Because the Rampollas want to support economic development in Latin America, Zico is produced and packaged in Brazil. That creates factory jobs, not just the agricultural work of harvesting the young coconuts. The company has also pledged to give 5 percent of its net profits to improve health and education in the communities where the product is produced. The marketing budget is small, so the approach is "grassroots and guerrilla" - no advertising, but a lot of free samples at health stores and athletic events. There have been anxieties and some scary moments, as in any new business. Soon after Zico got started, a paperwork problem with U.S. Customs halted shipment of the product from Brazil, a mess that took two months to untangle. And living without a reliable corporate paycheck has required some adjustments by the Rampollas, who have two young daughters. But the company is growing, and Rampolla hopes to hire five people, mostly in sales, in 2007. Having lived as both a poor Peace Corps volunteer and an affluent executive in the Third World, Rampolla has a different perspective on business ups and downs. "We always know if things really go south, we'll wind up on a beach in South America, and as long as I have my wife and kids, I'll be happy," Rampolla says. "I just really enjoy everything that's involved in trying to make this happen."
Costa Rica RPCV Mark Rampolla sells Zico - Coconut water imported from Brazil and marketed as a high-potassium, sugar-free alternative to Gatorade
An energetic endeavor
Jan 7, 2007
Record, Northern New Jersey
Caption: Mark Rampolla and Zico Coconut Water
An idea.
Financing.
Management skills.
Those are the three things an entrepreneur needs, Mark Rampolla told a friend over drinks in Miami a few years back.
Of the three, he concluded, he had the management skills, and he could probably find the financing.
"So the only difference between you and an entrepreneur is an idea," his friend said. "And you can come up with an idea as easily as anyone else."
"That night," Rampolla says, "I started brainstorming ideas."
After about three months of research, he decided to sell coconut water, imported from Brazil and marketed as a high-potassium, sugar- free alternative to Gatorade and other sugary sports drinks.
The product, Zico, is now sold for $2 per 11-ounce container in yoga studios, health food stores (including Whole Foods) and other outlets.
Rampolla, 37, took a winding road traveling through several countries and corporate jobs to become a coconut water importer.
A Pittsburgh native and graduate of Marquette University, he served in the Peace Corps in Costa Rica, becoming fluent in Spanish and falling in love with Latin America. When he returned to the U.S., he got a joint master's degree in environmental management and business administration at Duke University.
In North Carolina, he met his wife, Maura, who was studying public health at the nearby University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She also had a passionate interest in Latin America, having volunteered in Nicaragua.
After graduation, the couple lived in El Salvador for five years, where Mark ran the Latin American paper-packaging business for International Paper. He loved the work. And being with a large company taught him valuable management skills, he says.
But, like a lot of guys in suits, he dreamed of being part of a start-up and "doing something unique." After returning to the U.S. and settling in Oradell, the Rampollas used their savings to do the research that led them to Zico. Later, they raised a stake in "seven figures" from investors among their family, friends, and former corporate associates.
"We wanted to do something we felt great about," Rampolla says.
"Coconut water delivers all the benefits of a sports drink with no sugar added. It's Mother Nature, not some guys in a lab, that made it."
Rampolla says the name for the product was made up "We wanted something short and memorable, that had 'co' somewhere in it for coconut" and tested with consumers.
Don't confuse Zico with coconut milk this water comes from young, green coconuts before they develop the familiar white "meat" and milk. It's like water, but with more body and a hint of coconut; it's not like drinking a Mounds bar. Along with the regular flavor, Zico comes in flavored varieties mango and passion fruit/orange peel.
Because the Rampollas want to support economic development in Latin America, Zico is produced and packaged in Brazil.
That creates factory jobs, not just the agricultural work of harvesting the young coconuts. The company has also pledged to give 5 percent of its net profits to improve health and education in the communities where the product is produced.
The marketing budget is small, so the approach is "grassroots and guerrilla" - no advertising, but a lot of free samples at health stores and athletic events.
"We can't afford to sponsor the New York marathon, but we can sponsor the Franklin Lakes triathlon," Rampolla says.
And the company has managed to get favorable mention in several health and fitness magazines, including National Geographic Adventure, Men's Fitness and Health.
"Our approach is to be really positioned as a post-workout recovery drink," Rampolla says.
Chris Marino, owner of the Cool Beans coffee shop in Oradell, says Zico is popular with his customers, especially those who exercise a lot.
"I just had somebody order six cases," Marino says. Not everyone likes the taste, he acknowledges, but "if you like coconut, you'll love it."
Looking to the future, Rampolla hopes that coconut water is the next soy milk. A couple of decades ago, few people had heard of soy milk, and even fewer drank it. Now it's a billion-dollar annual business.
"I believe coconut water will be a billion-dollar business in 10 or 15 years, and I believe if we can execute our strategy correctly, Zico will be the leading brand in that category," says Rampolla.
The company's competition comes from a company called CocoWater and from Goya Foods, the Secaucus-based Latin food company. Rampolla has had to resist markets' attempts to relegate Zico to the ethnic or Hispanic foods aisle. "That's a hump a lot of other companies didn't get over," he says. Zico has had more success in positioning its products "as an upscale alternative to sports drinks."
There have been anxieties and some scary moments, as in any new business. Soon after Zico got started, a paperwork problem with U.S. Customs halted shipment of the product from Brazil, a mess that took two months to untangle. And living without a reliable corporate paycheck has required some adjustments by the Rampollas, who have two young daughters.
But the company is growing, and Rampolla hopes to hire five people, mostly in sales, in 2007.
Having lived as both a poor Peace Corps volunteer and an affluent executive in the Third World, Rampolla has a different perspective on business ups and downs.
"We always know if things really go south, we'll wind up on a beach in South America, and as long as I have my wife and kids, I'll be happy," Rampolla says. "I just really enjoy everything that's involved in trying to make this happen."
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Zico
Product: Coconut water
Founded: 2004
Founder and owner: Mark Rampolla
Location: Oradell
Employees: 2
Revenues: High six figures
Slogan: "The enlightened sports drink"
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E-mail: lynn@northjersey.com
