Brain Food: Ārepa
www.drinkarepa.com / @drinkarepa / Photos supplied
Kiwi brain drink Ārepa is sold all around the world—it's a type of nootropic, which is a smart way of saying brain food. Like caffeine but without the side effects and loved by CEO's and athletes alike to help them function better in moments of stress.
Drinking it significantly improves mental performance in physically fatigued subjects, according to a new peer-reviewed and published study conducted by The University of Auckland, so we chatted to co-founder Angus Brown to find out more about what led him down this path and what the new study means for the future of this innovative beverage.
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Kia ora mate, could you begin by sharing your inspiration for creating Ārepa?
Kia ora team! My first job out of university was working for a large multinational energy drinks company. Big company and a lot of success but it didn't agree with me, I was essentially selling caffeine and sugar.
In high school I had lost a mate to mental health and during this time working for the unnamed energy drinks company (rhymes with B) I lost two grandparents to cognitive decline. The tipping point was watching a young girl walk out of a store I had just sold a heap of product into with a big 710ml can of the stuff and I thought to myself, ‘am I doing any good here?’
This was when I started to ponder the idea of developing a brain health drink, something that was natural, caffeine free and science backed that could help people perform better while also being good for their brains and bodies in the long run. Something that could represent the best of NZ on the world stage and be exported around the world growing our economy with value-add sustainable products that do good to people and the planet.
I then came across The FoodBowl, a brand new $30m modular food incubator factory that had just been commissioned by the central government to help grow the F&B sector and high value exports. I was like the fourth ever client who knocked on their door and I spent a few days in their labs making a SUPER ROUGH, horrible tasting prototype (haha) but I learnt a lot. I then noticed a job was going as business development manager there so I put my hand up and landed the role working for the New Zealand Government in Food Technology helping companies big and small prototype and commercialise new ideas for the local and export markets. You name them, we probably worked with them.
“...I thought to myself, am I doing any good here?”
Co-founders Angus and Zac
The highlight for me was taking all the main iwi leaders in F&B over to the USA and helping educate them on adding value to their precious resources, and having the opportunity to present on what food tech is in New Zealand to a conference at Stanford University—twice!
Over this time the staff at The FoodBowl were allowed to work on their own food ideas to get a better understanding of what it's like being a startup and what kinds of services and empathy we needed to have. Most of the engineers were doing things like craft beer or coconut yoghurt but my ‘craft beer’ was this brain drink concept I was working on.
Over time the project became more mature and got to the point where I needed to leave my day job and go full time on it.
Tell us about the business side of things. What was the journey like from conception to launching the product?
The idea has been in development for seven years now. We’ve slowly grown and developed the science first before launching, we spent about three years on the formula and first rounds of clinical research then another two years on developing the right taste (masking the bitterness and astringency of our NZ plant extracts).
We’ve raised over $500k in three different rounds and have brought on investment from our two NZ ingredient suppliers:
Enzo Nutraceuticals – NZ Pine Bark extract traditionally used as a natural alternative to Ritalin for ADHD children and used in higher doses for concussion recovery
Waiupua Enterprises – one of the largest blackcurrant growers in the country (ex-supplier of Ribena global)
We applied for and were awarded a Callaghan Innovation grant for our clinical studies. We have also been awarded funding through the prestigious High Value Nutrition fund to do research on pollution protection.
We first launched into Farro Fresh in Auckland and were stoked thinking ‘we’ve cracked it’ but little did we realise it was the start of a new beginning and more work was required. Since we launched in 2017 we’re now in most New World supermarkets, over 100 cafes, all the Farro’s, Huckleberry, Moore Wilson's and we go into 100 Countdowns and 30 BPs in the next few months. We also sell a heap at universities to stressed out students before exams and we sell more at the hospital cafes to busy doctors and nurses then we do at some supermarkets.
Our online store has grown 220% each year and we’ve been fortunate enough to grow it 27% month on month during lockdown.
Other company achievements include:
Winning the innovation award at Fieldays 2019
Publishing our first of five clinical studies in a peer reviewed journal
Actually convincing neuroscientists
Showing that our product actually works with the science above and also with our consumers, we have a heap of heartwarming independent reviews on Facebook and Google
Having Larry Page buy some for his superyacht when he visited NZ
Launching the online store into Australia
Enquiries from large VC funds in the US who invest in this space
Supplying the All Blacks (them requesting it, and paying for it!)
Supplying Nitro Circus
Backed by research, patents and now a peer-reviewed clinical study, was it difficult to convince people to drink Ārepa initially?
Yep, we raised a few eyebrows for sure. I cut my teeth sampling at supermarkets and exhibiting at food shows/healthy living shows for the first few years explaining the science and benefits.
We are lucky now that we have a high percentage of consumers who genuinely feel the benefits so they do the promotion now and share Ārepa with their friends and family. It was probably harder convincing investors on the idea and neuroscientists on helping me develop and study the formula in the early days!!
What does this recently published study mean for the future of Ārepa?
The results of this study now put our drink in the upper echelon of health drinks on the world stage. There aren’t too many drinks in the world that have clinical studies showing they can improve mental performance, we’re certainly the only one in Aotearoa. It's also opening doors to exciting investors and sales opportunities offshore as well as helping some of the most elite sportspeople on this planet perform at their best. Our goal next is to publish research on cognitive health as well as performance.
It all sounds pretty new to me, has this sort of thing ever been done before? Is there much interest or activity in the ‘brain diet’ space internationally?
‘Nootropics’ is the new buzzword that I guess we fall into, it's dubbed as one of the top trends in 2020 (before COVID hit) but a lot of our competitors in our space are in a capsule format and are either pharmaceutical or lack scientific evidence. We are one of about five players worldwide in the beverage/food space. Nootropics is a subset of a much larger trend we like to call ‘brain food’.
How does Ārepa compare to something like a standard cup of coffee in terms of aiding cognitive function and focus?
Coffee contains caffeine, Ārepa doesn’t. Caffeine does a great job of keeping you awake but does nothing for your stress/anxiety. We are showing our products can help people stay calm and think clearly under moments of pressure and stress which we think is a more desirable effect. We’re never going to replace coffee as people love that beverage, but we might replace the need for a second or third cup or all together if they get nervous or anxious before a speech/exam/interview etc. We also have this other market of ‘neuro-health’, people recovering from a concussion or looking to feed their brains the right nutrition so they function better.
What’s the next big goal you’re currently working toward?
Our goal is to produce the world's smartest beverage and become the #1 brain health and performance company on the planet representing Aotearoa on the world stage.