Plezi Nutrition was founded in 2023, with Michelle Obama as co-founder, as a Public Benefit Company working to drive change and higher standards across food and beverage.
With its initial focus on beverages, it’s taking aim at high volumes of added sugar: which add no nutritional value to drinks and often make products sickly sweet.
Having initially launched with a kids drink, it then added Plezi Fizz (targeted more at teens) before its superstar launch of Plezi Hydration: launched earlier this year with four-time NBA champion Stephen Curry.
But - even with such superstar support - trying to transform America’s sugary-drink habit is a big ask. Anup Shah, Chief Operating Officer & General Manager at Plezi, takes us behind the scenes and explains how to build a beverage brand on a mission.
BD: Introduce us to Plezi and your target market!
AS: In the simplest terms: what we’re trying to do - and we as a brand believe - is that better choices can become easier choices. Healthier food and beverages can taste delicious: all of our products are made with real ingredients, they’re big on flavor, with zero added sugar.
We started off with a juice box beverage, but we’re really pivoting to our hydration beverage which we’ve partnered with Stephen Curry on and we’re really excited about. It’s lower sugar, more electrolytes, no artificial ingredients, colors, sweeteners or dyes.
What we found was there’s a bigger opportunity [than just kids drinks] to go after categories that have a lot more added sugar: like sports hydration and soda.
So with our sports hydration drink, our target audience is 15-25 year olds, looking for a cleaner hydration solution.
Plezi Hydration
Created with the help and expertise of registered dietitians, Plezi Hydration has more potassium, half the sugar, and less sodium than other leading hydration drinks. It's free from added sugar and artificial sweeteners, and contains a full daily dose of vitamin C to support immune health and muscle repair.
Available in three flavors - Lemon Lime, Tropical Punch, and Orange Mango Twist - Plezi Hydration is available for $2.29 per 16.9oz bottle and can be found in California at Walmart, Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, and Pavilions locations, or nationwide on Amazon.
How is Michelle Obama involved?
Michelle Obama is our co-founder. Much of her career has been about helping kids and adults make healthier choices. And this is a cause that’s deeply personal to her. Her involvement has been the North Star of the brand: how do we help and facilitate a healthier generation?
She co-founded the company, she’s on the board, and we meet with her on a regular basis about the progress of the company. She provides that North Star guidance and makes sure we’re making the right decisions.
You’re on a mission to address America’s ‘massive sweetness problem’. Isn’t this a tall order?
"It’s a tall order to say we’re going to solve all of it ourselves! But we do think we can be part of the solution. We’re a brand that believes in the power of small changes, and choices can make a difference."
You’ve spent much of your career working for beverage giants like Constellation Brands, Molson Coors and PepsiCo. Does that experience translate to a smaller brand?
I spent almost 20 years at larger CPG companies and got amazing training there.
But the best piece of advice I got - when I started this role - was to be ‘big company trained, but small company scrappy’.
And that’s so spot on. You’ve got to have the training, rigor, discipline you get from the larger companies: but them applying it in a scrappy way in your new environment. How to drive and operate with more of a sense of urgency, being more resourceful, being more hands on.
Tangibly that means I understand the drivers of my P&L, I understand how to build long range plans. But equally I can make decisions with imperfect information, move with agility, move with speed, and pivot.
What’s your top tip to other beverage brand builders?
First: have a really clear brand purpose that’s simple, compelling and distinctive. You have to be able to answer why a consumer would choose you in a crowded space.
Secondly: really obsess over velocity over revenue and distribution. When you’re starting out, you’re about proving product market fit. The key to brand expansion is delivering on velocity: once you have velocity, retailers will want to expand with you.
And third: be really disciplined about capital. Beverage brands don’t die from a lack of a great idea, they die from running out of cash.
These are three things that I definitely take to heart and would tell anyone looking to get into the beverage space, particularly as an entrepreneur.
How do you lead your team?
Build a great team that has the ownership mindset: find that set of team mates you can build a great team with.
Second, inspire a culture that believes in progress over perfection. It’s about pushing water uphill every day: it’s about making tangible progress towards goals, not being perfect everyday.
And celebrate the small wins when you have them to build momentum.
How do you start and end your working day?
One of the things I do - and I’d encourage more people to do - is block the first hour, hour and a half, as think time. What do I want to accomplish, what do I want to get done. I feel like a lot of people run from meeting to meeting and don’t think as much as they should.
I end the day by reflecting on what I’ve accomplished; and plan for the next day.
Seven deadly things
What’s your poison? Plezi Hydration!
What’s your worst vice? My wife's chocolate chip cookies
Worst work mistake? My worst mistakes have always been from not being consumer-centric with our decision making. You get caught up trying to solve the company's problems, and that usually gets you into trouble.
Biggest waste of money? It's hard to know where your marketing is going. Having a good attribution model is so important and needed.
A brand, company or entrepreneur you’re jealous of? A brand I'm becoming obsessed with is Whoop . There are a lot of fitness trackers on the market, but this has done an amazing job of expanding beyond your typical fitness tracker to becoming a lifestyle and wellness brand. It measures sleep, recovery, apps that track your biological age... the way they've expanded their positioning is amazing and all the things they've done has boosted value from a consumer perspective
When has your pride caused a fall? There have been moments where I've had so much pride and conviction about an idea... and I'd have been much better served if I'd brought everyone along with it. The learning there is about knowing when it's a hill to die on; and when it's better to have people involved and a consensus. And that's an art, more than a science.
What makes you most angry? I have three kids, so I'm pretty even keeled, but it does drive me crazy when they don't put their full effort into something and are just going through the motions.