“We jumped into COCO HIT with a little bit of planning, a lot of belief, and a mindset of ‘let’s just see where this takes us’,” says Steph Lacorcia.

It’s probably not the kind of business strategy you’ll find in an MBA textbook, but for Steph and her husband Aaron, it’s the mindset that helped them turn a pregnancy craving and a kitchen experiment into one of Australia’s fastest-growing challenger beverage brands.

Forget about your traditional chocolate and vanilla concoctions, COCO HIT delivers something more exotic to the market. Flavour profiles like strawberry matcha or lychee margarita are proving a favourite with customers and helping to ensure the brand is stocked at 100s of stores around Australia. Not bad going for a couple with zero FMCG experience.

The COCOHIT aha moment

Before COCO HIT was lining café fridges and building a cult following, it was just two exhausted parents with two toddlers under three, trialling coconut water combinations late at night while the kids slept. Steph explains that the idea for COCO HIT was born of a craving. Newly pregnant, she was thirsty and in search of a drink that would quench her thirst. At the time she and husbanc Aaron had been discussing different business ideas.

“At this stage I was pregnant, thirsty and really over water,” Steph says.

Like a lot of health-conscious Aussies, Steph had always enjoyed coconut water, but the options already on shelves felt uninspiring.

“Most of the coconut waters on the market were coconut water with one specific flavour profile. I was just bored of it and thought it could be more fun, bold and marketed differently.”

“Naivety is the only wordfor it!” Steph laughs. “We really had no idea what we were jumping into.”

Turns out, that naivety may have been their secret weapon.

Finding their flavour

While Steph was struggling to find drinks to consume while pregnant, “All the mocktails and juices on the market were just full of crap and made me feel sick,” she says. She and Aaron started experimenting at home. Coconut water mixed with fruit juice. Fun garnishes. Mocktail-style combinations. Different coconut waters sourced from different countries. The more they played around with flavours, the more something clicked.

“The more we tried it in different ways the more our eyes lit up,” Steph says.

“And the best thing was, it didn’t make me feel sick and it kicked my cravings. We thought… could this be something!?”

The pitch that finally got a yes

Steph jokes that over the years she’d thrown plenty of business ideas Aaron’s way. Most were quickly shut down.

“Aaron is a very logical and process-driven person, whereas I am more of a just wing it person,” she says.

Apparently, Aaron’s response was usually some version of: not scalable enough. His reaction to COCO HIT was different.

“After approaching him with the concept, although rough, it was the first one he’s ever said… ‘I like it. Research more and come back to me with more details.’”

That was all Steph needed. “I knew from that moment that we had something worth exploring,” she says.

What followed was a crash course in building a beverage brand from scratch. Steph spent “days and nights on end” researching suppliers, concepts, packaging, pricing and branding. Mood boards took over the house. Mock-ups were created. Product concepts evolved.

Menahwhile, family life and full-time work kept them both busy.At the time, Aaron was working two full-time jobs while Steph was doing makeup work on weekends. Their daughters, Jayde and Chelsea, were still tiny.

“Jayde was 2 years 8 months and Chelsea was 1 year 4 months, so toddler stage was in full swing,” Steph says.

Most days, it was chaos. Anything really important needing Steph’s thoughts was done during nap times and when the girls went down at night.

“Aaron did what he could whilst working his other jobs.”

Most founders talk about hustle culture. Steph and Aaron were literally building a national beverage brand during nap time.

Kitchen experiments and late nights

Product development became a marathon of testing, tweaking and trusting their instincts.

“It was a very long process with a lot of back and forth,” Steph says.

They tested “hundreds” of variations before landing on formulas they loved. interestingly, the deciding factor wasn’t some complicated data point.

“We knew it was right when we kept reaching back for it,” Steph says.

That became their internal benchmark.

“Our goal was to keep a natural ingredient drink with a bold flavour profile that still tasted clean and hydrating.”

Eventually, they took the leap into overseas development and final lab analysis. Then came the terrifying bit: actually launching it into the market.

Starting fresh

A lot of startup food and beverage brands become obsessed with getting into Coles and Woolies straight away. Steph and Aaron deliberately avoided that path. The decision was part necessity. The couple had no relationships with any of the major brands, but for the most part, it was because they wanted to build something more grassroots first.

“We knew by working with independents and foodservice first, we could grow a relationship with business owners and the community who are actually buying our products,” Steph says.

That strategy ended up shaping the DNA of the brand. Instead of feeling like another faceless beverage startup, COCO HIT built its reputation  slowly, customer by customer. Then came the distributor meeting that changed their lives, which almost didn’t happen …

The 56-pallet gamble

When Steph and Aaron first approached their preferred distributor, the timing couldn’t have been worse. It was right before Easter. Peak chaos in the beverage industry.

“We were told to revisit once things quietened down,” Steph says. For two founders who’d already poured their life savings, time and energy into the business, the answer came as a blow.

“This left us in doubt of whether we had made the right call,” Steph admits.

A few weeks later they decided to try again. This time, the meeting went very differently.

“He was awesome, loved the concept and the idea and invited us in to showcase the products,” Steph says.“After we left the meeting grinning, we looked at each other in confirmation of what we created.”

Then came the really big moment. The couple processed their first 56-pallet order. Which sounds exciting until you realise they now had to actually sell it.

Hustling hard

Soon after launch, Steph and Aaron got out on the road themselves.

“We knew we had to get on the road with their reps, get a feel for the community, meet business owners and show our products along with the people behind it,” Steph says.

The results came quickly.After five days on the road they  signed up 72 accounts.

“And we knew what we were building had merit.”

The trip was also a personal milestone.

“This was also the first time ever we had left our kids for a long period of time, let alone overnight together.So we knew we had no other option but to make it work!,” Steph says.

Building a challenger brand

For all the shiny branding and Instagram-friendly cans, Steph is honest about how hard it’s been building a brand from scratch.

“One of the biggest challenges has honestly just been getting the brand out there as a completely new business with no financial backing or prior industry connections,” she says.

The couple have done everything themselves. Outreach. Sampling. Pitching. Relationship building. Sales. Learning everything as they went. It was a crash course in business. Still, this outsider perspective has also worked in their favour.

COCO HIT doesn’t feel like a traditional health drink brand. It leans heavily into lifestyle, wellness, fun and community.

“We see ourselves as a community, lifestyle and fun-driven brand first, and a drink brand second,” Steph says.

That positioning has helped the brand land partnerships with businesses like Matcha Maiden and Greenstreat.

“Having brands like Matcha Maiden back us early helped build a lot of credibility and introduced COCO HIT to a much wider Australian audience,” Steph says.

Building a family business

Despite the rapid growth, COCO HIT still feels incredibly personal for Steph and Aaron. The pair have been together since they were teenagers. Their working relationship, Steph says, comes down to knowing each other inside out.

“We are really in tune with each other and alternate things like clockwork.”

They also quickly learned the importance of dividing responsibilities.Steph’s strengths are in creativity and marketing, whereas Aaron’s are in operations and logistics,  and they distribute tasks accordingly.  They’ve also learned the value of support from familymembers behind the scenes.

“We also wouldn’t be here where we are today without the help from our parents taking the load of toddlers off our shoulders when important meetings or opportunities came up,” Steph says.

Just start

Looking back now, Steph says the thing she’s most proud of is simply having the guts to start.

“It’s something a lot of people dream about doing, but unfortunately never actually take the chance on for so many different reasons,” she says.

And her advice for aspiring founders? Stop waiting for perfect conditions.

“There’s honestly no such thing as the perfect moment to start,” Steph says. “I think this is one of those times where you almost need to be a little impulsive, commit and just go for it.”

As for what’s next, Steph says the dream has always been bigger than beverages.

“We want to create a brand and community that people genuinely feel connected to through lifestyle, culture, wellness and fun,” she says.