Page 13 - Food & Drink Magazine April 2019

BLUE SKY
H2coco cracks into new markets
Sydney coconut water startup H2coco is expanding its footprint with a move into a new beverage category and a US export push.
✷ AT A GLANCE
H2coco has just expanded into juice, a new product category for the company. H2juice is a 100 per cent natural fruit juice, made from fruit juices with no added sugar or preservatives. It comes in three flavours – Pineapple, Mango Mix and Berry Mix and is available at Woolworths.
H2coco founder David Freeman says the company only works with manufacturers with environmentally friendly practices in place.
H2juice is one of the only juice ranges available in Tetra Pak packaging. The average renewable content of Tetra Pak
carton packaging is currently around 75 per
cent, and consumers can recycle Tetra Pak cartons.
FOUNDER and CEO David Freeman started Australian coconut water brand H2coco from his Bondi Beach home. The company now sells its products in over 14,000 retail locations including Coles and Woolworths, petrol stations and convenience stores such as 7-Eleven.
The company now has new horizons in its sights, recently kicking off a US push at Expo West, one of the world's largest natural product trade shows, which attracts over 3200 exhibitors and more than 85,000 attendees.
H2 products on show at the expo, which ran from 6-8 March at the Anaheim Convention Center in California, included Pure Pink Coconut Water, Functional Coconut water, Collagen water and world-first innovations H2melon, a long life watermelon water and a brand new banana water called H2nana.
H2coco revenue has seen compound annual growth of around 100 per cent, rising from $1.3 million in the 2013 financial year, to $24 million in 2018, and the brand is also exported to eight countries.
Freeman, who spoke to Food & Drink Business before the show, said that the aim of Expo West was to find distribution partners and engage with retailers.
“Our business is a premium offering. We've done our due diligence and competitive analysis and we believe we can bring value to the category in the US," Freeman says. “This has been a lot of work in the making. We've been visiting
the show in the last few years, and we've been visiting the US for many years, meeting with potential partners. So far we have already engaged one distributor, and we have also engaged a broker.”
Post-event, Freeman described the show as “incredible and overwhelming”.
“We spent three days sampling and selling our range to the USA market and beyond. There were export customers from all over the globe and a good mix of USA retailers. This show has certainly helped H2coco make its move into the
US market.”
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www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | April 2019 | Food&Drink business | 13