Tony skinner 00:02
Hi, and welcome to the podcast channel for podcastmybusiness and contentmade easy.com.au. And today we have a special treat from a healthylollies.com.au do you like that one?
Andy 00:19
I do. Yeah, very, very clever indeed well done
Tony skinner 00:29
I really wanted to get you on the show because there’s so many segments to so many markets. And the best way to either start off a market or grow the market is to look for that little segment. So Nestle do that they have different versions of KitKats and different flavor KitKats and all these sort of things. So for you guys, you are healthy lollies. But there’s a natural confectionery company that claims that they’re natural. And we’ve got to know you don’t want to just take them on right at the beginning. Yeah, but there might be a good entree to the slight difference between you and them, or big differences between you and them
Andy 01:10
Yeah, thank you, Tony. First of all, thank you very much for having me on your fabulous podcast. Right in the space there are a lot of people playing in a space and I would find it quite interesting when you hear the word natural.
Andy 01:23
Always go to the we call it a nips the new intro and then nutritional information panel on the back of a product. Plus look for a star rating. What that does is enables you to go to the back of the package straightaway and go okay, is this good for me? Is it bad for me, the fact that you might have a five stars we do for the majority of our healthy lollies is a good start.
Andy 01:45
And what you won’t see an our versus other products as you won’t have any added sugar, and you won’t have sugar at all. So you might see someone saying they are sugar free, but then go into a little bit more and there might be a little bit of sugar in there.
Andy 01:59
And then you might see some numbers and the numbers other things which are artificial flavoring and additives. And again, if you go back to our panel, it makes us difference of everything is natural. So natural food coloring or food coloring that comes with vegetables or fruits, natural sweetness and the natural sweeteners, such as such things like zealot, xylitol, stevia, and a resveratrol. So again, those are natural plant based sweeteners.
Tony skinner 02:28
Yeah, it’s interesting. And I’m glad that you’ve got straight into that because stevia I know I’m familiar with, and probably a lot of people are may not quite know that it’s natural for anything with ol on the end, i thought was always an artificial thing.
Andy 02:43
Yeah, and rightly so to be honest. I feel like a marketer should have labeled these natural plant based sweetener versus scientists because if you look at them independently, I only learned about resveratrol in the last 12 months, you need to get your mouth around resveratrol.
Andy 03:00
And Xylitol has been around for quite a while they’re natural plant based sweeteners. They come from a plant like Zola comes from Xylitol comes comes from birch wood. And so that’s the big difference. And I think you’re completely right. Your natural reaction is like they are scientific manmade substitutes for sugar. And of course, there’s this horrible stigma around this artificial sweeteners, which people are definitely moving away from.
Andy 03:24
So yeah, they’re natural plant based sweeteners, which is Xylitol and it’s a lot of benefits of using that versus the sugar.
Tony skinner 03:33
Yeah, and it’s interesting because I read an article just yesterday. Yeah, its official artificial sweeteners. Now got proof, how bad they are for you.
Andy 03:44
Yeah. And I look at my mom’s generation. And I remember growing up and I used to have a it’s called Sucrol. And you put it in in this out horrible, they put a little dropper I put a little pill of some sort, that is the manmade sweetener, and you’re completely right, steer clear of those if you possibly can.
Andy 04:02
And there’s no reason why you should have those anymore because there are natural substitutes. Like you can get Xylitol you can get stevia, you can get a resveratrol and those are readily available and packet in the sugar form and your local supermarket.
Tony skinner 04:17
Yeah. You mentioned on your website about the struggles you had starting up the business because of course sugar is a huge industry
Andy 04:26
it is it is literally it’s huge industry. Yes. If you for example, go to the local supermarket, we’ve got children and hence why that’s one of our motivations was around. Were health conscious, add children to that all of a sudden sugar becomes really high on the agenda because they have sweeter tooth than we do.
Andy 04:45
Then you go and look at the lollies in particular because we all love a lolly who doesn’t love a lolly and you start to see the amount of sugar in drinks and yogurts and cereal and lollies and we have just focused on those sorts of confectionery foods
Andy 05:00
After all, who doesn’t love a sweet treat? And so the purpose of our business is making sure that everyone can still enjoy sweet trees. But knowing that there is an alternative, now you can have that sweetness, but you don’t need to have all the unsavory ingredients with it.
Tony skinner 05:17
Okay, so you came about a little bit differently. I mean, you got kids that you test on you so nice that you test all these on them.
Tony skinner 05:25
If they come through me first, so I just want to say that everything comes to me first, because I am the founder and chief gemologist. That is my official title. And nothing goes through the business until it’s come through me because I was brought up with so many lollies, and I still have a very, very sweet tooth. But I am very fortunate to have two very, very harsh taste testers, our two boys. And obviously they’re in heaven because Mum and Dad have a confectionary business.
Tony skinner 05:52
Wow. Yes. But looking at some of the things that you mentioned on your website about and we’re talking about sugar free being healthy and so forth. But it’s good for diabetics and others as well. So how does that work?
Andy 06:10
So diabetics, and they, they try to avoid the sugar, basically. So they don’t want a lot of sugar in their diet because they need to manage their sugar levels, glucose sugar levels. And so the majority of our customers will those ones I get to talk to, sadly they are diabetic or their children have developed diabetes. And so therefore, they’ve come and found us and so grateful when they found us for the fact that their child, for example, one in particular spoke to recently and her child can now go to a party or have a party and feel normal, per se, as she puts it, because the children, she can sit there and the others actually enjoy what she has now.
Andy 06:51
So it’s beautiful lollipops I’ve got a couple up behind me there. We have the lollipops and we have the hard lollies. We have the soft coffees and we have gummy bears. Everything in moderation. That’s the only thing we’re sorry, this Stevia, Xylitol and the Resveratrol The only thing is you shouldn’t over indulge me shouldn’t be over indulging if you can anyway because too much of you just start to feel quite sickly.
Andy 07:16
But you shouldn’t over indulge in any kind of sweet treat whether they’re natural or not. But anyway, so the kids now and I potty and even in the potty bag. So parents are able to put a lollipop or two or three in there and actually feel good about it. So realizing that they’re like well, there’s no sugar and I didn’t mention before that the doctor John’s healthy sweets range they actually have vitamin C and fiber as well. So if you’re struggling to get vitamin C and fiber, so you can just get a little bit more in a lollipop so you feel good about it.
Andy 07:47
So yes, I go back to your question around diabetes a large portion of our clientele now have diabetes or know someone who is impacted by diabetes.
Tony skinner 07:57
So here’s the trick is that like a trigger you bury carrots and spaghetti bolognaise
Andy 08:03
reminds me I degres slightly but our son now who is a huge fan of our lollipop ranges. I remember those days where you had the fish fingers and we had to stuff peas literally down the back of the fish fingers or down in a pasta tube. So yes, I remember those but no, you just because the kids the kids don’t really care like they. There’s a lollipop. I want a lollipop and it tastes really good.
Andy 08:26
The range we’re just going to now Zollipops, it’s the number one selling sugar free lollipop in America. And fortunately we’re fortunate to get that range in here now and the kids I challenge anyone now whether it’s a lollipop lollipop to try them, because you honestly can’t tell they’re not sugar. You just can’t tell on my bias. You might have to try them Tony, I’m just gonna have to send send you out somebody who can tell me.
Tony skinner 08:53
I got a sweet tooth like everybody else, I guess. Yeah. Moderate sweet tooth. Yeah. But it’s an interesting story, the and we’ll talk about this just before we came on that the lollipops came about from an eight year old child asked me her dad to create some lollipops or why aren’t they good lollipops rather than the bad ones in the bank? Yeah, I was getting for free. So that’s pretty good.
Andy 09:20
Yeah, so there’s that so that’s Zollipops ones you just mentioned and this is your face right now, they’re Aleena she’s now 16 With Zollipops range. You’re completely right. At the ripe old age. I think she was eight you know she I think it was a bank teller actually offered her a lollipop. She’s like, Oh no, I shouldn’t have it’s a bad lollipop and there became this you know, Dad, I want to create a lollipop which is actually good for you and their case.
Andy 09:46
It’s about clean teeth. So benefits because of the natural plant based sweeteners in there. What they do is they actually help to reduce the acid or the pH levels in your mouth which reduce the acid. The acid is what We call the toothplaque. That is what causes plaque. So yes, she is a superstar yougpreneur. Incredible story. She’s now 16 And has this empire of sugar free lollipops. The other brand is the Dr. John’s healthy sweets. And that’s actually created by a dentist. And his whole mission was there had to be there has to be a better way. So he developed the Dr. Johns healthy sweets range, knowing that the children who was coming back were coming to them, he could give them a better alternative to all the sugar for confectionery that they were consuming.
Tony skinner 10:40
What i was talking about is distribution. So apart from the website, are you looking at further channels,
Andy 10:45
we are our little little thing COVID came along last year when we launched and so our, our business plan had to change really quickly. The original plan was to go wholesale and to get into pharmacies, pharmacies and supermarkets probably more independent ones IPOs. And because freight in that time, if you were watching, it’s going on as it’s our freight since then is 5x. And so the margins we’ve made it just we’re going to make it we’re trying to make we’re obliterated.
Andy 11:16
So we’ve really had to change how we distribute although market, we have always had our website healthy lollies.com.au. And that has always always been there. And that is direct to consumer. We do have business coming through there. We do. If you come around on the northern beaches of Sydney, you will see our healthy lollies sitting on quite a few counters. And lots of activity centers are starting to pick it up as our dentists which is really, really positive.
Tony skinner 11:45
I should mention northern beaches on the lower north shore in lane.
Andy 11:48
Whoa okay. You’re not far away? Far away. Yeah.
Tony skinner 11:52
Yeah, that’s cool. So you say that you started this business? What was it like 12 months ago?
Andy 11:57
About 12 months ago? It is yeah. And I was always it was a side hustle for a while. And in that time, because I was working full time and a full on senior marketing role, working with small businesses, actually. And so as about we say it’s about 12 months were Just in side that 12 months, Mark, actually.
Tony skinner 12:18
So have you got any tips for anybody about to start a business?
Andy 12:23
I do I do. i There are so many things I could share. But I’ve whittled it down to three, three of them.
Andy 12:30
The first one is this actually, the fourth one is additional, it’s just breathe. I’m totally serious. Just take a breather and breathe because it is not for the faint hearted, running a small business and starting from scratch. And so in all seriousness, I have three things.
Andy 12:46
The first thing for me would be the research component. So researching to make sure that there is actually a demand for your product or service. That is absolutely key. And I don’t mean to sing that with mom and dad and your friends, because that’s not going to stand up.
Andy 13:01
The other component is researching your competitors who’s doing what and what space and is there a space that you can fill? Or is there something you could do a lot better. And then the other one is third thing for me. So first, it was research.
Andy 13:14
The second one is knowing your numbers.
Andy 13:16
And the third one is around focus. My Savior is a product called Trello. I don’t know if you’ve heard yet, Tony Trello. I just absolutely love this product in in my world and my day and everyone’s days you there is so much going on. And I when I have that moment, it’s overwhelming. I go back to Trello. And it focuses me so every night and every morning, I add things to it. And I have all these different lists going on.
Andy 13:44
But one of them is must do. And on that list of the things that must absolutely be done that day. I don’t always clear it as I should. But that provides absolute focus it just have some really cool tools or cool tools, tools you can rely on and just keep you grounded. So this is three things.
Tony skinner 14:04
You got to organize, I use Trello. And I just put things right into the calendar. Yep. Yeah, that’s a good way to put it somewhere. It has to exist. If it doesn’t, it doesn’t get done. Yeah. And then people go, Well, why isn’t it done? You go? Well,
Andy 14:21
it was in my head. And I forgot. And I got distracted. Exactly.
Tony skinner 14:24
Yeah. Yeah. Cool. All right. Well, thanks for that. Andy. I guess we had a little bit of a glitch, but these things to happen in the bigger ones you’d like to add.
Andy 14:34
I’m sad our time’s up. To be completely honest.
Andy 14:37
I just I just want to add the why why are we doing this? And what it comes down to is a real genuine desire to make sure that everyone can get a sweet treat.
Andy 14:47
So making sure that anyone with a special dietary requirement can come to us and make sure that they can enjoy sweet treat, because after all, who doesn’t like a sweet treat?