How Seoul Tonic’s founder Sophie Hood built her brand from the ground up

I always tell people that Seoul Tonic was born in the depths of Covid-19, but really, it started generations before that, I just didn’t know it at the time.

The big idea

During the pandemic, I was 26 years old, working a full-time job in finance at Red Bull, with everything fun about the job taken away from me. The perks of Red Bull – the office culture, the random F1 cars rolling through and, most importantly, the parties, events and live music – were no more.

As a result, and in true Sophie fashion, I turned to other sources of entertainment. As a person who is prone to hyper fixations and obsessions, it was no surprise that when I discovered Korean skincare, I was hooked. However, what started with importing niche skincare brands from South Korea resulted in an interest in the specific ingredients that were used in these products. Korean skincare is known to be very natural, with many products containing local plants, fermented foods and herbs to hydrate the skin in a safe way.

This interest in skincare ingredients quickly became a deep dive into Korean culture, discovering the giant ‘hangover relief’ and broader functional beverage category that is contributing billions a year to the local economy. With natural, niche liver tonics marketed as ‘pre-drinking’ and ‘post-drinking’ in every 7-Eleven in Seoul, I couldn’t believe how little these ingredients were used in the market here in Australia.

That was the moment I knew I had to fly to Seoul to create my own product, capitalising on these scientifically proven, all-natural, liver-detoxifying ingredients, but doing it differently.

Finding a manufacturer

I mentioned Seoul Tonic being born generations before Covid-19. That is because Seoul Tonic is the brainchild of a beautiful partnership between myself and my Korean manufacturer, called Mr Park.

Mr Park is a third-generation pear farmer and has been developing patented extraction methods ensuring maximum nutrition retention from fruits, herbs and roots for a long time. His grandfather owned one of the most high-quality Korean pear farms, which has been passed down to him and is one of his most prized possessions today.

Finding Mr Park wasn’t that simple. How is a 26-year-old girl stuck in her room in Sydney during Covid-19 meant to find a South Korean manufacturer? Well, cue being scammed multiple times on the web and then the Korean International Trade Association coming to the rescue in the 11th hour. KITA gave me a translator whilst I gave them my business plan, and before you know it, I had multiple meetings set up with manufacturers around the country. In 90 per cent of these meetings, neither of us could speak the other’s language.

After months of these meetings and sampling with multiple suppliers, it was a specific email from Mr Park that is ingrained in my memory as the reason he was chosen in the end. The email validated my ‘big thinking’ or borderline insane mindset and confirmed him being ready to jump headfirst into this crazy journey.

Developing a product

Developing the first product was a steep learning curve, never having dabbled in formulation before, but it was so much fun. Creating something from scratch was incredibly rewarding and every time that DHL package came to my share house in Bondi full of samples, I would gather my friends around to do the taste tests.

Leaning on Mr Park’s expertise, his internal food science resource and his proprietary extraction method, our first product using Korean pear and Hovenia dulcis extract was born (Hovenia dulcis is the most commonly used ingredient for liver health in South Korea). The combination of the two ingredients resulted in a hyper effective, ‘pre-drinking’ tonic, containing more natural electrolytes than most hydration sachets on market, as well as dihydromyricetin (DHM), which is known to protect against alcohol-related liver damage.

Once the formulation was developed, I enlisted the best designer I knew, who happened to be a friend’s boyfriend by the name of Benny Moore. The brief was to create packaging that is disruptive, innovative and never seen before, which in the saturated beverage space is almost unheard of. To say he nailed the brief is an understatement. He became a partial co-owner that day and is still with me. He is an integral part of how the brand looks and feels to this very day.

Grounding the brand

The finalisation of the formulation and packaging coincided with Covid-19 restrictions in South Korea being partially lifted, which meant I was on the first flight out of here and headed to Seoul. I took annual leave from Red Bull, brought my lawyer sister for reinforcements and told Benny to fly from Paris to meet us there.

We were greeted by Mr Park’s team in Seoul, who had days of adventures lined up for us. We shot all the images we launched with during this period. To this day, we still shoot a huge bulk of our content on the streets of Seoul.

A few days later, the team personally escorted us to the factory, two hours south of Seoul in Gyeongju, where Mr Park greeted us at the main train station. The next few days are almost difficult to articulate. They were filled with visits to all of Mr Park’s favourite restaurants, attractions and friends, and us realising just how integral he is to supporting the local Gyeongju community.

We held, touched and kissed the finalised Seoul Tonic for the first time whilst admiring the new machinery Mr Park had bought just to impress us. At this point, I was positive he thought that Red Bull was behind this company and not just a young Australian girl with a passion project.

Hitting the pavement

Seoul Tonic was launched out of my Bondi Beach garage in November 2022. The minimum order quantity from Mr Park was 120,000 units, negotiated down to 50,000 units, which luckily my freight forwarder was able to warehouse out in Western Sydney.

I didn’t quite know what to do with it all, but what I did know was that I needed to start moving through this stock fast to avoid going broke from storage fees. I did trips from the warehouse to my Bondi garage to sell the product into local retailers before and after work. Initial traction for the online store was gained from friends, family and the local community – mostly out of intrigue. I nailed down the sales pitch to local retailers, almost forcing them to put it on the counter being so confident it would sell (which it did).

Every single retailer that sold the product during that time is still with me today, many of them are best performers.

Doing it all

To say the first year was a wild ride would be an understatement. The norm was 15-hour days whilst mentally juggling a double life with Red Bull. Three months into launch, I was invited to participate in a new TV show with Gordon Ramsay and Boost Juice founder Janine Allis, who were searching for Australia’s most innovative food or beverage entrepreneur.

Think “Shark Tank” meets “The Apprentice”. In true Sophie style, I said yes before even thinking through the consequences and before I knew it, I had taken annual leave from Red Bull (again) and ended up in Melbourne for almost five weeks filming, and winning, a new Channel 9 national TV show.

Unfortunately, this show didn’t air for a year and multiple endings were filmed, so I spent the rest of the year still working full time and hustling for Seoul Tonic. By the time the show aired, in April 2024, Seoul Tonic was sold nationally in Dan Murphy’s, BWS, Amazon and over 500 independent stores, still with not a single full-time employee in the business. I was managing four different email accounts at this time and still doing all online orders myself. And it’s safe to say I was on a first name basis at the local Post Office.

Going ‘all in’

The prize from the show of $250,000 and a one-year mentorship from Allis was enough for Red Bull and I to amicably part ways. Seoul Tonic had grown, partially helped by the show airing but also through the perfect storm of marketing efforts and a localised approach coming to fruition. I was on the verge of burnout though. I couldn’t wait to go full time to see what I could achieve with my undivided attention.

A few months into going full time, an opportunity to pitch to the GM of Woolworths Metro came up, organised through a LinkedIn message from a former employee. After convincingly telling my story in that meeting, I had the opportunity to launch in Woolies Metro, making history as the quickest supplier set up ever.

We were aiming for a pre-Christmas launch, which warehouse strikes quickly made impossible. Once again, in true Sophie fashion and not quite thinking through the consequences, I told the Woolies team that it would be ‘no worries’ to get the stock in before Christmas as I could ‘hand deliver’ it myself and avoid the warehouse strikes entirely.

December was spent hand delivering over 4000 units to Woolworth Metro NSW stores, meeting every store manager and telling my story from the ground up. Although it wasn’t on the cards and I had to cancel so many other meetings, the lessons I learned from that time I will cherish forever – Oh, and the sales results were incredible.

So what’s next?

I have now been full time for eight months, in which time Seoul Tonic has launched into New Zealand, New York, Seoul and another 1000 Australian retailers. We launched a second product in January after 18 months of formulation and multiple trips to Korea. This one is aimed to pioneer the ‘morning after’ consumption moment using Korean apple cider vinegar (ACV), Asian ginseng and Korean pear. Once again, staying true to our ethos, we formulated with Mr Park’s award-winning double-fermented vinegar, known to reduce stomach acidity, aid digestion and replace those nasty ACV shots, whilst hydrating at the same time.

There are many exciting opportunities in the works for this year, as Seoul Tonic will continue to show up as more than a typical FMCG brand. I want to continue to push the boundaries of a typical ‘wellness’ drink through cross-collaborations with luxury brands in other segments. Oh, I will also be relocating internationally to continue to cement Seoul Tonic on the global stage – but more on that soon.

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