There’s room in crowded markets for smaller players like us,” says Harry
Briggs of Firefly Tonics. “But you need to have a fresh idea.” Briggs and
his partner, Marcus Waley-Cohen, both 31, launched the London-based herbal
drinks company in 2003. Firefly now has an annual turnover of £2m, but has
remained small: with only 10 employees, it sells 400,000 bottles a month and
exports to 40 countries worldwide. “It’s possible to be a global company
with few resources,” says Briggs.
Firefly’s operations have been kept compact. Briggs focuses on new-product
development and the brand while Waley-Cohen works mainly on looking for new
sales opportunities. Then there’s a head of finance and a head of
operations, a marketing events executive, plus sales and customer-relations
personnel.
“We try to do all the development work in-house,” says Waley-Cohen. “We come
up with the ideas and the tastes.” Expert herbalists and drinks specialists
are used on a consultancy basis. Organic herbs are sourced from a supplier
in Herefordshire and fruit juices from a wholesaler in the south of England.
Supplies are sent to the bottler in Yorkshire, who does a production run
about every three weeks. Bottles are stored in a warehouse in Hertfordshire
and moved on by 30 distributors around the UK. For foreign sales, Firefly
works with importers in each country.
Once a month, the team meets to review the previous month and plan for the
next. They do not intend to make substantial changes to the operation. “It
works well to out-source the physical work like bottling – it gives us more
flexibility,” says Waley-Cohen. “We are really focused on sales and
distribution – how to sell more in new and existing outlets.”
Undaunted by the scale of the drinks market and its dominance by corporate
behemoths, Briggs and Waley-Cohen instead see only its possibilities. “The
market for carbonated drinks is huge – we spend around £3 billion a year on
them in the UK. We want to stop people buying carbonated drinks and get them
to buy ours,” Briggs explains.
Briggs and Waley-Cohen had worked in management consulting firms – Briggs with
McKinsey, Waley-Cohen with Arthur D Little – but shared an interest in
health products. When a business opportunity involving mineral water came
their way they passed on it, but became attracted to the healthy-drink
market in the process. “We wondered how else we could do it and both wanted
to have our own business,” says Briggs. “We were 25 but thought,
‘There’s no time like the present.’ ”
The two consulted many herbal-medicine experts to understand the properties
they were looking for and how they could be extracted for use in drinks. To
make them palatable, they experimented with fruit juices until the best
taste combinations were found. In January 2003, they resigned from their
jobs to pursue the launch.
With a debut range of drinks infused with herbs, they struck gold immediately,
launching in Harvey Nichols and upmarket organic food chain Fresh & Wild
in September 2003.
Kevin Nicholson, head of the UK region for Price Waterhouse Coopers, says: “In
crowded markets you can’t compete on margins or costs – the big guys will
beat you. You must find a niche that will appeal to a certain group of
people.” Although building sales takes time and dedication, says
Briggs, Firefly’s uniqueness aided marketing. To their surprise, foreign
sales were quickly secured. Within weeks of launching in Harvey Nichols they
were contacted by Colette, the renowned Parisian food store. Their biggest
overseas markets now are Scandinavia, the Middle East and Japan.
Briggs says that the internet has played a vital role in their success: “As
well as consulting experts, we did a lot of research on herbs online. It
definitely helped accelerate our launch.” The key challenge of finding a
bottler was solved on the web too. “The internet is allowing people into the
market earlier and expanding marketing opportunities,” comments Nicholson.
“People who are almost one-man bands can get into a market. There’s less
administration and with PayPal it’s simpler to get paid – although it’s a
double-edged sword, too, as the market is more diverse, with more players in
it.”
Firefly’s funding was raised initially from a family member and a family
friend, Briggs says. “We had to surrender a chunk of the company, but it was
worth it.” Bank finance is now used as well, but not in large quantities, he
says.
While the increased media attention on entrepreneurs is welcome, says Julie
Logan, professor of entrepreneurship at the London-based Cass Business
School, it can make being an innovator look deceptively easy.
“Entrepreneurship isn’t just about an inspired idea,” she says. “Entrepreneurs
need excellent marketing and sales skills and good financial ability. About
68% of small businesses that fail do so due to financial mismanagement. They
also need a diverse client base to help spread risk.”
Firefly works constantly on product development and sales. Formulas are
revised and new juices used. Recently, Firefly Waters – water with added
antioxidants such as green tea and redbush – have been launched.
Getting into new and larger outlets requires real persistence, says Briggs.
“We’re being more proactive marketing overseas now, but so far we haven’t
had to advertise.” Innocent drinks and Green & Black’s chocolate,
he says, have been inspirational for their inventiveness, values and
marketing savvy.
So what does he think has aided Firefly’s success? “We shared a clear vision
and had plenty of commitment.”
