PACK’D frozen Smoothie Kits owner wins Young Entrepreneur Award

By Jenny Eagle

- Last updated on GMT

PACK'D fruit Smoothies.
PACK'D fruit Smoothies.

Related tags Entrepreneurship

Luke Johnstone, founder of PACK’D frozen Smoothie Kits, has won Young Entrepreneur of the Year at the 18th annual national Amazon Growing Business Awards.

The 27-year-old beat off competition from hundreds of businesses across the UK including Pip & Nut, carwow, Gideon Smart Home, Rare Pink and the Workplace Depot. 

Energy, Detox, Defence

Luke Johnstone Pop Brixon

PACK’D smoothies come in three flavors; Energy, Detox and Defence and each pack contains frozen fruit and vegetables and four superfoods. Consumers then add liquid (coconut water, almond milk, juice or water) to blend the mix into a drink.

Superfood ingredients include anything from spinach, kale, papaya, pineapple, goji berries, baobab to spirulina.

Johnstone founded PACK’D with schoolfriend Alex Stewart, after the only ‘healthy’ nutritional drinks they found contained high levels of sugar. He said he was honored to receive such praise considering the company, based in Brixton, is only two years old.

We founded PACK’D in 2014 because we were frustrated with sugar flavored water pretending to be healthy and the hassle of making top quality homemade smoothies,​” he said.

Innocent Drinks

“The award puts us on a great platform for 2017 and will help to continue the growth of our frozen smoothie kit company.​” 

Amazon Growing Business Awards was launched in 1999 by Real Business and supported by the CBI to recognize SMEs and entrepreneurial success. Past winners include Innocent Drinks, Betfair, Lovefilm and Fever-Tree. 

Over 500 businesses were nominated for the awards for the event this year on November 30 including Barking Mad; Feefo; Fourex; Gate One; Gekko; Go Ape; Thermoseal Group and The New World Trading Company.

The judges commended Johnstone’s drive and determination; having secured backing from The Prince’s Trust and Virgin Startups, ​and investors Chrysalis Records and Planet Organic, with the first product launched in Whole Foods in October 2015.

The product is now sold in Sainsbury’s, Tesco, Planet Organic, As Nature Intended, Whole Foods, Costco, and AMT Coffee and picked up the Shell Innovation Award 2014 and IFE’s Best New Health & Wellness Product 2016.

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