YOU + I was set up as Clever Kombucha by husband-and-wife team Kelsey and Alan Moore in 2017. They originally made premium kombucha, a fermented tea-based probiotic drink that originated in China. They have now rebranded with a range of barley water and botanical tea.
Name: Alan Moore
Position: Founder
WHAT IS THE BUSINESS CALLED?
You + I
WHERE IS IT BASED?
Glasgow
WHY DID YOU SET UP THE BUSINESS?
IT launched three years ago and we just sold kombucha. My wife is Canadian and we went to Canada every summer. One year we went to a diner there and had kombucha and every year when we went back we saw kombucha was everywhere. It was difficult to find in the UK so we started making our own at home. It happened organically from there and we sold it to local places.
A year ago we decided we want to do more than kombucha so we now have barley water and botanical tea. We didn’t put a huge amount of thought into the name Clever Kombucha but we are expanding so we changed it to You + I. Our products are things that aren’t widely available.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
I RAN an online business for 10 years that did really well – we sold watches that were design focused. We reached a point where sales declined as less young people wear watches now and smart watches came along. At the same time I started making kombucha at home so I shifted my focus. I still work for an e-commerce company two days a week. I watched my business take off and I enjoy that side of it. I studied business at university so I have always wanted to set up my own company. Kelsey is really creative so she looks after the production side. We do our own things so it is easy to work together. We’re lucky that way. We had twins six months ago so Kelsey is stepping back. We hired our first member of staff a year ago and our second recently so the brewery side is taken care of.
HOW HAVE YOU COPED WITH CORONAVIRUS?
WE’VE been lucky. We started rebranding at the end of 2019. I initially thought we’d launch two months later but it took longer. When everything shut down our wholesale customers stopped ordering. It all balanced itself out. Since I also run an e-commerce business we could cope with the rise in online demand.
WHAT IS YOUR TARGET MARKET?
WE talked about what we want to be in the future when we were rebranding. At one stage we considered alcoholic kombucha (called “hard kombucha” in the US) bur we wanted to be a healthy drinks company. All of the ingredients have to be natural and organic with health products and low in sugar. It is so much easier than when we launched three years ago as no-one knew what kombucha was in the UK. Lots of the business involved educating customers and explaining the benefits of drinking it. More people have tried it or are making it at home now. There is more interest in fermented foods in general. People are supporting small businesses more than ever because they care about where products come from and what’s in them.
HOW IS IT DIFFERENT FROM COMPETING BUSINESSES?
THERE are always going to be lots of companies making healthy drinks but we have more niche flavour combinations. There is one big company that makes barley water but ours is healthier and made in a small batch.
IS SCOTLAND A GOOD PLACE FOR THIS TYPE OF BUSINESS?
WHEN we started with kombucha we didn’t know how it would go. Glasgow has a reputation for being unhealthy but there is a demand for kombucha here. We met with Business Gateway and Sottish Enterprise a few times. We got part of the design cost funded by the By Design Grant for our rebrand which was really helpful.
WHAT DO YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT RUNNING THE BUSINESS?
BEING involved in every aspect of it. I love the technical side of everything, using the machinery and figuring out better ways to do things.
WHAT IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE IN RUNNING THE BUSINESS?
TRYING to fund growth. We are in our third premises now and as we get busier, we will need new premises and to hire more people.
WHERE DO YOU HOPE THE BUSINESS WILL BE IN 10 YEARS?
TO continue on the same path and releasing new products. It is sold throughout the UK but lots of sales are still in Scotland so we want to expand in the UK and Europe.
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