Page 19 - Food & Drink Magazine Nov-Dec 2018

Alongside the stockists, Chai Addict sells via its own ecommerce store, delivering nationally from online sales.
“I have had international orders as well, so I’m capable of sending overseas, although it does come with a price tag, as you can imagine, with postage.”
CHIEF BOTTLE WASHER
At this stage, Janson remains the business’s sole employee.
“I do everything: I brew the product, bottle it, label it, distribute it, market it ... everything is all me. I even do
my own social media as well. Down the track I will take on an employee of some sort, but at this stage it seems to be pretty manageable.”
For the first nine months Janson hand-labelled both the product label around the bottle body and the tamper label over the lid.
“That tamper has to align in the round die-cut, right in the middle of the main label. I just listen to a podcast or something and the time seems to fly, but it was a lot of work that way so I did get a small,
hand-held machine. I still have to manually process, but that’s cut about two hours of my time labelling.”
REFLECTED GROWTH
Janson’s own business growth rates have matched chai’s general increase in popularity. By the end of 2018, her second year, the company will have grown more than 50 per cent from the first year. Janson says it’s really good double-digit growth but costs are still quite high, so her focus is now on optimising profit.
While the business remains small, as founder and “grand chai poobah”, Janson can easily keep up with output. But her eye is also to the future.
“At this stage everything is quite manageable. I make chai once a week; I’m able to produce quite a lot in the one day. I’ve got a good surplus of stock right now and the product has a good shelf life.
“For future demands I’d love to have my own factory or kitchen, but I’m also considering contract manufacturing to be able to meet future demand.
www.foodanddrinkbusiness.com.au | November-December 2018 | Food&Drink business | 19
RISING STAR
✷