Pod & Parcel’s Ben Goodman and Elliott Haralambous. Photo: Michael Rayner.
The Weekly Review’s inaugural Startup Stars winner, Pod & Parcel, have come a long way in a year.
Elliott Haralambous and Ben Goodman were working together as management consultants when they hit upon an idea to improve the lives of coffee drinkers.
The Melbourne business was one of hundreds of Startup stars nominees who were whittled down to just eight finalists (see the other finalists below).
Long days at the office meant Elliot and Ben often resorted to a Nespresso machine for a caffeine hit and there were grumblings about the quality of the brew.
“It tasted awful, like instant coffee,” Ben says. “So we thought, ‘Wouldn’t it be a good idea if we could actually get some real coffee in a coffee pod?’”
Finding quality coffee to put into the pods became an obsession. But they were also committed to being environmentally responsible and reducing “food miles” by using Victorian suppliers and manufacturers.
“We decided that if we were going to do this it had to be good for the environment,” Ben says. “All our capsules are made from recyclable plastic.”
The business officially launched online earlier this year, and like a good shot of espresso, the buzz is intense.
“It’s about having the taste, aroma and smell of your favourite cafe in a genuinely easy and convenient format,” Elliott says.
A crucial victory came when beloved Brunswick-based coffee roastery Code Black agreed to supply the pod-makers with its specialty beans. “We always wanted to go with roasteries that a lot of Melburnians recognise,” Ben says.
But there have been a few life lessons along the way.
“When you want to make a product or a service, everything takes three times as long and costs more than you thought it would,” Elliott says. “So there was a lot of trial and error to start with, in order to make sure that the coffee’s perfect and the engineering of the capsules is perfect.”
As the inaugural winner of The Weekly Review’s Startup Star award, Pod & Parcel will benefit from a $10,000 prize package, consultation with The Finance Guru, use of Domain Group’s office facility, and tickets to the 8 Percent Festival.
The award winner was announced on Thursday at Sagra in Malvern. On winning the award, Ben said it was truly a shock.
“It was funny, I was talking with Elliot before, just for a call, I was pessimistic. I said: we’re not going to win, I don’t think we did enough.
“We promoted it but we sat back and just, what happens happens. It was total shock. the feeling is phenomenal.
“We started this a year ago just through a conversation, and to see how it has progressed in a year’s time is just… anyone can do it!”
Ben said the prize would be a massive boon to the fledgling business.
“In terms of what it means for the business we get the opportunity in Melbourne to get the name of Pod & Parcel out there, that’s purely from a branding and image perspective, obviously the association with The Weekly Review is phenomenal, 600,000 magazines, people read it all the time, so I think the target market is aligned to us.
“Secondly we get the opportunity to partner with more roasters, bring more specialty coffee to Melbourne for the people, and really we can think about growing the business and getting the right advice as well.”
As for the future of Pod & Parcel?
“[In five years time, we’d like to be] the go-to, the number one supplier of specialty coffee capsules. We want people to know that if they want to have specialty coffee at home, it’s easy to get.
Our other Startup Stars finalists:
Evette & Claude
Brook & Gideon
Steve
Rachel
Loretta
Kellie & Jonathan
Elaine & Sam
