11 Healthy Beverage Business Success Stories [2023]
Here are some real life success stories of starting a healthy beverage business:
1. Plum Deluxe Tea ($900K/year)
Andy Hayes (from Portland, Oregon, USA) started Plum Deluxe Tea over 11 years ago.
I’m Andy Hayes and I’m the founder of Plum Deluxe, an online purveyor of delicious loose leaf teas.
We now have one of the largest tea subscription boxes and are about the pass the 7 figure mark in annual revenue.
2. Simple Green Smoothies ($360K/year)
Jen Hansard (from Brooksville, Florida, USA) started Simple Green Smoothies over 10 years ago.
Hi there. I’m Jen Hansard, the co-founder of Simple Green Smoothies where we create plant-powered recipes that gives you the energy and health to fuel your passion. It all started on Instagram in 2012, yet over the years (and with a LOT of hustle and luck) it has exploded into a brand of best-selling plant-based recipe books, live community cleanses, adventure retreats and the #1 green smoothie app in iTunes, Daily Blends. Since 2012, Simple Green Smoothies has helped over 2 million people take control of their health in a tasty and simple way.
Our programs can bring in as much as $30,000 a month in revenue, which helps me pay our staff, expenses and also allows us to help women farmers in Cambodia build mushroom farms through World Hope International. Click here to learn more.
Learn more about starting a healthy beverage business:
Where to start?
-> How much does it cost to start a healthy beverage business?
-> Pros and cons of a healthy beverage business
Need inspiration?
-> Examples of established healthy beverage business
-> Marketing ideas for a healthy beverage business
Other resources
4. VIRTUE Tea ($108K/year)
Alex Balcer (from Nelson, Nelson, New Zealand) started VIRTUE Tea about 6 years ago.
Hello everyone, we’re Andrea Legg and Alex Balcer, founders of VIRTUE Tea in the beautiful Kootenay ski town of Nelson, BC.
Even though our business has been seriously impacted by COVID, online sales have tripled! I believe this to be from customers turning more to online shopping but also looking for quality tea and matcha. We now ship our tea and matcha to Yellowknife in the Canadian’s Northwest Territories, all over Canada in the US from New York to California.
5. Brine Brothers ($120K/year)
Harris Derner (from New York, New York, USA) started Brine Brothers about 6 years ago.
Hello, my name is Harris Derner and I am the co-founder of Brine Brothers, an All-Natural Premium Brine company. I started Brine Brothers in 2016 with my friend of 25+ years, Michael Belicose. Our current products are all-natural, drinkable pickle brines; ‘Darn Good Dill’ - the classic for pickle lovers and ‘Chili Cherry Fire’ - for those who like it hot. Pickle ‘brine’ (also referred to as pickle ‘juice’) is the liquid solution that transforms cucumbers into pickles.
6. Drink Shrub ($54K/year)
Michaela McVetty (from Portland, Oregon, USA) started Drink Shrub over 6 years ago.
Hello! My name is Aaron Weast and I started Drink Shrub, a company dedicated to offering a sophisticated zero-proof solution to an age old problem: what to drink when you’re not drinking.
After selling the product at farmer’s markets, local retail outlets, food shows, etc. we aggregated the feedback from our customers and revised the recipe and branding in May of 2018. This new revision became what is known today as Small Barrel Shrub. Armed with this new branding and recipe we’ve tripled the number of doors in which we’re sold!
7. Revive Me ($6K/year)
Ryan Pfeiffer (from New York, USA) started Revive Me over 3 years ago.
I grew up in Sunny San Diego, attended THE Arizona State University then moved to New York to work 100-hour weeks on Wall Street. Five years into finance, I "retired" and spent some time learning to “surf” in Costa Rica. I have been skinny dipping in Vietnam, kissed stingrays in the Cayman's, lived for a summer in a Buddhist temple in Japan, spent more of my life living out of hostels than I'd admit to my mother, and generally partied my way across 30+ countries. Throughout all these journeys, I refused to let a cold slow me down. I want to help do the same for you.
My first test batch was only 100 units. I ran around New York hand-delivering every bottle myself. Since then, I have launched nationwide shipping and am projecting to reach $5k in sales over the coming months.
8. Pyotam ($18K/year)
Naveen Kumar (from Karnal, Haryana, India) started Pyotam almost 2 years ago.
Hello! My name is Naveen Kumar and I am the CEO of Pyotam. I am an alumnus of IIT (BHU), Varanasi, and have various patents in the field of water conservation techniques and solutions.
Today we have recurring customers who not only love our product but also recommend it to their friends and family. Currently our monthly revenue averages around Rs. 1,00,000/- ($13K) from a customer base of around 250 customers having sold 1,400 bottles so far.
9. Drink Leilo ($1.2M/year)
Sol founded Leilo, the world’s first relaxation beverage. Now at 8 full-time employees and 30+ sales reps. They are on track to 10x last year's revenue.
Sol founded Leilo, the world’s first relaxation beverage. Now at 8 full-time employees and 30+ sales reps. They are on track to 10x last year's revenue.
10. Paper Boat Drinks ($28.6M/year)
Paper Boat company has revived Indian traditional drinks. Read about Paper Boat, the company profile of the juice company, success story, founders, & more.
James Nuttall, Neeraj Kakkar & Suhas Misra (from Bengaluru, Karnataka, India) started Paper Boat Drinks almost 10 years ago.
James Nuttall, Neeraj Kakkar, and Suhas Misra established Paper Boat, a brand of traditional Indian drinks and culinary goods.
They launched the line of Paper Boat drinks in August 2013 to grasp the Indian packaged drink market. Paper Boat is a subsidiary of Hector Beverages, which started in 2009.
Neeraj Kakkar, the CEO of Hector Beverages and Paper Boat, was born and raised in Haryana, India. In 1998, Neeraj completed a Post Graduate Program in Management at the Management Development Institute in Gurgaon. In 2010, he completed a general management course, Master of Business Administration, from The Wharton School.
Initially, the founders thought of venturing into functional beverages. They noticed the demand for the ethnic drinks category in India. So they focused on creating beverages from ingredients passed from one generation to another.
Paper Boat Key Success Secrets:
- Focusing on consumers who longed for a simple, uncomplicated life.
- Tapping into a powerful human emotion.
- Taking customer feedback and improving or introducing new flavors as per customers’ demand.
- Innovation and making decisions quickly.
- Market segmentation has helped the brand to stand out from the competition.
The company aims to conserve ancient recipes while creating innovative Indian beverages. Paper Boat goods include no artificial coloring or preservatives. N.R. finances the firm. Catamaran Ventures, Footprint Ventures, and Sequoia Capital, among others, are led by Narayana Murthy.
Paper Boat has seen upward growth after being launched in 2013. The company claimed a 20% sales gain in the fiscal year 2020, which concluded in March last year. Revenue increased from INR 195 Cr in FY2019 to INR 235 Cr in FY20. They are currently expanding their business and launching new products in the market.

Hey! 👋 I'm Pat Walls, the founder of Starter Story.
Get our 5-minute email newsletter packed with business ideas and money-making opportunities, backed by real-life case studies.

- 4,818 founder case studies
- Access to our founder directory
- Live events, courses and recordings
- 8,628 business ideas
- $1M in software savings