Naked Rivals’ 18-month journey from kitchen brainwave to 1,500 Woolies and Coles stores

Born in the kitchen of founders Kate and Andrew Gordon in October 2022, frozen citrus cube maker Naked Rivals was stocked in 200 independent supermarkets within four weeks of launch.

And that’s just the beginning, with the brand’s frozen 100% lemon and lime juice products to be stocked in 1,500 Woolworths and Coles stores by March 2024.

From idea to shelves within a year, and a national presence in Australia’s biggest retailers within 18 months. It’s quite the trajectory. So how did it all begin?

“Back in October 2022, with two full-time jobs and baby number three on the way, my wife and I found ourselves drinking warm water with lemon juice each morning as part of our daily gut health routine,” co-founder Andrew Gordon told SmartCompany.

“As time went on, the daily grind of squeezing lemons became less appealing, and increasingly expensive. Amidst the cramps, food cravings and morning sickness, we thought, ‘surely there’s a better way to do this?’”

And so Naked Rivals was born. “The idea was that even natural ingredients could be improved with a little ingenuity,” said Gordon.

Naked Rivals product

Lemons and limes are delicious and nutritious, but also kind of a pain.

“All that squeezing. The pips and the peel and the price tag. Not to mention you never have one in the fruit bowl when you need it.”

“We thought: ‘why don’t we do the squeezing ourselves, and just freeze the juice?’”

“That way there’s no waste – no more forgotten, half-eaten lemons. People can just use what they need. And unlike bottled juice, with its preservatives and reconstituted what-have-you, there’s nothing in our cubes but fresh lemon and lime.”

Within a week of coming up with the idea, the Gordons had designed concept packaging, created on the freelance design site fiverr.com for $300.

After sharing this with friends, they received 150 orders within 10 days.

They wrote a press release that quickly appeared on the trade publication Inside FMCG.

As Kate Gordon went into labour, the couple received a phone call from a food consultant who was meeting Coles that day and wanted to share the product concept with them.

“Two hours later, as the epidural was being placed in, we got a phone call to say that Coles absolutely loved the idea,” recalled Gordon.

“So, within one month from an idea, we had interest from a major. From there, we moved very quickly; everything from packaging design, manufacturing, brand, consumer testing.

“It’s amazing what you can achieve when you have no time and very little money. It forces you to think and act differently. I think that because we were so busy with life, we had to think differently about how to test and launch this product.”

Each frozen cube is made from the juice of half a lemon or lime, guaranteeing a consistent amount of juice in every serve. Manufactured in Mildura, Victoria, Naked Rivals are eager to establish long-term relationships with Citrus Australia and growers as demand increases.

“During early 2023 we conducted consumer research, to test our proposition and understand more about consumer need,” said Gordon. “We discovered that 40% of consumers use citrus several times a week, and that 70% of consumers who purchase frozen fruit also purchase lemons at the same time.”

“Our research also explored how consumers use lemon and limes, and we’ve aligned our marketing efforts to help consumers understand how to use the product across cooking, baking, beverage categories – with a strong focus on convenience and value for money.”

By the end of March 2024, Naked Rivals will range across 1,700 stores nationwide.

The fast-expanding brand is looking for a strategic partner to help it realise its ambition to reach $120m in annual sales within five years.

Naked Rivals’ key principles

• Get a customer before you build the product – it was a helpful approach to ensure we didn’t put our family or careers in jeopardy.
• Get help from experts – the FMCG market is an incredibly complex, low-margin business. You need experts to develop product, engage distribution, legal etc.
• Focus on customer value – have a clear value proposition in an underdeveloped category. What problem are you trying to solve and how is it different from what’s already out there.