Being an entrepreneur isn’t for everybody. Although being your personal boss comes with its perks, you can even anticipate blurry work-life boundaries and a stronger want for psychological toughness. Nevertheless, for founders of MOMO Kombucha, Josh and Lisa Puddle, it was all the time within the playing cards.
With Josh’s earlier position as an fairness analyst and Lisa working at a vogue start-up in Berlin, the duo was all the time discovering themselves discussing concepts for a future enterprise. “We have been each within the tales behind how companies have been began and the components that made some profitable,” shared Josh. “After we got here throughout kombucha in New York, we couldn’t perceive why it wasn’t a giant factor within the UK. We cherished the way it tasted, it made us really feel superb once we drank it, and I felt strongly that we might begin a kombucha firm again within the UK,” added Lisa.
Usually touted as the following large pattern in wellness, intestine well being has been actually having its second this 12 months, with many people methods to enhance our immunity. However the Puddles are adamant that kombucha is greater than only a pattern. Lisa defined: “We don’t just like the ‘hipster’ notion with kombucha, which appears to place some individuals off. Now we have such a broad vary of customers, together with our one-year-old daughter and Josh’s 95-year-old granny, and we’d hate individuals pondering it isn’t for them due to some false impression.”
“Our intention is to provide the UK’s finest tasting and highest high quality kombucha. We obtain this by hand crafting MOMO the old style means utilizing the best natural components we will supply,” added Josh.
Made with natural loose-leaf tea, filtered water, natural uncooked cane sugar, and a SCOBY (symbiotic tradition of micro organism and yeast). Chilly-pressed natural juice and natural dried flowers are used to create flavours like raspberry-hibiscus, ginger-lemon, turmeric, and elderflower.
We converse to Josh and Lisa to listen to extra concerning the course of of making their award-winning merchandise and what it’s like working a household enterprise.
What’s the one factor you would like you knew earlier than beginning your online business?
There have been so many issues we have been naïve about. We had no thought how costly it was to hire a premises in London. We hadn’t utterly factored in how a lot it price to bodily transport the product and we didn’t have a correct grasp of how a lot of the margin could be taken by wholesalers. Having stated that, I believe that naivety performed in our favour, as a result of if we’d identified the fact of all these particulars we’d by no means have begun.
What are the principle variations between kombucha adoption within the US vs the UK?
Industrial kombucha within the US began on the west coast within the mid-nineties. It very a lot began as a purposeful well being drink that was widespread in farmer’s markets and different well being supermarkets. There have been only a few kombucha manufacturers accessible and those that have been being offered have been the true factor – natural, unfiltered, unpasteurised and totally fermented. Customers have been used to bits floating within the liquid, having some bottles fizzier than others, and understanding that the product may style a bit of completely different from batch to batch.
It took a very long time within the US for large firms to see kombucha as a pattern and begin releasing their variations which have been sometimes fairly completely different from an genuine kombucha. These variations have been tremendous high-quality filtered, pasteurised, and generally blended from focus. Sadly, within the UK, these commercialised, mass-produced kombuchas have been right here from the beginning, so customers right here have a much less clear thought of how an genuine kombucha ought to look and style.
The nice and the unhealthy, we wish to hear all of it! What’s it like working together with your companion 24/7?
We’re actually lucky that we’ve loved working with one another. Constructing MOMO is such an enormous a part of our lives and we love creating it collectively. By way of the fact of working collectively, it has undoubtedly helped that we’ve got complementary abilities; Lisa is concentrated on advertising and marketing and the aesthetic of the model, while Josh is concentrated on gross sales and operations.
Having stated that, there is no such thing as a query that it has been a really full-on few years. Alongside beginning MOMO, we’ve additionally had two kids, Cece who’s now three and Kaia who’s one. In loads of methods, MOMO appears like a 3rd little one.
In a world of individuals wanting issues immediately, what made you resolve to stay to the old style means of brewing your kombucha?
From the beginning, we had a very sturdy feeling that we needed to construct a model that folks cared about and one that may stand the check of time. To do that, we felt we needed to do all the things we might to provide one of the best tasting and highest high quality kombucha.
As a part of our analysis into easy methods to make kombucha, we spoke to as many industrial brewers as we might. We spoke to industrial brewers in Europe and the US and the factor we saved listening to was that one of the best kombucha they’d ever made was created at residence in a small glass jar. That was how we have been already making it, and it tasted actually superb, so we determined early on that we’d decide to the home made technique of manufacturing.
Does it actually make a distinction?
Completely. Kombucha fermentation is delicate; you want the micro organism and yeast to be balanced and, firstly, it’s essential to be certain that there’s loads of oxygen for the yeast to interrupt down the sugar. The bigger you make the vessel, the upper the chance that these components turn into out of stability. Additionally, our kombucha is unpasteurised and utterly unfiltered, which implies we hold all of the residing micro organism and yeast within the liquid. This makes it higher for you and offers it a a lot fuller depth of flavour.
Covid-19 has made individuals much more in-tune with their well being and wellness. Has this had an affect on your online business because it suits into this class?
It’s maybe a bit early to leap to conclusions, and troublesome to select tendencies as so lots of our retail prospects have been closed for important chunks of the 12 months, however sure, we expect so. There may be an rising quantity of analysis on the hyperlinks between intestine well being and immunity which has undoubtedly led individuals to hunt out our kombucha.
Who’s your typical buyer?
We all the time consider Lisa as our typical buyer: feminine, between 25 and 45, into well being and health, and never a giant boozer.
How do you provide you with new flavours and merchandise? Inform me extra about your analysis and growth course of.
We’re lucky to now have an incredible head brewer, Matt Canham, who loves enjoying round with completely different components and new flavours. It’s humorous as some flavours that you simply’d anticipate to work effectively don’t come by means of in any respect, and others get magnificently magnified by the kombucha. We’re actually excited to launch a restricted version kombucha in collaboration with considered one of our favorite manufacturers in early 2021.
What are a few of the kombucha myths you’re eager on busting?
The largest delusion with kombucha is that folks get confused across the SCOBY. SCOBY stands for symbiotic tradition of micro organism and yeast and it’s primarily the engine that drives the fermentation of the candy tea.
When kombucha is brewed, the micro organism produces cellulose nanofibers which cowl the highest of the brew, primarily making this white jellylike disc. Lots of people suppose this bodily pellicle is crucial for making kombucha, but it surely isn’t. What’s wanted is the liquid contained within the pellicle which accommodates tens of millions of residing cultures.
What are your favorite locations for: 1) a wholesome meal, 2) a digital detox, 3) an awesome exercise.
For a wholesome meal, we love The Elder Press Café in Hammersmith the place all the things is scrumptious and the area is gorgeous; EN ROOT in Brixton does unimaginable plant primarily based Indian meals and does essentially the most superb Masala Dosas; and for a deal with, Wild by Tart in Victoria is outstanding.
For a digital detox, Josh heads to the lake for some wakeboarding and Lisa will deal with herself to some Ayurvedic Therapeutic massage Remedy from Natalie Eve Roper. For an awesome exercise, we’ll both go swimming at Brockwell Lido, get scorching and sweaty at Hotpod Yoga, or head to Metal Warriors in Ruskin Park.
Factbox
Web site: momo-kombucha.com
Instagram: instagram.com/momokombucha
