5 million bottles of health drink produced

With consumers becoming more health conscious, it is no surprise they are increasingly turning towards beverages such as kombucha as a healthy alternative to sugary drinks. Kombucha is a fermented, lightly sparkling black or green tea drink that is low in sugar and contains live cultured products.

Australian family business Organic & Raw recognised the rising popularity of this drink and developed its product MOJO in a range of flavours using locally sourced produce.

After its rapid growth over the past year, the company recently announced it had hit its five-million-bottle production milestone.

Kombucha has become more widely known for its health benefits of supporting the immune system, improving digestion and aiding weight loss. With the rising demand, the company has been running double shifts, expanding its flavour range and doubling distribution year on year.

“It’s the classic overnight success story that took us 10 years. We started out bottling in a shed in 2008. Two years later we moved into a very modest production facility in a regional agriculture area. Next up we’re investing $500,000 to increase bottling line capacity, fermentation capacity and blending tanks,” said Andrew Buttery, business development manager for MOJO Crafted.

The company is also expanding its workforce, hiring 10 new staff in the last six months across the production, logistics, management and sales departments, and is also looking for another two people to join the marketing team.

While Buttery suggested there have been times when the demand has caused a lack of packaging materials, he stated, “It’s definitely a nice problem to have, we’re not complaining!”

The company’s MOJO kombucha delivers nine MOJO Classic flavours and four MOJO Crafted flavours including ginger tonic, lemon citrus and peppermint greens.

“We’re 100% focused on supporting the health of our consumers. We listen to them and seek feedback. Expanding capacity, recruiting staff, launching new flavours — it’s all done to deliver more healthy choices for consumers as they actively reduce their sugar intake. We want to deliver healthier, organic beverage choices to enhance their lives,” Buttery explained.