Q&A With Founders Simon Kraak and Marewa Sutherland (Kraak)

Q&A With Founders Simon Kraak and Marewa Sutherland (Kraak)

PURE Sports Nutrition is TEN years old, so we thought we would take a moment to ask our brother/sister co-founders Simon and Marewa a few questions about the journey that lead them to where they are today.

 

Taking it back to where it all began, what lead you to the journey that is PURE?

Simon: It was quite simple really, I got tired of consuming cheap artificial sports drinks and gels as I was using them most days to train and race with so I decided I wanted to give it a shot at making it better.

Marewa: Simon called me out of the blue and literally said "I think we can make better sports nutrition products", it was on speakerphone in a car full of my cycling teammates, who still remember it to this day. I was a Sports Nutritionist, so teaming up with Simon was a natural fit to get to where we wanted to go. Also being immersed in endurance sport ourselves meant we were able to live and breathe our vision to bring it to reality. 

 

Simon and Marewa, from humble home beginnings, Christchurch 2012


What have been your biggest challenges or learnings?

Simon: The biggest challenge early on was getting the brand off the ground and getting it into stores. Everything was so new and we had to learn very quickly. We ran PURE from home for the first 5 years so the workload was never-ending. 

Marewa: The load in those early days, from stickering bags to making & packing them, marketing, selling and dispatching it we did it all alongside our day jobs. Also, Simon's honesty is second to none – it's both challenging and helps me to learn quickly! 

 

What are you most proud of? 

Simon: I am most proud of the team of people we have in the business. It's been really cool seeing it grow from two people to over 16 staff. As far as products go the original Electrolyte Hydration is still such a great product. We haven't changed it from day one and i still enjoy using it 10 years later.

Marewa: The people make the effort to thank us and tell us how products have helped them. Also that we manufacture our own products locally in Christchurch. The complexity of achieving this is not lost on me and it never gets old seeing them on a retail shelf both in NZ and overseas. 

 

Do you have a favourite product?

Simon: Probably the PURE Fluid Energy Gel in Lemon Lime. It's just so easy to use and has a really refreshing taste. It also happens to be one of the hardest product ranges we developed, as the manufacturing and packing are very complicated. 
Marewa: This changes all the time, currently it's our Whey Protein in Vanilla, you can actually see the organic vanilla beans in it. Also trucking through the Low Carb Electrolytes in Raspberry as I struggle with water/ general hydration in winter.