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This content is for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide medical advice.
Entrepreneur Yanni Hufnagel, founder, and CEO of The Lemon Perfect Company, was fueled by intuition, not expertise, in 2017, when he set out to create a healthy enhanced water.
“I had no idea what I was doing at the beginning,” he confessed.
But he had a goal: to disrupt a beverage industry dominated by high-calorie, high-sugar options with a tasty, low-calorie drink with lemonade-like flavor.
“The bedrock of the brand from day one has been the idea of great flavor that’s also good for you,” he said.
Today, Lemon Perfect is available nationwide at supermarkets including Publix, Kroger, and Whole Foods. The privately held company is now valued at over 100 million. Hufnagel thinks he has a product that can reach a $5 billion valuation.
“There’s nothing in the category with our flavor profile, the freshness of our flavor profile, our nutritional deck, and zero sugar,” he said of the certified-organic, 5-calorie beverage bottled in 100% recycled plastic. “I think we’ve got magic inside the bottle. When people drink the brand, they come back in a big way, and the data would suggest that.”
Yanni Hufnagel Sought Expertise in Creating Lemon Perfect’s Flavor Profile
After Hufnagel got the idea for Lemon Perfect, he floundered in a friend’s home kitchen for a few days, attempting to concoct the drink. He walked away empty-handed.
“The outcome was not very compelling,” he confessed to entrepreneur and investor Joe Pompliano on The Joe Pomp Show podcast. “From the beginning, my head’s been on a swivel, looking around and trying to figure out what flavors resonate with the consumer.”
Hufnagel investigated beverage producers and found one in California. His instructions were straightforward: focus on taste and nutrition to create a zero-sugar and low-calorie formula from natural flavors and plant sweeteners. Those were “nonnegotiables,” he proclaimed.
“I knew from the beginning we were going to try to win everywhere, from Beverly Hills to Baton Rouge [Louisiana], from a taste perspective,” he said. “I wanted to create something that had a big total addressable market.”
Today, Lemon Perfect’s expanded line of flavored lemon waters includes six flavors in addition to the Original Lemon formulation: Strawberry Passion Fruit, Dragon Fruit Mango, Pineapple Coconut, Kiwi Star Fruit, Blueberry Açaí, and Peach Raspberry.
“I want Lemon Perfect to deliver the joy of flavor in every sip,” Hufnagel declared. “And I want it to impact the health of the American consumer.”
Yanni Hufnagel Wanted Lemon Perfect to Address Sugar Consumption
Before entering the enhanced water market, Yanni Hufnagel coached college basketball at top universities for 10 years. He saw basketball players drinking the enhanced water Bai in the locker room, which sparked his interest in creating a great-tasting beverage using the superfruit that is lemon.
Hufnagel had been embracing a healthy lifestyle. Each morning, he maintained a ritual of sipping pure water with freshly squeezed organic lemons. His homemade formula was tart, so he knew natural sweeteners were necessary to create a healthy beverage with widespread appeal.
Hufnagel’s sports background helped him understand health and nutrition principles. After all, he coached basketball players in peak physical shape at esteemed institutions, including Harvard University and Vanderbilt University.
“It’s not so much what you eat—it’s more what you drink,” he explained. “It’s easy to drink your calories, your sugar. Eating four or five hamburgers is hard, but it’s easy to drink a lot of soda or sugary juice drinks.”
Hufnagel imagines Lemon Perfect as the category leader that could positively impact the health of the American consumer.
“They go hand in hand,” he declared. “If we can scale the business, we’ll have removed millions of pounds of sugar from the American diet and be able to feel really good about it.”
In an interview on “Taste Radio,” BevNET’s weekly podcast that explores beverage, food, and beer topics, Hufnagel underscored the importance of taste.
“Taste and the nutritional deck were one and two,” he told host Ray Latif. “Everything else was further down.”
Hufnagel knew enough to understand that most U.S. consumers prioritize taste when making food and beverage decisions. His research revealed trends that remain prevalent today: consumers seek low-calorie, zero-sugar beverages formulated with a natural ingredient deck.
“With water, organic lemons, and an unbelievable sweetener and flavor system, we got there,” he told Latif. “It’s a deliciously refreshing product with zero sugar. We truly believe that when someone drinks a Lemon Perfect, they are making a decision that’s better for them. How cool is that?”
Yanni Hufnagel Says Lemon Perfect Can Positively Impact Consumers’ Health
“We have a chance to impact the health of the American consumer, especially in some of the most underserved communities in America,” Hufnagel said.
While the Lemon Perfect Company can create excellent returns for its private shareholders, Hufnagel believes in keeping Lemon Perfect’s price low— $1.99 per 12-oz bottle—and thus accessible to all customers. His company can achieve a low price to down unit economics through scale.
In a happy accident, Hufnagel’s inspiration to create a lemon-powered beverage came with an inexpensive ingredient deck. He told Taste Radio he credits this fortune to “dumb luck.” Such luck delivers a $2 price point with gross margins that are significantly better than the industry level.
“As we were building the product, I wasn’t sensitive to the cost of the ingredients inside the bottle,” he explained. “But we’ve been able to create a product that is better for you with fresh-squeezed organic lemon juice and organic plant-based sweeteners.”
He believes in the democracy of a low price point because it removes price-point boundaries.
“Old and young, rich and poor, black and white, male and female—I don’t care what you look like, where you shop, how much money you make—Lemon Perfect can be a product for you,” he said. “How exciting is that? You get one opportunity to do something like this. This is what I was put on Earth to go do.”
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