Event Learning from Tom Griffith of Emma & Tom's: How to Build a “Juicy” Business and One of Australia’s Most Beloved Brands (Dimension 5)
Thanks to Dimension 5, I got to meet Tom Griffith, the “Tom” from Emma & Tom’s in Melbourne!
I love Emma & Tom’s.
When I found this event on Eventbrite, I was really excited. Emma & Tom’s is one of those big Australian brands that are also based in Melbourne. I thought I’d seize the opportunity to get to another one of these “Melbourne exclusive” events while I was in Melbourne.
I first fell in love with Emma & Tom’s juices at one of Virgin Australia’s cool staff parties. About 7 years ago, the famous Sir Richard Branson was visiting Virgin’s Brisbane headquarters, and Emma & Tom’s 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 flavours…) I had never heard of them before but I was really impressed. Their juices just taste real, like it’s something you’d make for yourself at home.
I remember in the early days, we used to only find 4 different types of Emma & Tom’s 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 & Tom’s have grown and evolved over the years.
The evening started with Tom’s 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 doesn’t 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 didn’t 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 they’d 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 & Tom’s 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.
“It’s all about solving problems” as Tom said.
And just like any business, no matter how good you already are, you can always be better. Emma & Tom’s 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 & Tom’s very soon.
Tom has a very hands-on approach in managing all aspects of the business. “Do more yourself. You learn and get better from every mistake” was his advice to everyone. When they were having issues with one of their distributors, Tom and Emma’s 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. Tom’s response was: “To set up our own distribution from day one”.
The popular question about “Work-life balance” also came up. Tom answered bluntly, “I don’t 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 don’t really separate work from life.” He admitted that he and Emma both work when they need to, wherever they are. There are times when he does “switch off” but he definitely doesn’t have set working hours. Yes, so don’t be surprised if you see an email from the boss man at 1am in the morning.
I definitely don’t know how Emma and Tom managed to juggle between the business and family life, but somehow they did. As Tom funnily commented, “Having children while running a start-up business is like running a marathon with a fridge someone threw at you!”
One thing I really love about Emma & Tom’s 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 “Too much gut, not enough analysis.”
If Emma & Tom’s success prove one thing, it’s that you don’t need the perfect analysis in order to start your business.
My favourite advice from Tom? “Make it yours. Don’t wait for the best solution.”
