Jens Holm-Christensen
Persistence is a good quality as an entrepreneur
Jens Holm-Christensen is the owner of Bolcheværk, which he officially launched at the Food Festival in Aarhus in 2018. But Jens didn't just start up overnight. The initial preparatory work started two years before in the form of market and competitor analyses, drawing up a business plan, product and concept development and much more.
Bolcheværk makes tasty candies sweetened with stevia so that they do not contain sugar - and are thus a healthier alternative to regular candies. This was also where the initial product challenge lay in his company. When you make candies with the sweetener stevia, it is really difficult to get a good taste. The stevia plant has a slightly bitter and anise-like taste, which often comes through, so it was the first nut to crack.
But Jens saw a gap in the market for gourmet sweets. There were a lot of delicious delicacies in chocolate, liquorice and wine gum, but nothing yet in candies. After the decision to invest in candies was made, it came quite naturally to focus on exclusively sugar-free candies. "I simply would not be able to vouch 100% for a product that I knew was almost pure liquid sugar and therefore directly unhealthy. Typically, you also have a candy in your mouth for a long time, so it would be better to develop a product that is not harmful to the body and teeth." It also matched up quite well with the emerging consumer trends where people were becoming more and more aware of what they were putting in their mouths. However, it was important that even though the candies were sugar-free, they still had to taste good. In Jens' opinion, there weren't any sugar-free candies that did that at the time. They all tasted rather tame and sexless, and typically the candies were also packaged rather boringly.
There is plenty of flavor in Bolcheværk's candies, and the packaging signals quality and sustainability. Bolcheværk is thus trying to do away with prejudices about sugar-free candies. The positive feedback from those who taste when he attends fairs and the likes only confirms him that it was a good choice to bet on sugar-free and the good taste. The demand for such alternative products is increasing. Most people just think it's cool that they can now enjoy candies without a guilty conscience.
In addition to flavors and ingredients, there are many other things that play a role in getting a perfect candy. Among other things, the right temperature and humidity. At the very beginning, he himself experimented with the recipes at home in his own kitchen, but he soon found out that it was not possible to make a proper product that way. So Jens has found a producer in Kolding, who he works closely with on developing the recipes. "The ingredients and the composition of flavors and powder in the candies are so finely balanced that it cannot be made by hand, by myself." But Jens packs in packaging and sends the products himself to retailers and private customers, so the final touch is absolutely perfect.
Cookies from childhood
You can say that Jens worked towards becoming an entrepreneur from an early age. When he was in the 4th grade in elementary school, he had a candy store with his brother and a few good friends. They had learned how to make candies in home economics and subsequently bought a starter kit for making candies. They started making candies at home in Jens's mother's kitchen and sold bags of 75 g for 5 kroner at football matches, in the schoolyard, at the local bus stop, etc. The experience stayed with him, and many years later he has his own candies business.
When he decided in his adult life that now he wanted to give entrepreneurship a try, he wasn't quite sure what the focal point would be. He began researching the market and found the potential of candy bars, which fit perfectly with the little innocent candy adventure he embarked on as a child. "I analyzed myself to the point that sugar-free candies with the right concept could have great potential. Johan Bülow, who is a great source of inspiration, has really done it well and created a huge brand selling licorice, but there are not many other places in the world other than Denmark and the Nordics where licorice is naturally eaten. Cookies are used to be eaten everywhere in the world. And in addition, there is an additional target group of 300-400 million worldwide who suffer from diabetes and who also demand tasty sugar-free alternatives, so the market potential is perhaps even greater than with licorice. This is of course said in all humility, as I have the greatest respect for what Johan Bülow has built."
Persistence is the way forward. Growth has not always been so fast, but it is about being persistent and maintaining a high work ethic. "Keep believing in things, even if it takes longer than the companies you see in, for example, Løvens Hule". Persistence is what has made Jens where he is today, and it is constantly progressing step by step.
The near future will offer the development of more flavors as well as increasing the number of specialist shops selling Bolcheværk. Right now, Bolcheværk's products can be found in around 150 specialist shops throughout the country, including wine shops, flower shops, farm shops and museum shops, in addition they are sold via their own webshop. Jens does not yet work full-time with Bolcheværk, but hopefully there will come a day when that can be realized. The ambition is for Bolcheværk to become a healthy and large company. "In it for the long game." Jens hopes that with Bolcheværk he can contribute jobs to Denmark in the long term.
Jens' entrepreneurial journey is off to a good start. Last year he took part in 'Sol over Gudhjem', which is a product competition within food products. Here, a judging panel of top Danish chefs and food experts taste and select three final products in four different food categories. Out of approximately 160 submitted products, Jens' raspberry & licorice candy was selected to be in the confectionery final. "It was really a seal of approval for the most important thing, namely the product, that a selection of top Danish chefs also thought that the taste was fine."
Good advice from Jens
"Entrepreneurship can be done in many ways. There is not only one path which is the right one" Jens still works alongside his business, which he enjoys doing the best so far. There are many who think that it all has to be all-in in that Jesper Buch-esque way. Jens has huge respect for Jesper Buch and has also read his books, but that did not mean that it was the right thing for him. Some bet everything on one board, and others do like Jens. Moves quietly into it, but keeps the job on the side. There is no one way that is right. You have to do what feels best in your gut. The process may be a little slower, but you have the security of a fixed income. And maybe you are lucky enough to have some good colleagues and an exciting job where you can gain some experience that can be used in the company and vice versa.
"It is a personal dream to build something from scratch and see it grow, but I have not dared to take too great a risk in front of my family. Although I have always had the full support of my wife for the project, I try to keep the risk down to an acceptable level. Bolcheværk means a lot to me, but ambitious entrepreneurship can be reconciled with a well-functioning family life, and we also just had a little girl. Long working days are perfectly fine, but it is important to me that there is also time for other things. It's not worth it if I go down with severe stress or end up divorced. Then all of a sudden the sacrifice is too big. And you can easily succeed as an entrepreneur, even if you take it at a slightly slower pace. You don't have to risk everything to be successful.”
Jens would also like to make an effort to do his preparatory work thoroughly. It has helped him a lot to have the initial market analysis and a detailed business plan to lean on. Jens takes out his original business plan from time to time and can see that what he wrote several years ago is almost exactly what has happened today. "The processing is important, pricing is important and finding a product that can differentiate itself in the market. You cannot lie with the highest price in the market as a brand new player. You will need to do some calculations on the expected unit costs to assess whether the suggested retail price is realistic or will be too high compared to competing products in the market.”
Startup Central has helped Jens with
The first time Jens was introduced to Startup Central, it was the discount deals that he could see an idea in. After he had "explored" Startup Central a bit, he saw the potential in the advice you can get from the coaches. "There are many different experts there, you can freely ask for advice. It has been crucial for me to become a member. I have received good sparring on, among other things, SEO and link building, funding opportunities and pitch rounds, as well as taking advantage of the discount agreement with Legal Up, which has helped transform the company into an ApS with a holding company at the top."
At Startup Lounge, Jens reads the posts that people post, and he answers if he feels he has the experience to answer.
Follow Jens' entrepreneurial journey
Jens has a big adventure ahead of him with Bolcheværk. In the future, to enrich us with even more wonderful flavors through his sugar-free candies.
In any case, we are looking forward to tasting them. We you also follow his development, so check out his website Bolcheværk and follow his SoMe profiles: Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
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