In this exclusive interview, Huib van Bockel shared key moments of his career journey, from the discussions with his father that sparked a love for F&B, to his days at Unilever, MTV, and Red Bull – and even a bit about his previous sock side hustle!
As van Bockel explains in the episode, he has always had an affinity with nature - as a keen outdoors person. In fact, his drink brand is named after Tenzing Norgay – a famous mountaineer who climbed Mount Everest alongside Edmund Hillary.
van Bockel - who thought the name was “beautiful” and fitting because ‘zing’ means energy - decided to name his drink in his honour, and as a consequence has become friends with the descendants of Norgay who are now also involved in the business.
Trendsetting and tough work
The entrepreneur was quick off the mark with Tenzing, launching his natural energy drink way before the trend for clean label took off in 2016.
There was no such thing as a better-for-you energy drink anywhere when we launched.
Huib van Bockel, founder, Tenzing
Since then, Tenzing has become a serious player in the drinks sector, securing backing from Heineken UK to help it expand into the convenience channel.
But it’s taken a lot of graft to get here, with van Bockel explaining that starting a business is a “difficult” and “lonely” road.
He added: “So if you’re going to do this, be prepared. Make sure you’re resilient. Make sure that you get enough support and have a network of loving people around you.”
The other piece of advice van Bockel gave is to have a real focus; he pulled examples from other successful businesses, including Strava which was launched with a very specific audience in mind, namely cyclists and runners, before expanding the net even further.
“If they had launched a [all encompassing] sports app, it never would have worked,” he ventured.
“[Having a focus] it’s a really simple rule but it’s not something a lot of businesses do.
The last piece of advice, van Bockel offered in the episode is to implement a clear structure – something which he didn’t put in place until much later.
“I didn’t quite realise how horrible creative freedom is,” he explained, as we spoke about the challenges that come with no safety net to catch you and no one really to bounce ideas off.
“There’s no one that holds you to account, really, other than yourself. I had to come up with the ideas and judge them myself.”
“Structure doesn’t kill creativity – it gives you strength.”
He added that there is also guilt that comes with running your business – a sense that you should always be working – and at full steam.
“Because it’s your own business, you think you’re always going to be motivated, but that’s not always the case.”
Now that van Bockel is almost 10 years in, with that structure in place – and he’s loving every minute of running his own business – and is keen to continue driving the brand forwards and convincing more people to switch from artificial ingredients to natural.
The drinks founder told Food Manufacture that 82% of people want their energy from natural ingredients — but they’re up against “availability and old habits” with some people believing they can’t get energy naturally.
“We’re fighting against the big dogs,” he added.
“I won’t be disappointed if we don’t get to the number one spot…but I think it’s very possible.”
For van Bockel, the most important thing is to create a business where people enjoy what they do.
“We’re growing, we’ve got an amazing team. I want everyone to look back and think my days at Tenzing were just amazing and I learned so much.”
