Modern Entrepreneur Profile: No Sugar Company & Joyburst's Brad Woodgate

In conversation with Brad Woodgate, CEO and founder of the No Sugar Company and Joyburst.

1. What inspired you to star the No Sugar Company?

As I was approaching my 40yrs, I started having different health issues that I could not figure out how to solve. I started tinkering with my diet and one of those changes was to reduce refined sugar from my diet. It was hard at first but I started seeing benefits with my weight, inflammation and sleep habits……but I struggle to find product with no sugar or products that remotely tasted good. Thats when the light turned on for me because iI thought…..if I was having these issues, many others would be facing these same issues. To my surprise, the No Sugar Co name was available and I registered it globally immediately.

2. From concept to launch, how long did it take and what were some hurdles you overcame?

The concept started in 2015 but we didn’t launch our first product until 2018. Those 3 years took alot of time to find the right specialist in the food category, the right retail partners who would jump on this way of life and make room for products like these to exist. We faced major major hurdles. Our first product was our No Sugar bars and the bar space is very very crowded. In order for it to be relevant, it needed to be keto friendly (high in good fats) and be no sugar. For the first year, every prototype bar we made would just melt or taste really bad without sugar. So we had to hire three different specialist who each specialize in different areas: temperature, taste, portability. When we finally felt we had a winner in prototype form……commercializing them with a manufacturer caused the bars to burn on the line. Eventually we found a proprietary cooling tunnel specific to our needs and we own that.

3. How does the No Sugar Company stand out from the competition?

Simply put its because its no sugar, all natural….yet still taste equal or better to all the foods out there that contain sugar. Most foods on the market trick the consumer by saying “no sugar added”, yet when you look at the ingredient deck it still contains loads of sugar. Every product we make simply cannot contain ANY sugar…..that includes naturally occuring or refined.

4. Your 5 "Values" are impressive. If you were to add a sixth one, what would it be and why?

Persistency. If nothing else, we are persistent. We believe we are starting a movement towards lower sugar diets. I personally believe we will look back on our global food chain in 10yrs, as we looked at smoking on our our health. The UK has already started charging taxes on sugary items. That will be adopted worldwide in the next 10yrs. We will be persistent in making that movement happen and will hopefully be the pioneers in affecting this change.

5. What one crucial experience/lesson would you share with other entrepreneurs?

Sell yourself as an entrepreneur and visionary over any product that you have. Products, trends, industries, pivoting etc change all the time…..you are the entrepreneur who makes it happen. When you are starting out, no one really cares about your products because you don’t have the funds to support it in a big way. However retailers or customers will buy into you as a person/entrepreneur if you show them your work ethic, business plan, execution style, dedication, problem solving capabilities etc . I like to always say “I’ve never sold a product once, I’ve sold my myself and my vision”

6. What do the next 12-18 months look like for the company?

Innovation, innovation, innovation. There are so many food and beverage categories that we have not touched yet that rely so much on sugar. Sauces, breakfast items, bakery, performance based beverages…..it never stops. And I hope that I have competition making us earn every category we get into……as that means more product with low/no sugar are being offered to the masses.

7. What's been your biggest win to date with the No Sugar Company?

Thats an easy one, I take great pride in the fact that we have eliminated over 6M lbs of sugar from the food chain in 3 short year of existence. My goal is to build a business where we are eliminating over 1 billion pounds of sugar every year but we have alot of work to do. :)