FIE Reports

Big firms see innovation as a risk: drink entrepreneur

By Alice Foster

- Last updated on GMT

Eli Faraggi, who created a drink called WakeUp, gave a speech at Food Ingredients Europe in Paris
Eli Faraggi, who created a drink called WakeUp, gave a speech at Food Ingredients Europe in Paris

Related tags Food and drink Risk

Large food and drink companies see innovation as a “liability” and do not want to run the risk of failure, according a leading beverage entrepreneur.

Israeli businessman Eli Faraggi, the ceo of natural energy drink firm InnoBev, made the claim during a speech at Food Ingredients Europe (FiE) in Paris on Tuesday (December 1).

“You will hear the word innovation, innovation, innovation. It’s important to put the cards on the table,” ​Faraggi told the conference.

‘Innovation represents liability’

“At the end of the day innovation represents liability for a lot of companies.”

Large businesses ideally want to stay with their existing products because these have been perfected and already dominate the market, he said.

ceo headshot

In such organisations, he claimed that corporate decision makers wanted to avoid risks to their own name and company more than anything else.

‘Last thing they want’

“The last thing they want in the world is to be finding another job or to be associated with failure,” ​he said.  

Faraggi spoke about the attitudes of large firms while describing his own development of a patented drink called WakeUp, which counteracts the post lunch dip in energy.

He said the idea was sparked by a friend who mentioned that the US workforce lost millions of dollars because of an afternoon dip in energy levels.

“We wanted to find a solution for the post lunch dip,”​ he said, adding that consumers tended to blame themselves for tiredness.

“We are talking about a physiological phenomenon. Seven hours after we wake up, we are tired again.”

Meanwhile, listen to this exclusive podcast​ from FiE to find out why ‘small players, big ideas’ is one of Innova’s top trends for 2016. 

Five tips from InnoBev ceo Eli Faraggi

  1. “If you believe in an idea, you have to follow it.”
  2. “Don’t underestimate people’s desire to be part of something new.”
  3. “You have a good product, it’s scientifically proven, but it doesn’t taste good. If you don’t have one of the components, I don’t think it’s got a very good chance.”
  4. “What is an abstract idea really worth? From my understanding, zero.”
  5. “The last place you want to start looking for the next product is on existing shelves.” 

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