{"id":500257,"date":"2026-06-28T23:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-28T23:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/500257\/"},"modified":"2026-06-28T23:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-28T23:53:12","slug":"petes-natural-co-founder-on-building-a-better-soft-drink-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/500257\/","title":{"rendered":"Pete\u2019s Natural co-founder on building a better soft drink business"},"content":{"rendered":"
We walk the talk, basically, we do what we say we do. What you see on the label is what you get.<\/p>\n
What inspired you to start the business?<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve always been in business by ourselves, and we started our first business when we were probably 21 years old. Pete [co-founder] is a baker by trade, and he trained in Belgium, so it\u2019s a very different journey compared to here in New Zealand. It\u2019s very technical, but it\u2019s also hands-on, and they learned a lot about ingredients and how they work together. Plus, being roughly 40 years ago, there weren\u2019t any enhancements available, just real ingredients.<\/p>\n
Pete and I ran a bakery in Richmond where we made everything from scratch. We had a drinks fridge full of soft drinks, like most places, but we really didn\u2019t like the look of it. At a certain point, we thought, why don\u2019t we see if we can provide something in its place?<\/p>\n
We went to a friend\u2019s party, and he made a homemade elderflower lemonade with real ingredients. After making a big batch, we handed some to our neighbours, who loved it. They said we needed to take it commercial, and so we went from there.<\/p>\n
Pete’s Natural creates a range of natural, New Zealand-made sodas, including lemonades, colas and sparkling water.<\/p>\n
How did you create the flavour range, and do you have plans for more?<\/p>\n
We started 15 years ago, and the first one that we came out with was our lemonade. Up until two or three years ago, the lemonade was the top seller. We had roughly 10 flavours, and the lemonade was about 25% of our sales, so that was really, really strong. Nowadays, our feijoa lemonade is our top seller.<\/p>\n
Over time, we\u2019ve slowly added different flavours, but we always make sure that it\u2019s made with fruit that\u2019s available in New Zealand. Our ethos is to use fruit that would otherwise be wasted, so that helps growers around the country as well.<\/p>\n
As for new flavours, probably not at the moment, especially in this economy. Bringing out a new flavour is quite expensive because there\u2019s the recipe development, but then you also have design and building up stock. We\u2019ll want to try and get through this winter and then see what next summer brings, but 10 flavours also feels like enough.<\/p>\n
You have been in business for over a decade. What\u2019s been the biggest challenge?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s been a lot of ups and downs. When we first started, we had another company contract bottle for us, which brought a lot of challenges. We also rented a space at a brewer to get equipment to do it ourselves. It was great but it meant long days because their filler was two bottles at a time, which was painstakingly slow. Setting up our own factory was also tough.<\/p>\n
I think one thing we really had to learn about, and still do, is cashflow. Coming from a bakery background, cash comes in and goes out very quickly, which is not necessarily the same here. We\u2019ve also grown our business without investors; we\u2019ve supported everything financially. It\u2019s put a bit of a brake on our growth at times.<\/p>\n
Pete’s Natural lemonade and feijoa lemonade are two of their most popular drinks.<\/p>\n
What are your plans for the future?<\/p>\n
There is definitely still a lot of growth available for us. We\u2019re not in too many supermarkets. We\u2019ve never concentrated on that, so it could be an option. There\u2019s also plenty of capacity in contract work, but the one we really haven\u2019t touched is exporting.<\/p>\n
Now that we\u2019re offering our drinks in cans, it makes it much easier to ship, because shipping glass can be quite expensive. We don\u2019t have much experience in it, which means we need to learn what we can do and how to take it further. Australia could be a great market for us, as well as a few others, but for now we\u2019re checking it out and seeing what the best options are.<\/p>\n
What would be your advice to a budding entrepreneur wanting to start a business?<\/p>\n
We\u2019ve seen a lot of players in our industry come and go, and there are a couple of big players who don\u2019t play nice. It\u2019s not an easy game, but I would say if you have a dream to go for it. You can only try, but be aware of the risks and what it entails.<\/p>\n
Also, don\u2019t put all your eggs in one basket. We\u2019ve got different avenues for our revenue, which helps when other areas aren\u2019t performing as well.<\/p>\n
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.<\/p>\n