Innocent Smoothies now has a 75% share of the UK smoothie market and sells over two million drinks a week. Hard to believe that this brand started out at a small festival stall – Wholesale Scout investigates its popularity.
Innocent was created by three Cambridge University graduates in 1998. After graduating the trio sourced wholesale fruit, spent £500 on ingredients and worked on new smoothie recipes. They then started selling their creations on to the public – choosing to trade from a small stall at a music festival. In a clever PR campaign, the group asked the public to put their empty bottles into a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ box to indicate whether they thought they should give up their jobs and work on the smoothie brand full time. The majority of the public said ‘yes’ and the rest, as they say, is history.
After seeking investment the company started operating – selling products into stores and cafes. The company attracted attention from the Coca Cola Company, which now owns 58% of the brand. As well as producing healthy fruit smoothies the brand now produces a range of healthy snack products including veg pots.
Although they started out sourcing small amounts of fruit and selling to a small festival crowd, today the company turns over £100m and continues to grow in popularity.
