As anyone who has watched an episode of Dragons’ Den knows, launching a successful consumer food or drink product requires more than an attractive recipe, a memorable name, and an eye-catching label. You must be able to scale up manufacturing, sort your supply base, and deliver on time and at the right price to demanding retailer customers – all while maintaining a strong enough cash flow and margin to reward investors and continue to invest.
This is perhaps even more the case in the uncompromising world of energy drinks, dominated by big brands such as Red Bull and Monster with global corporations behind them, and in which wannabe stars of the sector can shine brightly but briefly before burning out. In fact, six of the 10 best-sellers in this category have seen their volume sales fall in the past year, according to Nielsen NIQ data.
Despite these obstacles, Steve Rush believes he has the right ingredients to disrupt the market with his “all-natural energy” drink, Nutrein Clean Energy. The product has its roots in the fitness sector and is infused with seven vitamins, 80mg of natural caffeine, and five nootropic ingredients to provide a rapid injection of energy and focus, helping alertness and concentration. Each drink also has two grammes of sugar from natural products.
Rush’s marketing strategy is also ingenious. From a largely online retailing start, focusing on gym-goers with a range of energy powders, protein drinks, and supplements, he has launched his first energy drink range at the forecourt sector, securing listings at MPK Garages, Inner Space Stations, and the Brookfield Group. He plans to be on the shelves at 500 petrol station sites by the end of the year. MPK was the first to list the range at all 28 of its locations in August.
MPK Garages retail director Wayne Harrand had met Rush in the past and was happy to help to give him his break in the sector. Wayne told Forecourt Trader that he could see “the significant opportunity in the energy drinks section for a clean, natural product product like Nutrein. And just weeks into stocking the range he says it is “absolutely flying”. MPK’s endorsement opened other forecourt doors.
The decision to launch in petrol stations was one that “made complete sense” to Rush. “Forecourts are the ultimate impulse locations, with everyone from students and office workers to bricklayers coming through the doors,” he says.
Perhaps the most fascinating part of the Nutrein Clean Energy narrative is Rush’s own back story. A British Army veteran who served two tours of Afghanistan, he struggled with his mental health when he returned to civilian life 10 years ago and ended up homeless for a spell.
He found a job in sales and marketing and discovered he was rather good at it. He worked at various food and beverage start-ups, and had a spell in sales and marketing within motorsport including the WRC and F1.
Around two years ago, he and a friend Christian Bradford, who was former international development director of fast food chain German Doner Kebab, teamed up as business partners. “We wanted to do it for ourselves in categories we had a personal interest in,” says Rush. One of these was fitness drinks.
He says it was a natural fit because of his love of the outdoors and staying healthy, as well as his background in the Army.
“I’ve always been interested in sports nutrition from my 10 years in the military,” he adds.”In my spare time I am either at the gym or outdoors in the mountains, but I never really found an energy drink that I liked. They were either full of sugar, artificial ingredients, or tasted bad. And so I combined my passion with finding a solution.”
The pair managed to raise just over £500,000 from four private investors and after recruiting nutritional experts to help them formulate products that “push the boundaries of innovation and flavour”, Nutrein Clean Energy was born.
Until recently, their business had been mail order, supplying end-users with protein shakes and powders. This new venture has greater ambition for scale with several manufacturing partners secured – all in the UK – and, says Rush, work underway for another funding round. “This drink needs to be on every forecourt and this latest funding round makes that happen,” he says.
The energy drinks come in three flavours – Peach Passion, Mango Sunrise, and Pink Lemonade – with the latter the best seller. They come at a recommended retail price of £2.25 for a 250ml can. So far, Rush and Bradford are supplying operators directly, but they aspire to be stocked by the large buying groups.
Rush acknowledges that shelves in the forecourt and convenience sector are inundated with energy drink brands but says: “If we want to be really innovative in this crowded space, we must think outside the box.” He adds: “The real point of difference with what we are doing is our aim to have zero compromise on an energy drink that is good for you, not full of sugar or compromised on taste. We have no artificial sweeteners, colours or flavours.”
The range, he maintains, is aimed at attracting a new demographic to the sector, including women and others who “don’t trust” what is in typical energy drinks. “It’s not just another energy drink,” he asserts. “It’s redefining what an energy drink can be”.
As he starts to see his product appear in shops, Rush is aware of the irony that it was in shop doorways he used to sleep. Today, he prefers not to “talk too much” about that phase of his life other than to say that “the journey I have been on from then until now has been invaluable and the source of my drive”.
