cafes on Sydney’s northern beaches in
a van selling them. They were battling
against Unilever’s Lipton brand and
Coca-Cola’s Nestea for shelf space, but
they had important points of difference.
Nexba’s low-sugar content, unique packag-
ing and new flavours sparked interest. The
business was also coming to the attention
of several industry heavyweights, who
joined the team at a critical time.
“We were fortunate to meet a guy called
Peter Baron,” says Douglas. “He invented
Sipahh, the flavoured straws. In a market
like Australia, it’s very tough as a challeng-
er brand to compete. We knew we had to
win a key account in the petrol and con-
venience sector to scale our production.”
It took 18 months, but then they won
meetings at 7Eleven and BP on the same
day. Their pitch was that they could drive
sales growth because of Nexba’s unique
offering. That was bold, because it shifted
the focus away from marketing spend,
a critical element of most deals. 7Eleven
signed on.
The duo quickly sold their canning line,
used just once, and hired a contract packer.
Simply filling the shelves in 7Eleven’s 600
stores would take more than their first run
using the old plant. They had to focus their
time on innovation, including marketing
and product, rather than mixing drink and
filling cans. The changes paid off. Doug-
las recalls that the two product lines sold
through 7Eleven lifted the iced tea drinks
category to be the second fastest growing.
Coles became Nexba’s second major
account, in 2015, when its sugar-free prod-
uct became available. That was also the
year they won their first of two Telstra
Business Awards. Woolworths came next,
with a range of flavoured waters. “Peter
Baron was in that meeting, and he said to
them that we could create new flavours
within 48 hours,” says Douglas. “So,
that’s what we did. We did a Christmasspecial job lot, in one-litre glass bottles.
We moved very quickly and learned some
painful lessons, but very valuable lessons
all the same.”
Douglas’ current focus is getting the
Sainsbury’s deal up and running. Some
40 containers of drinks have been shipped
to the UK to get sales moving. But they
need to find local manufacturers, com-
mencing before year’s end, to support a
broader roll-out. He believes the UK arm
of the business should become as large
as it is in Australia within three years.
Theirbiggestlessoncamewhenmoving
froma self-fundedstart-up,optingtoraise
$6million from outside investors over
several years. “We were very ambitious
in our forecasts. If certain things don’t go
according to plan, or if there are delays,
that impact on cash is huge.”
Their potential new partner could see
what their potential cashflow would be,
and wanted a better deal. But the duo