Summary: Who: Tom Griffith and Emma Welsh of Emma & Tom’s When: 6pm, Tuesday 8 February Where: The Order of Melbourne, 401 Swanston Street, Melbourne RSVP: melbourne@thehive.com.au or on the Facebook event. Cost: FREE! *PLEASE NOTE THE NEW START TIMES THIS YEAR – 6pm* After taste, distribution has proved the key ingredient for Emma & Tom’s, which sells cold-filled, whole-fruit juice smoot hies and vitamin-enhanced waters. The seven year old business wanted to differentiate itself in the intensely competitive and crowded juice market. After lengthy stints overseas in the corporate sector, Tom Griffith and Emma Welsh had decided that it was time to establish their own business. Griffith came up with the concept after a ski holiday in North America on his return from London where he saw fridges full of natural whole-fruit smoothies. Unlike fruit juice made from concentrates, smoothies are the whole fruit crushed up. Griffith knew that there was nothing like that in Australia so he phoned childhood friend Emma Welsh (who was heading up the marketing division at National Australia Bank at the time) to ask if she wanted to start making fruit juice with him. While they established the business in 2003, Welsh says that it took a year rather than three months to get the product to market. Their initial market research consisted of checking out cafes and delicatessens to see what juices they carried. The number of retail outlets is close to 3000 nationally. About two years ago, the number was about 1500 and turnover was $3.5 million. This financial year, Griffith is forecasting revenue of about $5 million, more than 95 per cent from chilled super premium fruit. And the business which has self-funded its growth is now profitable. Although it is headquartered in Victoria and has no manufacturing assets, the business employs about 20 sales staff compared with five last year. For both Griffith, who started his career as a chartered accountant, and Welsh, an agricultural scientist by training, establishing a juice mar-keting business might appear to be a radical departure from their chosen path. Griffith’s previous career has in-cluded roles as an investment banker, a manager in the corporate advisory division of a Big Four accounting firm, a consultant to the UN Security Council on Iraq’s reparations from the first Gulf War, and chief financial officer for a London-based online media start-up that folded when the dotcom boom burst. Welsh’s career includes time as a commodity trader, a commercial manager with Uncle Ben’s (Mars Corp) and a consultant with LEK. Like Griffith, she was involved with an online venture in London before returning to Australia as the head of consumer marketing at NAB between 2001 and 2003. After working for other people, Griffith decided the time had come for him to consider establishing his own business, a goal he had often discussed with Welsh. “Emma and I always discussed this,” he says. “We wanted a challenge and the autonomy of doing our own thing.” Come along to hear how Tom and Emma deal with planning and running a business whilst dealing with unforeseen obstacles which have been thrown their way. Sponsors www.smsglobal.com.au
