a brief intro...
Hi there! We make fresh food and drinks that’ll make you feel better!
We aim to make healthy stuff: exciting, convenient and above all else…TASTY. Because food is only healthy if you choose to eat it.
Our feel-better bars and smoothie marketing roadshows have been inspiring students, school pupils, professional sports teams and even the odd celeb to make healthier eating choices. We’re often asked how it all came about. So we thought we’d take a minute to let you know…
the idea
Any business starts with an idea. We wanted to provide students with the same fresh made, healthy smoothies that we loved on our year abroad.
It was obvious that when we eat better, we feel better! So…
After graduating with the customary student debt we raised £12,000, partly by working the summer in a pea factory. We bought a mobile cart and began trading at outdoor events as well as from an isolated Uni sports centre location during term time. We learned at firsthand what products people liked, what prices they we’re prepared to pay and how to get their attention (don’t mention the nurse’s outfits!). The management of the centre saw for the first time ‘non-sports centre members making trips over from the Union building, just to get a Xing smoothie’.
Our reward was permission from the Students Union to build a flagship smoothie bar in the main union building. We had proved that our generation of students were happy to ditch the pot noodle and baked bean eating stereotype of the past.
into schools
Selling smoothies at outdoor events, we witnessed something amazing; *kids chose to buy a smoothie instead of a burger or soft drink. Whizzing up brightly coloured smoothies in our blenders, kids would come to our stand to ask what we were making. We’d often hear “I don’t know what to order because I don’t like fruit.” This didn’t stop them using their own pocket money to buy a smoothie! Proving that:
Kids that don’t eat fruit… will drink smoothies.
We couldn’t ignore what we’d witnessed so we started visiting schools with our smoothie making ‘roadshow’. Teachers reported visible improvements to the eating habits of pupils and word spread. As a result we were invited to visit more and more schools, developing the marketing element of the session as a way of getting sceptical teenagers (like we were) interested in healthy products.
famous Xingers
Our fresh made, vitamin-rich smoothies have been curing student hangovers and fresher’s flu for some time now (and we’ve got pretty good at it). They’re energizing benefits have also been enjoyed by many professional sports teams; Hull City FC, York City FC, Hull KR, England under 16s and the Ghanaian Women’s national team. Also,
Elle McPherson liked the look of our smoothies so much she pinched a couple of them from our stand at a conference…cheeky lady. This was the same conference that Richard Reed (Co-founder of innocent/ smoothie god) and George Foreman came to over to try them out.
onto the high street
Opening our first high street bar was a big step forward from operating on university campuses. We’ve loved the opportunity of making even more people (both young and old) feel better and it’s also given us chance to let winners from our school roadshows see their creations being sold on the same streets as their favourite brands.
It’s been loads of fun so far and we’ve met some great friends along the way, especially our lovely customers that help make Xing what it is. We’ve found that there’s lots of brilliant people out there willing to give you a break if you’re passionate about what you’re doing, making the world of business less daunting than you think.
Thanks for taking the time to read our little story. If there’s anything that you’d like to know more about, just pop your details down on the ‘contact us’ page and we’ll do our best to get straight back to you.
We hope to see you soon!
xx