Small Business: Push Gummies wants to make creatine more accessible

PUSH Gummies were designed with a unique form factor after founder Brittany Allan didn't enjoy traditional ways of consuming creatine.

Brittany Allan, founder of Push Gummies, talks to Tom Raynel about why she thought the market was missing something, and why she wants to educate more people about the benefits of creatine.

What is Push Gummies?

Push Gummies are all about making creatine more fun and accessible. We believe that creatine is not just a supplement for bodybuilders, but it’s something that everyone should be taking, women included.

We wanted to make something in a delicious, gummy form that people would enjoy taking and that people who already take creatine in powder form might be able to take in a more convenient and accessible way.

Creatine is an organic compound found in red meat and seafood. It is often used to improve exercise performance and muscle mass.

What inspired you to start the business?

The only people I knew personally who took creatine were my husband and my dad. I’ve always just thought that it was something that men take or, like I said, traditionally bodybuilders. It’s almost this secret that people have been using creatine in the past but it never seemed accessible to people like myself, women who are doing strength training or even just other forms of exercise like yoga and recovery.

But my husband kept saying that I should try using it, and I just really wasn’t interested, especially because of how gross creatine powder tastes.

I did a whole lot more research into what creatine actually is and why it’s helpful for women, and that’s really what sold me on it. We noticed that the only forms of creatine at the time were powder and tablets. There were no gummies in New Zealand anyway. That’s why we thought we’d try it. What better way to make a supplement accessible to anyone than by putting it in a delicious gummy form?

Brittany Allan, founder of PUSH Gummies, started the business after learning more about creatine and what its benefits are.

Why do think women have been hesitant to use creatine?

It is weird that people haven’t learned about it sooner. It’s been really interesting for us to go to different events that we’ve gone to or different gyms that we’ve done sampling at and see how there are still a lot of misconceptions about creatine.

A lot of people think it’s just for men or just for people who want to put on a lot of muscle. There are also a few myths about water retention or how it can be bad for your kidneys. One that we found really early on was people were thinking that creatine was a pre-workout supplement.

It’s actually something that provides energy to the cells in your body and it’s something that you can take any time of the day. We want people to realise that they can be taking it for multiple things. Whether that is to help them go to the gym or whether it’s to support them post-menopause, whether it’s to help improve their cognitive function and mental focus, or even to improve memory as they get older.

Do you hope more women will see your product differently?

Yeah, definitely being a woman in business. That’s why we chose the colours for our packaging as well. Our first product was our strawberry-flavoured creatine gummies, which have a purple packet with pink writing. It’s still not super-feminine, so it doesn’t exclude men, but I feel it’s just quite different from what you currently see on the market for creatine.

A lot of other creatine products that we looked at are black and gold or have video game-type logos and icons and things to make it really attractive to gym bros or men and feel a little bit less accessible or desirable for women. So yeah, we definitely did want to lean into that.

PUSH Gummies founder Brittany Allan said making creatine more accessible was a big driver for the unique form factor.

What has been the biggest highlight in starting the business?

I think for me it’s been such a cool journey to start a product and just learn how running a business works and how to actually manufacture a product and market it and have people enjoy it as well.

I’m part of an awesome women’s business group here in Tauranga called She is Unleashed, and that’s been an incredible resource for me. Through that, it’s just made me realise that no one really knows what they’re doing in business and you can just learn anything.

Also our community. CrossFit athletes who use our product were the early adopters, the people who were the keenest to try it because they already knew what creatine was and the benefits of creatine. But then it’s just been cool to see it expand out to mums or women who do pilates and yoga, or cricket players, rugby players, older women and men.

It’s been really cool to see that community expand and include people who originally were shut out from the benefits of creatine and had no idea that it was going to be good for them to use.

What would be your advice to other budding entrepreneurs wanting to start their own business?

It’s pretty similar to what a lot of people say, and that’s just to get started. I think it can be really overwhelming at the start, thinking, ‘I need to think of a product, I need to build a website, I need to organise a launch, I need to set up my Instagram, I need to do all of these things’.

The main thing is to think of a product, find a manufacturer, order some units to sell, and then go and get started, and then you can learn along that journey. There are so many different groups around or business coaches or mentors who can really help you along the way.

Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.