Momo Kombucha is eyeing an expanded retail presence, having outgrown its current home and begun the move to a large, purpose-built brewery in Brixton.
The soft drinks supplier is set to start production at the former Brixton Brewery site this summer, having raised more than £2m last year to support its growth ambitions.
The new brewery will see Momo go from producing 60,000 bottles per week to 300,000 bottles per week. It will also involve a shift in the way Momo produces its kombucha, moving from glass jars to custom-built fermentation vessels.
The purpose-built vessels were designed to ape fermentation conditions in glass, but improve efficiency and consistency, Momo said.
Previously, after 10 days of fermentation, Momo’s kombucha had to be manually poured from thousands of individual jars into bright tanks for chilling and carbonation – a labour-intensive process known as “the crash”.
With its new vessels, this transfer is automated through pipework and pumps. This eliminated “the need to manually handle up to four tonnes of kombucha per day” helping reduce physical load and improve efficiency, Momo said.
‘Walking a fine line’
“Since we launched the business back in 2018 our biggest challenge has been production and we’ve always been limited by capacity,” Momo Kombucha co-founder Josh Puddle said. “We’ve spent years walking a fine line between driving growth and making sure we had enough kombucha to meet demand.
“The move to our new brewery, combined with the additional fermentation vessels, gives us significant headroom for growth. It will allow us to expand into grocery, grow our on-trade presence, and build a much stronger footprint beyond London.”
Presently Momo is sold in Ocado, Selfridges, Whole Foods Market, Planet Organic, Booths, Gail’s and on Zapp, as well as in independent retailers and cafés.
The brand, founded by Puddle and his wife Lisa in 2016, makes its kombuchas using raw and unfiltered ingredients, meaning the drinks must remain chilled at point of sale.
“Whilst Lisa and I have huge ambitions for Momo we don’t want to lose sight of why we started the business: a strong aim to produce the UK’s best-tasting kombucha and an aim to live healthier and more connected lives,” Puddle said.
It comes after Momo launched a fundraising drive last year, securing backing from angel investors including Planet Organic founder Renee Elliott, Natoora founder Franco Fubini and Brixton Brewery co-founder Jez Galaun.
So far, Momo had secured £2.7m in funding with the round still open as the brand looked to raise a further £300k, Puddle added.
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