1 – Guayaki (yerba mate tea): ‘Clean energy’ pioneer
A classic case of slow burning success, the Guayaki organic yerba mate ‘clean energy’ tea brand was founded by David Karr and Alex Pryor in the late 1990s, but took off in 2005 when they put the product into cans and positioned it beside Rockstar and Red Bull.
In 2009, they secured Fairtrade certification, and generated revenues of $10m, while in 2014, the brand notched up sales of $27m and is now on sale everywhere from 7-Eleven to Whole Foods.
Critically, added Dr Richardson, like Sambazon, Runa and Pitaya Plus, Karr and Pryor spent a long time building the infrastructure to source their core ingredients, which makes their success far harder to imitate.