Alex Auger 5th Birthday
Image Source: Juice Executive
Alexandra Auger, Founder of The Juice Executive

Member Article

Sales boost provides a ‘fresh’ 5th birthday present for The Juice Executive

A Kent entrepreneur that started a cold pressed juice manufacturing business after gaining inspiration from travelling in Indonesia is celebrating the firm’s 5th birthday in style.

Alexandra Auger, the 27-year-old Managing Director of The Juice Executive, has seen sales hit £1.2m for the first time in its history after launching a new white label offer targeting independent outlets and achieving a 300% increase in its ‘Think Press’ e-commerce sales of organic and pressed juice cleanses.

A nationwide thirst for healthier drinks has seen interest in the firm’s products grow year-on-year and it has also added a number of high-profile names to its client base, including H&M Group, Boots No7 and Selfridges.

Over £500,000 has been spent on creating a state-of-the-art juicery in Chatham and three new appointments this year have taken the total workforce to 18 people.

It’s a far cry from when Alexandra first started, with just a juicer and a stainless steel bench in her garage. Even the logo was designed in Microsoft Word.

“When I was in Indonesia, I saw lots of fresh juices being sold and it just wasn’t like that in London at the time. Being from Kent, a massive farming region, I thought to myself why don’t we have fresh juice here?” commented Alexandra.

“Returning to the UK I had two choices. Get a real job or pursue the juice dream…there was only going to be one winner and, five years on, it is the best decision I’ve ever made.”

She continued: “There’s been a lot of milestones along the way, from borrowing the money to help us start the fit-out of our manufacturing facilities, to hitting £1m in sales and acquiring the Radiance Cleanse brand in 2017.

“2019 has been focused on growing our brands, including our unique personalised juices for independent retailers and also corporate events. This has grown from a standing start last year to 5% of our total sales and this is increasing by the week.

“The white label line offers a cost-effective, knock-out quality, exceptional line of juices which, fundamentally, allows you to put your stamp on our products. There’s five different flavours to choose from, featuring two different sizes.”

The Juice Executive, which has been supported by the Manufacturing Growth Programme, produces more than 100 different organic juices, covering turmeric, beetroot and orange and ginger.

It currently manufactures 600,000 bottles every year and these are supplied into brands that are listed on Abel & Cole, Ocado and in a host of UK independent retailers looking to stock healthy and great tasting drinks.

The firm’s own brands - Think Press and Radiance - are sold direct to consumers online via their own stores, offering nationwide delivery.

Alexandra continued: “We’ve just received planning permission to build a new purpose-built facility on the current site and this will be the focus over the next two years.

“This will be a full build from the ground up and will give us the opportunity to look at energy efficiency/carbon savings, implementation of more automation, increased capacity and dedicated new product development capabilities. The healthier drinks marketplace is all about innovation and we need to continue to lead from the front.”

For further information, please visit www.thejuiceexecutive.co.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Russ Cockburn .

Our Partners