Member Article

Owain Williams, co-founder of Lick: ‘It means so much more than frozen yogurt to people in Brighton’

For childhood friends Ky Wright and Owain Williams, spending summer days selling frozen yogurt from a trike in the Welsh seaside town of Tenby must seem like a distant memory. Nowadays, the duo are much more likely to be hosting a yoga workshop or helping a young musician record their first record at the Lick warehouse in Brighton.

Ky and Owain launched Lick Yogurt in 2006, just two years later, the pair became the first in the country to open a frozen yogurt shop, selecting the colourful town of Brighton to play host their new venture. Since Lick’s launch, the industry has gone from strength to strength with the consumption of frozen yogurt tripling in the UK between 2011 and 2014.

I spoke to co-founder Owain Wright about what it’s like to be heralded as a pioneer of the industry, he said “There were no other frozen yogurt shops at all in the UK when Lick opened, so we had to work everything out for ourselves.

“These days there seems to be a froyo shop on every corner, and we quite often get a call from someone opening a new one who want some tips or shortcuts.

“It’s amazing that the froyo industry has taken off so well since we opened in 2008, and we’re very proud to be known as the “original and best frozen yogurt” (Condé Nast Traveller)”

Lick has since expanded into wholesale, and it currently works with several retailers including Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Ocado to promote its products to consumers across the country, Owain continued: “When we started there were hardly any tubs of frozen yogurt on supermarket shelves, but now almost every supermarket chain has their own brand, as well as about two or three other brands of frozen yogurt for sale.

“It’s become recognized not only as a healthy alternative to ice-cream, but as a delicious treat in its own right. This means it’s not a health fad, but something that’s stood the test of time and is continuing to grow in popularity. So, yeah… I think we were on to a good thing when we discovered our love for frozen yogurt!”

Rewind to 2006, the pair invested in a trike and began developing their unique recipe, Owain was proud to say that, so far, the venture has been completely self-funded, he said: “We started selling homemade froyo from a trike we bought with our pocket money when we were in school. We made enough in one summer to afford another trike, then had enough to apply for the lease of a whole beach, and then we’d saved enough to open Lick in Brighton.

“The popularity of the Lick shop enabled us to develop the world’s first and only frozen yogurt which is made from 100% yogurt. We launched our tubs in a few Brighton delis and the Duke of York’s Cinema. Now they are on the shelf in Sainsbury’s, and have just gone on sale in Waitrose too.”

Relocating from Tenby to Brighton to launch a business is quite the journey, and Owain insisted that the innovation and creativity in Brighton has been conducive to Lick’s staggering growth over recent years, he said: “Brighton is a bit like the San Francisco of the UK. New fashions and trends are born here, and people really embrace creative people and fresh ideas.

“We knew it was the place to introduce frozen yogurt to the UK, and we’ve enjoyed every moment there. We opened our doors not only to froyo fans, but to musicians (music sessions), artists (exhibitions) and film makers (various students have used the Lick shop to film in), and so we quickly became a bit of a hangout spot for the Brighton youth.

“Lick means much more than frozen yogurt to people in Brighton, and that’s how we’d love everyone to see it.”

In 2013, the Lick shop closed its doors as the company continued on its chosen path of wholesale, Owain, Ky and newbie marketing guru Thomas Lavis, embarked on a whole new creative journey - the Lick Warehouse: “The inspiration behind the Warehouse was the shop. We just wanted to carry on putting on interesting events, so found a place that would enable us to do that.

“We now have a proper stage for bands, rather than a tiny space by a till, there’s a proper art studio space in the corner we donate for residencies, and have a school area (with a blackboard and lockers and everything) where we put on talks.

“The space is also used weekly for ‘pay what you can’ Lick Yoga, and various people get in touch to film here. Most weekends it’s being used for something, and about half the weekday evenings. We try our best to document all of this and put it online.”

Lick is currently running a crowdfunding campaign on Crowdcube to support ongoing growth internationally and also as a way of rewarding the brand’s dedicated fanbase, Owain commented: “We need to add some new sales and ops people to the team as we grow. We also need to increase our marketing spend in the UK and internationally.

“We are about to begin exporting our tubs and soft serve fro yo, which will need marketing support to really hit the ground running.

“We’ve managed so far with almost non-existent budgets, just by being creative and working with talented friends, and have 4 marketing awards to show for it – it’ll be exciting to up this even more and see how we can shake things up.”

Lick has just launched a new soft serve frozen yogurt, so expect to see Lick machines popping up all over the country. Additionally, the duo are excited to launch new Lick tubs later this year.

To support the Lick campaign, visit the crowdfunding page.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .