The startup Antidote has been on the market with their healthy organic juice since 2015. The Munich company recently shortened the name of their product: Antidote has turned into I·do. We asked the founders our seven questions.
- Who are you and what do you do? Please briefly introduce yourselves and your product!
We’re Andi (Andreas Balle), Alex (Alexander Weinig) and Julien (Jockers), three guys from Munich (even newcomers apparently get to say that after ten years) who came together with the idea to give people extremely fresh juice with added value. We’re all in our early thirties and come from different backgrounds, such as food technology, design and sales. With two additional original founders in the beginning, we founded our proud juice company while still studying and have since become the clear market leader in refrigerated fresh juice in organic retail.
- But that’s already been done!
At least not with the uncompromising organic quality that we’ve focused on since day one. When we started in 2014, we were one of the very first to offer juice made with high-pressure processing (HPP) on the central European market and have remained faithful to that decision.
Right now with the new juice “Greens Come True,” we’re introducing the first juice in a compostable bottle made of renewable raw materials. True to the motto: think greener, act greener, drink greener — with 95 percent made of vegetables and just 1.3 grams of sugar per 100 milliliters (3.4 ounces).
- What are the three main ingredients in your recipe for success?
- Our USPs: organic quality, fresh produce quality & functionality: Especially when you process fresh ingredients in their raw form, there’s no getting around organic goods in our opinion.
- Team spirit: We don’t always all have the same opinion. Our company history has certainly had a lot of ups and downs so far. But even when you disagree, we think it’s extremely important to continue to work together and concentrate on what needs to get done to be successful as a founding team.
- Staying power: When we started, the specific benefits HPP gave our products were still uncharted territory. A lot of explanation was necessary and we often had to justify the price.
“The startup scene is often a bit overly motivated”
- Now let’s get down to the nitty-gritty: How is business going?
We’re quite satisfied with our current development. In the last year alone, we were able to increase sales in our home market, organic retail, by more than 50 percent. Far more than 100,000 bottles are now sold each month. We sharpened our brand image in late 2018. And as far as we can tell so far, it’s been a great success. Based on our expansion to the Benelux countries and numerous new buyers in Germany, we’re counting on being able to achieve a significant increase in revenue.
- What does Munich mean to you?
Munich is a beautiful city with a wide range of attractions and a high quality of living. It most likely isn’t always easy for newbies to “learn the ropes” here. Despite its conservative reputation and relatively small size, we experience it as extremely dynamic and creative. We hope in the future that even more young people will see they have the opportunity (and most importantly the space) to take a chance here. The startup scene, in our opinion, is often a bit overly motivated here: It’s better to actually do something first before you throw on a custom-tailored pinstripe suit for your next business lunch.
In summary: Despite the tax rate, we feel quite at home in Munich.
- How will your startup become the next unicorn? Or will we be seeing you at an Epic Fail Night soon?
We think the truth probably lies somewhere in between. We’re pleased to be able to offer a product with added value that is truly of high quality and to have established ourselves in an extremely demanding market. With our new, sustainable packaging, we’re now eliminating the last “hitch.” Nevertheless, we could still definitely treat you to some stories at an Epic Fail Night.
- Other juice and smoothie startups are getting quite a lot of attention with wordplay, making a fuss and provocation. How do you make sure you’re noticed?
For a while, we actually thought that was a good approach too. But now we just concentrate fully on the essential characteristics of our products and try to substantiate them with facts.
In our Feel Good Book, we’ve given what a functional juice can do a scientific footing. Numerous top and competitive athletes rely on our products — even without paid partnerships. We’re convinced that uncompromising quality will prevail. We also have an exciting campaign up our sleeves, but want to wait and launch it after distribution has been expanded even further.
