Newcastle-founded wellness company Renovatio Bioscience is set to launch its flagship product in Walmart stores across the United States next month, marking the most significant retail milestone yet for a brand built on patented Australian apple science.
The push into the world’s largest retailer caps a decade-long journey for founder Dr Vincent Candrawinata, who developed a water-based extraction technology during his PhD at the University of Newcastle that produces what he describes as the most potent natural antioxidant derived from apples.
Trading under the brand name Vincent Plus with its hero product “An Apple a Day”, the company will bring its activated phenolics technology to American consumers through Walmart’s sprawling brick-and-mortar and online network.
The Walmart expansion follows a successful debut on US television shopping network ShopLC earlier this year, where demand far outstripped supply selling one product every three seconds and selling out before the scheduled presentation had finished.
“America has embraced our story much faster than we ever imagined,” says Candrawinata, a clinical nutritionist and antioxidant researcher.
“First, we experienced an incredible response on television and now we are taking another enormous step with Walmart.
“We are bringing Australian science, Australian innovation and a very Australian story to American consumers.”
Candrawinata, widely known as the “Aussie Apple Doc”, first isolated activated phenolics from Australian apples while studying as an international student at the University of Newcastle, where he completed his doctorate after declining a place at Cornell University in the United States.
His patented process uses water rather than chemical solvents to extract and activate antioxidant compounds from whole apples, including the skin, flesh and seeds.
When he first developed the product a decade ago, the university described the resulting compound as the world’s most potent natural antioxidant at the time of his research.
The antioxidant was said to be the first to harness the power of activated phenolics, which are high-strength antioxidants that transport free radicals out of the body. Activated phenolics are a powerful natural preservative found in apples in high concentration.
An angel investor helped fund the early commercialisation of the technology and the US market entry represents a deliberate strategy to leverage the simplicity of the product’s origin story.
The Sydney-based Renovatio, which has developed a range of health supplements, skincare products and pantry goods, last year launched its US spin-off Vincent in partnership with a Chicago investor at a valuation of US$10 million.
While the wellness sector is crowded with complex formulations and synthetic ingredients, Candrawinata has built his pitch to American consumers around a universally understood concept.
“There is something wonderfully simple about the story,” says Candrawinata.
“I spent years studying apples and became fascinated by the extraordinary compounds contained within them.
“The challenge was finding a way to extract and concentrate those compounds in a form that could be used in everyday products. I invented a technology to solve this problem and used to help my grandma.”
The sell-out performance on the ShopLC network provided the commercial proof point that preceded the Walmart agreement.
Candrawinata says the Walmart launch represents validation not just for Renovatio but for Australian science on the global stage.
“For an Australian scientist who started out studying antioxidants in apples, seeing something I developed become available to consumers across America through Walmart is extraordinary,” he says.
“The American consumer is incredibly receptive to innovation, but they also want to understand the story behind what they are buying.
“They want to know who developed it, where it came from and what makes it different.
“When I explain that I am an Australian scientist who has spent years researching antioxidants in apples, people are genuinely fascinated.
“I’ve been called the Aussie Apple Doc, and I think Americans immediately understand what that means. Apples are familiar, but the science behind them is something most people have never really thought about.”
The October launch will see Vincent Plus products available to Walmart’s customer base of more than 240 million weekly shoppers across the United States.
Candrawinata says the launch is part of a much larger US strategy for Renovatio and his Vincent Plus brand.
Rather than treating America simply as an export destination, the company sees the US as a major long-term growth market.
“We are only at the beginning of what we want to achieve in America,” says Candrawinata.
“The response we received through ShopLC gave us confidence that American consumers are interested in what we have developed. Walmart dramatically expands that opportunity.
“For me, one of the most exciting things is imagining someone in America discovering Renovatio for the first time and learning that the product started with an Australian scientist researching apples thousands of miles away.
“That is an amazing journey for a little Australian apple.”