporate version of the lifestyle sea change)
- 'Why you're not learning anything when things are going well'
- Small business lessons that can be applied to big businesses
- Successful business partnerships
- Employing Gen Y
- Working Parents
- Wellbeing sector/retail/distribution
