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Richard Reed |
| Country United Kingdom |
| Company Innocent Drinks |
| Designation Co-founder |
Speech Title
Bringing up a nine year old : Creating and growing a creative business.
Bio
Richard is the co-founder of innocent drinks, the number one smoothie brand in the UK. The business was started in May 1999 by Richard and two friends, and turned over £100m in 2007, selling over two million smoothies a week in the UK and Europe. The innocent story shows that with a non-corporate attitude, a fantastic product and creative thinking it is possible to create a fast growing, profitable company that acts responsibly.
From small acorns
After graduating from Cambridge University and working in advertising for four years, Richard and his two college friends Jon and Adam, decided to set up a lovely fresh fruit juice company.
Eight years into the business Adam, Jon and Richard are closer friends than ever and innocent is the number one smoothie brand in the UK with a market share of 73%. The company now employs 270 people, and sells over two million little tasty drinks in over 11,000 outlets each week. The innocent range has expanded to include: special smoothies for children, big one litre cartons for families at home and thickies for a yoghurt and fruit blend. The drinks and business regularly win industry awards, including Best Soft Drink in the UK 2006 (for the fifth year running), Growth Strategy and Business Innovation of the Year at the National Business Awards and Growth Strategy at the European Business Awards.
As a business we want to make it easy for people to do themselves some good. And we want to leave the planet a little bit better than we found it. This is reflected in everything from our use of green electricity at Fruit Towers, to sourcing fruit from places that go the extra mile in terms of looking after the people that work on the farms, and the environment.