What was the idea behind golden grind?
Sage: The brand started with a focus on wanting to bring turmeric to life in every day and understandable ways. Turmeric is a highly celebrated spice for all the right reasons, in that it's got a lot to offer us from a health perspective. But there was a disconnect with how to consume it and use it. So we created a product called the turmeric latte, and that was giving people a chance to consume beautiful turmeric every day in a really fun and romantic way.
We launched through not only selling direct-to-consumer, but also selling to cafes and food service outlets. So they were making the lattes for people to come in and try, but also people could buy the blend off us to make at home.
Turmeric has been around for a very long time. What was it that made you think there was a new market for such a perennial product?
Tahli: My background was in food science and nutrition. I'd studied a double degree at university and seen it pop up in more Western studies, which proved its efficacy across a wide range of uses. While the Western world was realising health benefits, there wasn't really a connection there on how to make it more accessible.
Usually, people would think, ‘Yes, turmeric, an ancient spice heavily used in Indian cooking’, but that was the extent of it. So unless you were having curry every night, then you weren't really consuming enough turmeric to get the health benefits. That's why we wanted to create an every day, very user-friendly product… and hence the ‘golden’ turmeric latte.
Did you start with just one product?
Sage: We started with just the turmeric latte blend. For most of our first year, I would say about nine months, that was our only product. So we celebrated that very heavily.
We launched using social media, which was and still is an incredible free marketing tool that we absolutely capitalised on. And then we set up a Shopify store, which was quite easy.
Another really key launch strategy is that we did a lot of face-to-face events and appearances. We were really engaged with our community. So, we’d go to local markets, local events and our local yoga studios where we knew our customer would be. And we spent hours pounding the pavement, getting out there and face-to-face with our customers and our demographic, explaining what the product was.
What was the next step as you expanded?
Tahli: What we have done, which was quite foreign at the time, is become a ‘hero ingredient’ brand. This means, we celebrate turmeric across multiple categories, which you don't see very often. Usually, brands specialise in one category and then offer multiple skews and variations, whereas we have stuck to the turmeric and then played in a lot of different categories.
We did add different flavour profiles, but these were still very much focused on turmeric. From there we developed supplements, which are a lot more convenient to consume. We’ve also gone into teas, which our customers find extremely convenient and relatable. More recently, we also launched a skincare range.
So the idea for us was to market to people in a way that suits them, and in a format they can easily use.
What about the competition?
Sage: While we were first to market in Australia, when we launched, we saw a lot of competitors very quickly. Within a couple of months, we had between 30 and 50 competitors on the market, some of which were very similar to us in terms of branding, in terms of tone of voice, colouring, and also packaging.
We probably spent about a week getting a little bit upset and disheartened about it. And then we sort of said to each other, ‘Look, we can either get really overwhelmed by the fact that now there are heaps of people doing this, or we can focus on what we want to do, and just run our own race.’
What about your suppliers? Do you have a turmeric farm?
Sage: [Laughs] We don’t, no. We are very particular about our suppliers, though, and at the core of this is the need for them to be sustainable and ethically run. Our turmeric comes from farms in India. So for us, making sure that all the farmers are treated properly, that the right people are being paid the right amount, and that all the organic ingredients we buy are actually organic, are things that are really important to us.
Any tips you could give to aspiring business owners?
Sage: My one tip for anyone wanting to do their own thing – which is quite clichéd – is to just go for it. We always wanted to do our own thing. And I guess that entrepreneurial spirit had always been there. You can wait until you've got the right amount of capital, until the market seems right, or until you've done two years of testing, but that might not necessarily guarantee the best outcome for you.
For us, the best thing that we could’ve done was just to jump in and give it a go.
