Arduous battles alongside health concerns were the catalyst for Tropeaka founders Caleb Marshall and Blake Mackenzie, which ultimately led to a journey towards discovering the powerful benefits of high-quality nutrition, as well as the success Tropeaka sees today.

Through personal trial and error, Caleb and Blake came to realise that many of the health products available on the market at the time were not marketed well to millennials, Gen X and Gen Z, and contained unnatural nasties or products known to exacerbate existing health conditions. It was in 2014 that Caleb and Blake at the age of 23 and 29 respectively, seated at the dining table of their share house, that the young Sydney-based entrepreneurs hatched a plan to make health foods cool and gym supplements healthy.

Tropeaka was later born in 2016 from their desire to allow people to conquer the day the healthy way. Their goal was simple, but the path to launch was trying. In the early days, the duo struggled to juggle their passion project with full-time employment. Delays were recurrent due to the natural challenges that came with starting a health food company. Motivated to go beyond what is simply seen as “good” in the pursuit of excellence, Caleb and Blake undertook painstaking measures to ensure they sourced the highest quality, organic ingredients from the best suppliers around the world.

“On top of this came the difficult task of formulating products alongside nutritionists and naturopaths, which were not only of the highest quality but also tasted great. It’s made even trickier in the world of ‘100% natural plant-based protein powders and bars’, as plant-proteins have a reputation for tasting sub-par, especially those that are free from artificial sweeteners and flavours,” said Caleb.

In the two years that passed between conception to launch, Caleb and Blake exhausted the initial $120,000 self-funded investment. “By the time we had developed a range of high-quality products we were proud of, we were left with a marketing budget of around $0,” said Caleb. He acknowledges that this became the blessing that lead to their exceptionally speedy success; “It allowed our focus to be on achieving all that we could with the limited resources we had, which was ensuring exceptional product quality and providing the best customer experience possible.”

As well as a desire to provide high-quality, organic, plant-based health products, the team at Tropeaka has always maintained a strong focus on developing a community of like-minded people who are proud to express their desire to be healthy and share stories of their own journey.

The brand’s unwavering commitment to providing exceptional customer service, coupled with efforts to market exclusively to a 16-40 year-old audience, has resulted in a highly-engaged 300,000+ social media following across Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and TikTok that use the Tropeaka platforms to research products, seek nutritional advice and share their health updates.

Today, Tropeaka ships to over 50 countries around the world and is in over 200 retail stores across Australia/NZ and around the world, all of which buy directly from Tropeaka’s online wholesale portal. They’re on track to record a turnover of over $20,000,000 this calendar year, to become one of Australia’s fastest-growing and largest health food companies. However, for Caleb and Blake, the greatest achievement is having over 14,000 5-star reviews since they first started to ask customers for reviews in April last year.

“We are blown away by the love people are showing towards our products. It’s been special to see our brand grow so rapidly both online and in cafes, gyms and health foods stores. We’re super proud of the reputation we’ve been able to build and the number of lives we’ve been able to positively impact through our products,” said Caleb.

Tropeaka is now a cult-favourite for its 100% natural plant-based proteins, BCAAs, protein energy bars, superfoods and teas that deliver great taste and texture whilst containing an abundance of health-promoting benefits. “It’s important that consumers read ingredient labels to ensure they’re consuming natural, high-quality and wholesome foods. Many products on the market promote that their ingredients and flavours are natural, however they leave off the important point that the product is sweetened with artificial sweeteners, or full of artificial preservatives”, explained Caleb.

Outside of Tropeaka products, Caleb and Blake also encourage health-conscious millennials to educate themselves on what not to include in their day to day diets, something they claim is just as important in ensuring they live a powerful, healthy life.

For further information, visit www.tropeaka.com.au

Tropeaka will be exhibiting at Naturally Good next year, 30-31 May 2021 at ICC Sydney.