Jonathan founded Minor Figures in 2014 alongside his two mates Stu Forsyth and Will Rixon. With a degree in business, economics and marketing, an MBA, and a passion for coffee, Jonathan (and Stu and Will) saw a gap in the market that sparked the idea for Minor Figures.
The company was born from humble beginnings, starting in an East London microbrewery before evolving into the game-changing, industry leader that you now know and love. Minor Figures develops boundary-pushing products that can be found in over 20 countries – products that are both great for their customers and great for the planet (this includes Australia’s first ever Light Oat M*lk!).
Jonathan and his mates ensured the environment was top of mind within their business, and have recently gone Carbon Neutral and is in the final stages of becoming B- Corp certified, because they believe that balancing out their impact on the world is “the least they can do”. The entire business’ carbon footprint — from product manufacturing to employees’ commutes to work — is neutralised via two Gold Standard Carbon Projects – Biogas in Vietnam, and Clean Cookstoves in Peru.
Tell us about Minor Figures.
We (two Aussies and a Brit) founded Minor Figures in London in 2014, with ambitions to become Europe’s first large batch, long-life, cold brew coffee brewer. We built a brewery and steadily grew the business over the first three years but there was a lot of headwind.
We re-thought and re-launched the brand in 2018 with new branding and a new range, including ready-to-drink nitro cold brews, Barista Oat M*lks and Liquid Chai – all 100% plant-based with no added sugar.
Today, we have offices in the UK, Australia and the USA and export to more than 20 countries. We’re also continuing to expand our product range, with a focus on innovation and sustainability. We are 100% carbon neutral. We want to be the most exciting and innovative coffee company in the world, with the lightest environmental footprint.
What inspired you to start Minor Figures?
What inspired me to start MF, together with my co-founders, Stu and Will, was working with something I loved (coffee), having business partners that were different to me and brought different experiences, perspectives and skills (as well as being good people), and the prospect of building something from scratch.
Tell us about your career and background.
I have not had a linear career path. I have worked across media, action sports, grocery, retail and FMCG in the UK and Australia. Around 5 years before starting Minor Figures, I decided that I wanted to have my own business and step-by-step I worked towards getting relevant experience to give me the confidence and skills to do that.
Describe a typical work day for you.
There is no such thing as a typical work day. Functionally, I mostly work across operations, sales, marketing, finance and HR. My tasks can range from admin locally to strategy at both a local and group level.
Has COVID-19 affected how you operate your business? How?
Definitely. One example is regarding sales. We have a very driven sales team, but they understand that selling during COVID can be a little insensitive when a business owner is struggling to keep their business afloat.
Our sales team currently focus on support, rather than selling, and are doing things like running Freedays events (a café offers free oat m*lk lattes and we pick up the tab), vegan sandwich and donut drops to staff etc. Many of our sales team are ex-baristas so they know, feel and understand the pain some of our customers are going through.
What advice do you have for those wanting to start a business?
Everything takes twice and long and costs twice as much – build that into your plans.
What’s next for you, and Minor Figures?
Next for us is a range of ‘new to the world’ products that we can’t wait to launch. Stay tuned.
For more on Minor Figures, please visit https://au.minorfigures.com.
