60. PACK’D

Founders: Luke Johnstone and Alex Stewart
Founded: April 2014 (launched September 2015)
Website: www.packd.co.uk

Promising to provide an effective health kick in under one minute, PACK’D’s frozen smoothie kits launched into Whole Foods back in 2015. Six months later, the brand had been stocked in over 750 stores nationwide.

Growing up, co-founder Luke Johnstone dreamt of becoming a professional sportsman and it was while playing in the FA Youth Cup for football that he learnt how proper nutrition could benefit his performance. Though a knee injury brought an unfortunate end to his sporting career, his passion for nutrition remained.

As opposed to pre-bottled smoothies which are often heat-treated and deceptively high in sugar content, Johnstone decided to start a business that would sell nutritious frozen smoothie packs containing the right fruits, vegetables and superfoods for a targeted health benefit.

With help from co-founder Alex Stewart and backing from The Prince’s Trust, the pair began to sell PACK’D in markets in Hackney every weekend, testing their recipes on customers. During this time, Johnstone lived in his parents’ garden shed, spending almost two years perfecting smoothie combinations and building the business.

From these humble beginnings has come early success, with the brand winning Best New Health & Wellness Product 2016 at the IFE World Food Innovation Awards.

Now listed in over 1,000 stores, including Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Ocado, Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods, Planet Organic, PACK’D also sells to gyms to blend and serve the smoothies fresh onsite.

With its uncomplicated concept and plans to launch exciting new products, PACK’D’s future is bound to be fruitful.