Event Learning from Tom Griffith of Emma & Tom's: How to Build a âJuicyâ Business and One of Australiaâs Most Beloved Brands (Dimension 5)
Thanks to Dimension 5, I got to meet Tom Griffith, the âTomâ from Emma & Tomâs in Melbourne!
When I found this event on Eventbrite, I was really excited. Emma & Tomâs is one of those big Australian brands that are also based in Melbourne. Â I thought Iâd seize the opportunity to get to another one of these âMelbourne exclusiveâ events while I was in Melbourne.
I first fell in love with Emma & Tomâs juices at one of Virgin Australiaâs cool staff parties. About 7 years ago, the famous Sir Richard Branson was visiting Virginâs Brisbane headquarters, and Emma & Tomâs team were there to supply their healthy and delicious juices for all the staff!
I was first attracted to their sleek bottle design and the cute, catchy names. The presentation feels simple, young, innovative, and very different to all the other Australian juice brands. Their juices taste mighty delicious! (Yes, I did manage to try all their flavoursâŠ) I had never heard of them before but I was really impressed. Their juices just taste real, like itâs something youâd make for yourself at home.
I remember in the early days, we used to only find 4 different types of Emma & Tomâs juices at selected cafes in Brisbane. Nowadays you can see a whole range of products including life juices, sparkling juices, quenchers, brewed iced teas, well-being waters to life bars at all the major supermarkets, almost everywhere you go.
Emma & Tomâs have grown and evolved over the years.
The evening started with Tomâs keynote presentation followed by a Q&A session. Tom is a very switched on business man who knows every part of his business. As a qualified accountant, he knows his numbers. He thinks fast and doesnât like to waste time. I also got the vibe that he has the dominant personality and is good at taking charge of situations.
And by the way, Emma and Tom are not married. Everyone thinks they are because of the brand name but they are not actual partners.
I really admire his courage and conviction to ditch his high flying finance career to build the healthy drink empire with his childhood friend, Emma. They had no back up plan. They committed to their goals and mission and made things happen.
The road to success was not without its challenges. When they first started, things didnât go as planned. Getting the square bottles and labels made took longer than anticipated. And then once the juices were made and filled into the bottles, they were not selling enough of them. Getting their juices to the shelves was harder than theyâd thought. Making and packaging the juices was relative the easy part compared to getting them distributed. All their juice had expiry dates. Instead of throwing them out, Tom decided to use the unsold juice to sponsor a high profile cycling event. Every cyclist was given a bottle of Emma & Tomâs juice on the day. This proved to be very successful as they managed to get their brand name out and started receiving more enquiries after the event. Â
âItâs all about solving problemsâ as Tom said.
And just like any business, no matter how good you already are, you can always be better. Emma & Tomâs is no exception. One thing they are trying to improve on is their communication to customers. Tom said they have recently appointed a new Communications manager so we should see a new different approach from Emma & Tomâs very soon.
Tom has a very hands-on approach in managing all aspects of the business. âDo more yourself. You learn and get better from every mistakeâ was his advice to everyone. When they were having issues with one of their distributors, Tom and Emmaâs husband just dropped everything else and drove their van and sold the juices directly to the cafes around Melbourne. It was a learning curve but they had control.
When asked whether there is one thing he would have done differently. Tomâs response was: âTo set up our own distribution from day oneâ.
The popular question about âWork-life balanceâ also came up. Tom answered bluntly, âI donât really like the phrase (work-life balance), because it kind of infer that work is bad, and life is good. When you love what you do, you donât really separate work from life.â He admitted that he and Emma both work when they need to, wherever they are. There are times when he does âswitch offâ but he definitely doesnât have set working hours. Yes, so donât be surprised if you see an email from the boss man at 1am in the morning.
I definitely donât know how Emma and Tom managed to juggle between the business and family life, but somehow they did. As Tom funnily commented, âHaving children while running a start-up business is like running a marathon with a fridge someone threw at you!â
One thing I really love about Emma & Tomâs brand is that the brand is real. Both Emma and Tom are real people who went about the business with a single minded purpose. They believed that people are happier when they are healthy, so they want to help people to be healthy.
A few years into operation, they had a risk assessment done on their business. The concluding assessment of their start-up was âToo much gut, not enough analysis.â
If Emma & Tomâs success prove one thing, itâs that you donât need the perfect analysis in order to start your business.
My favourite advice from Tom? Â âMake it yours. Donât wait for the best solution.â