Interview with Sukkie founder Leon Harvey

I had a recent request to review Sukkie, so put an email in to their contact email from their website and was promptly called by their founder Leon.

We ended up chatting for an hour or so about Sukkie and I thought it would be awesome to bring his obvious enthusiasm, passion for his brand and fervent desire to support healthy teeth and health in general to you guys via an interview.

Check out my Sukkie review to see how good Sukkie really is.

The supplement market is really crowded in all sub markets (e.g. tri, road etc) and for all products. Why did you decide to enter such a competitive and crowded market? What convinced you this was the right idea?

We love competition and yes, you’re right – the sports supplement market is saturated, there is no room for another ‘me too’ sports supplement. So a new product needed to be so different and so much better that it created a category of its own – a category where the manufacturer actually gives a toss about the people that drink it.

We believe Sukkie didn’t enter a crowded marketplace, it created a new one all by itself.

I was convinced from the start that Sukkie was the right idea, convincing my wife to sell our family home to fund the growth of sukkie was the challenge! It felt like i had no choice – it was like i had to create Sukkie to prevent other athletes suffering dental erosion from sports drinks.

How did you get started? Anyone can commission a supplement manufacturer to create a product (that will be roughly the same as many others) or re-use a standard formula. Did you ask for something completely custom?

This was the greatest challenge for Sukkie – i started from scratch, searched globally to find the right team to help develop the Sukkie formula.

Every manufacturer had the same off the shelf recipe – loaded with sugar, acid, artificial colours and preservatives.

Sukkie needed to be better for health and performance than all the rest, so in the end we pulled together a local team of the coolest scientists to collaborate on the recipe and make Sukkie possible.

How did the unique differentiation evolve?  Did you start with your dental health angle from the start? If not, how did it evolve into this type of message?

The dental angle was the starting point of the formulation, the more we researched other sports drinks the more we understood all the ingredients they contained were more about hype than health, more about profits than performance.

What sort of scientific rigor has been applied to the product?

Scientific rigor is the foundation of sukkie, because it sets us a part. Every decision we make every ingredient that goes in, every health or performance claim that we make, is based on scientific findings and clearly referenced for athletes and health professionals for transparency.

How do you stand out in a very crowded market? Is it just a case of really pushing your dental health advantages? A lot of money is spent by very large companies on saturating all the available marketing channels so how do you get a voice?

Apart from a very racy Sukkie calendar, we are woking hard and spending big to get the message out there. Getting a voice is important not just to promote the drink but to educate athletes to rethink what they drink.

We supply legions of dentists and health professionals and individual athletes, we sponsor charities and sporting events events and clubs and teams. The word is spreading, people are concerned now more than ever about their health as there is an awareness out there not to trust large faceless companies and their products anymore.

What's the recommended use for Sukkie? I use it before bed if I am feeling dehydrated. Do people use it in the same way they use electrolyte energy drinks (i,.e, primarily on rides) or are there other suggested uses?

Sukkie is an isotonic electrolyte drink, to be used to treat and prevent dehydration. Personally I use it during racing and off the bike when I want something tasty.

We receive heaps of tweets and posts from Sukkie drinkers about the way they use it – the best so far is the ‘Sukkie slushie’ phenomenon – on a hot day grab a ton of ice, heaps of Sukkie, smash it all up in a blender and sukk it up!

Why should people have Sukkie above other products?

Apart for the fact that Sukkie the only drink that helps you smash your limits, it provides:

1. More energy – quality forms of carbohydrates to be absorbed 40% faster.
2. Less acid – neutral ph so it is smooth.
3. Hydrate healthily – scientifically proven not to cause dental erosion, no artificial colours or flavours. Our riders say they feel energised and cramp free, they can drink it all day to replace fluids because of the smooth flavour, and not surprisingly they say their teeth feel really strong too!*

*There's added calcium in Sukkie.

Are there any similar products on the market that you would recommend?

Bananas. Perfectly packaged for on the go nutrition, full of energy, electrolytes and they taste great . Above all, like all other foods I would recommend, they are natural.

[Ed: I take it that this is a “no!” 🙂 ]

How can athletes verify it works for them?

You are 4 hours into a stage race, you are at your limit, the pack is racing hard.

A hill approaches, so you push harder.

Your legs are screaming for you to stop, begging for the top of the hill.

You look down for something, anything to push you through this latest surge [Ed: VeloNomad steerer caps work well!].

Sukkie was made for this moment, when you need the nutrition and the motivation to smash your limits, and you do. This is how you know if it works for you. Sukk it up!!!

[Ed: also, here's how to tell if a nutrition product works.]

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That was an awesome interview with an awesome and enthusiastic person. Man I love success stories like this.

Again, take the time to check out my Sukkie review to see how good Sukkie really is.

You can buy Sukkie online or (hopefully) at your local LBS, supplement shop or dentist. (If you are not in Australia and would like to get it stocked locally, .