Behind The Kitchen with New Juice Brand, H2Melon Bleecker June 9, 2015 Behind the Kitchen, Featured, NYC Store When I think of watermelon I think of summer. Whether I’m grilling outdoors with the family or spending lazy days by the pool with friends, fresh watermelon plays a key role in my summer activities, cooling me down and acting as a refreshing and healthy treat. Did you know it’s also one of the most powerful, body-healing fruits out there? The far-reaching benefits of this fruit cover everything from brain health all the way to the cells in your feet! Watermelon is incredibly hydrating (up to 92% water!) and naturally low in fat. And when’s the best time to indulge in this juicy melon? Yep, you guessed it, summer time! When they are in season, they’ll benefit you the most, delivering an array of nutrient, vitamins, and minerals. Now if cutting a watermelon seems like too much work, not to worry, because there is an alternative way to get all of this melon’s benefits! With H2Melon you can take watermelons healing power with you wherever you go this summer, by the bottle. With no added sugars, water, flavors, preservatives, purees, or concentrates, H2Melon keeps it raw and believes fruit should be served up whole. I recently sat down with the young entrepreneurs of H2Melon to learn more about their product and why they believe just about anyone can realize their dream too. Where did the idea for watermelon juice come from? About a year and a half ago, I was trying to be more health conscious. I’d slice up fruit and store it in my fridge and one day I saw the container leaking some juice. I poured it into a glass and thought, wow this is actually very good. I knew I was onto something. Similarly, I consider myself a health conscious consumer and after working in the beverage industry, I saw huge potential for this product. We started right out of our kitchen, testing and sampling for friends and family, and decided together to actually make this vision a reality. What were some of the challenges you ran into with H2Melon? Though I have a background in finance and him in marketing, there’s of course a lot more that goes into this business. Starting with just the two of us was a challenge in itself. Figuring out the sourcing, supplies, and the supply train in general were all roadblocks we had to get through and figure out. And from a tactical standpoint, trying to do this in the city without a vehicle has presented some challenges as well. Lets just say Uber is currently our best friend. How’s the reaction been? Though we only launched our company on May 13th, we’ve had such a positive and exciting response! People really love this drink, and I’m not making that up. All we hear is “Wow, it’s so refreshing, I love it!” And we’re currently being sold in 5 stores around the city, it’s really exciting for us. Everything’s moving so fast, but we’re still trying to take it one step at a time. How has social media helped launch your business? At first, I wasn’t too social media savvy, but we have a director of marketing who’s a lot more savvier than we are. All social media outlets have definitely enabled us to connect with people and spread word about our product. Through twitter, Bevnet found us and next week they’re having a conference and we’ve already been named semi finalists. We owe that one to social media. It’s also a great way to figure out what our audience likes and what they don’t want. How about watermelon and kale? No likes, okay I guess that’s a no for now. What advice would you give to other young entrepreneurs with an idea? What worked for you? That’s exactly what we are. Just two guys who had an idea. And I often hear people our age say “Oh I have this great idea, but it’ll never work.” Well, we took our great idea and made it work. Of course our educational backgrounds helped, mine in business and his in marketing, but really we just took a chance. We’re both from Africa and feel like we’re living the American dream. I’d say if you have a good idea, first test it out with friends and family, those you can trust the most. Next step, have a solid and structured game plan. But at the end of the day, even with a strong plan, things will happen unexpectedly and that’s when you just gotta figure it out! It’s really all about just being confident that you will figure it out. For more information and to find out where you can snag yourself a bottle of H2Melon, check out their website.
