Jacinta Plazzer founded Yeppoonie Smoothie in mid-2022, manufacturing in her garage in Central Queensland a range of nutritious powder blends that she designed to assist with weight loss and general wellbeing. Unlike her competitors’ products, Yeppoonie Smoothie contains 100 per cent Australian ingredients that are all-natural, vegan and free from sugar and stevia.
“The idea for these powders has been with me for a long time, but I was always busy with life and other businesses that I operated,” Jacinta explains. “After moving to Yeppoon in 2021, and identifying the fact that the products on the market were generally uninspiring, I decided it was time to begin my smoothie powder enterprise.”
From the outset, Jacinta determined to make her products all-Australian due to the high-quality ingredients grown by Australian farmers. “I source many ingredients locally in Queensland, but also from other parts of Australia, as different ingredients I chose to use are grown in different parts of Australia depending on climate and soil type,” she says.
Marketing strategy
Jacinta chose Facebook and Instagram to market the business, not only because so many people use them, but also because she was comfortable using them herself. “Essentially, the business was grown with Facebook ads and most of my customers have found me via Facebook,” she avers.
The focus on social media marketing was made on the basis that meal-replacement powders are the type of product that people research online. “I wanted to be where my potential customers were, and advertising on social media meant I could reach lots of people across the country in a cost-effective manner,” Jacinta says.
Having got the business up and running, she continued to use these channels but now also uses the Google platform a lot more. “Now that I am well established online, I get more traction with SEO and Google ads are effective for me, too,” she says. “The strategy has worked well for me in Australia, as my target demographic does tend to be active on Facebook in particular.”
Local and global ambitions
Having achieved continuous growth, Jacinta recently moved the business from her home to a larger commercial premises. “I am in a site in central Yeppoon, and it has a large garden,” she enthuses. “As it came with a commercial kitchen, I decided to also have a cafe onsite, which has ended up being a much larger project than I originally anticipated.”
The hard work and long hours fitting out the site have paid dividends, however, with many locals commenting that they are happy this site is being used for this purpose.
“The cafe is vegan – in line with my powder blends – and we have installed a large kitchen garden which, as well as being useful for ingredients, creates a lovely environment for customers to dine in,” Jacinta explains. “We buy as much produce as possible from local fruit and vegetable growers, which is also a great way to connect with the local community and keeps money in that community, which is very important in smaller regional towns.”
Jacinta has always planned to expand her offering beyond Australia and New Zealand, and in the last few weeks has launched Facebook advertising in the US and the UK.
“There is a general perception that Australian food products are cleaner and healthier – and mine definitely are – so, I look forward to seeing if the new campaigns are successful and how the products are received in those markets.”
This article first appeared in issue 45 of the Inside Small Business quarterly magazine
