Founder's Bulletin #1: We Sold Out

Since our last update, something happened that's equal parts thrilling and stressful: we sold out. Every single tub of Mean Peach creatine is gone. We're now sitting in that strange gap between "no stock" and the next batch landing, and it felt like the right moment to properly reflect on the journey so far — what's worked, what hasn't, and where we're headed next.

What's gone well

The feedback has been incredible. When we started Mean Peach, the whole premise was simple: creatine works, but most of it tastes like wet cement, so why not fix that? Hearing people tell us they actually look forward to their scoop — rather than choking it down because they have to — has been the most rewarding part of this by far. It's the exact thing we set out to prove was possible.

Britt's audience gave us our foundation. Selling through Britt's social media gave us our first real customer base, and we owe a lot to her early followers who took a chance on a brand-new product from a brand nobody had heard of yet. That early trust made everything after it possible.

Amazon has worked, in bursts. We've found some genuine success selling through Amazon — though if we're honest, it's mostly when we're actively running promotions there. It's a channel we're still learning how to use consistently rather than in spikes.

IBFA has been the biggest win. Partnering with the Independent Bodybuilding Fitness Association to sample and sell at their events has, without question, been our single biggest driver of new customers. There's nothing quite like handing someone a scoop in person and watching them realise creatine doesn't have to taste bad.

What hasn't gone well

We think it's just as important to talk about what's been hard.

We ran out of stock. As a small business, balancing cash flow, production lead times, and demand forecasting is a genuinely difficult juggling act — and this time, we got the balance wrong. We underestimated how fast early momentum would translate into sell-through, and we're now paying for that in the form of an awkward, sold-out gap while the next order comes in.

We discounted too hard, too early. To get things moving at launch, we ran a heavy discount on our first batch — one deep enough that it ate through roughly 25% of our initial stock almost immediately. In hindsight, we probably went further than we needed to.

That discount created a pricing problem we're still untangling. One of the retail partners we brought on through that launch promotion — a gym/shop that's genuinely doing really well selling Mean Peach — now won't buy from us above that original launch price. Worse, they're selling below our RRP, which quietly undercuts and devalues the product everywhere else it's sold. The frustrating part is that they represent a meaningful share of our volume, so there's no quick or painless fix here. It's a problem of our own making, and we're working through how to resolve it without damaging a relationship that's otherwise working well for both sides.

What we're doing next

• More events. IBFA has proven the model works — meeting people in person, letting them try it, converts far better than any ad. We're looking to do more of this.
• Merch is coming. A small range is in the works, more to share soon.
• More collaborations. We've already run one effective partnership with a gym equipment and clothing brand, which grew our mailing list meaningfully. We're actively looking for more brand partners who share our audience.

Thanks for being here from the start, and for being patient while we get the next batch out. More soon.

— The Mean Peach team 🍑