Millions of athletes work out every day and so they often turn to sports drinks to replenish their electrolytes lost in sweat. They typically look to big name brands such as Gatorade to provide them with everything they need for better hydration. However, the current big name brands are often filled with unhealthy added flavors and sugars. For example, just one bottle of Gatorade has 34 grams of sugar, 68% of the daily recommended value. Sadly, Gatorade is not in the minority. Other market leaders add similar amounts of sugar, such as Powerade (35g sugar) and even Body Armor (36g) which markets itself as a healthy super drink.

Sugar is also not the only ingredient used that is bad for you. Drink companies also often times use artificial food colorings and other unhealthy ingredients. The three big drink companies I mentioned supposedly have the purpose of providing athletes with the best hydration possible. Although if you look into the ingredients they clearly aren’t ideal. 

This semester I am in the Business INCubator class at Naperville North, where me and my team has chosen to solve this problem. Over the course of the next 6 months we will undergo the process of creating a healthy sports drink and taking it to the market. Our drink will consist of water, coconut water, 100% juice, honey as a natural sweetener, added electrolytes and added vitamins. 

So far this semester we have been researching the ingredients used by other companies to see which are good and which are not. We have also been researching the specific electrolytes lost when exercising and which vitamins are needed the most by athletes. We have also begun to create the recipe for our drink, but we still have to test this out for a while to make sure we get the best taste and health benefits possible. 

On the business side of the class we have been researching various potential target markets as well as developing a financial plan. We have also been interviewing athletes and sending out surveys to try to understand what our potential customers are looking for in regards to cost and flavor. 

For this class we also have a mentor who works for SCORE, a volunteer organization that helps small businesses grow. He has helped us look to certain areas for research that we would not have had access too. Along with that he has been able to connect us to other people in the food industry that have helped us in our research on ingredients. 

Currently we are preparing for our first pitch on December 17th. We will be presenting our idea to investors to hopefully get money to further progress our business. At this point we haven’t decided an exact dollar amount that we will be asking for but hopefully we get around $500 to progress our business. 

Going forward some of our goals are to create an initial drink before the December pitch, create our second drink and bottling for drinks by March so we can begin sales and finally to finish the 3rd and 4th drinks by April. This would bring us to the final pitch in May, a pitch where we could possibly get around $12,000 from investors if they believe our product has the potential to profit.

As of now we are looking at making a line of four drinks, Strawberry Watermelon, Blueberry Lemonade, Tropical Mango and Pineapple Coconut. If you think these sound good or have suggestions for a new flavor please tell me in the comments. Also, any ideas for a brand name would be greatly appreciated. If you really like the sound of any of these flavors or a healthy sports drink in general, hopefully you will be able to purchase one in the near future.