Inside Radek Sali’s Wanderlust, from choctops to yoga

Radek Sali is tapping the global trillion-dollar ‘impact investing’ market, with its social and financial returns, after reaping $250m from selling vitamin group Swisse.

Swisse founder Radek Sali at home in Brunswick Heads on the NSW north coast: ‘Vitamin C is one of the dirtiest products. Its carbon footprint is very ordinary’ Picture: Natalie Grono

It might be hard to link choctops and popcorn with wholefoods and yoga. But not if you’re Radek Sali.

The entrepreneur – who made $250m from the $1.67bn sale of vitamin group Swisse in 2015 – has become synonymous with wellness.

It has been part of his life.

His father Avni is an “integrated medicine” pioneer, and at 81, still gives the younger Sali plenty of advice – often via email in the early hours of the morning.

So it’s no surprise that Sali has bounced back into the health business, launching a new product range under his Wanderlust brand.

What is surprising is that he began his career selling choctops and popcorn at Village Cinemas, and still sees links between the movie and wellness businesses.

The common factor? Showmanship.

It was the key to the success of Swisse, and what propelled it to attract a lofty price tag – almost 17 times more than an internal valuation – from Hong Kong-listed Biostime (now Health and Happiness Global).

Now Sali is hoping to do it again with Wanderlust, known for its yoga festivals, which have taken a battering during the Covid pandemic.

This is where the movie business comes in. Sali recalls working with Village chief executive Graham Burke, known for his animated showmanship, particularly when launching V-Max cinema screens.

“I remember sitting with Graham when he came up with the idea. ‘V-Max, we’re going to call it, and it’s got to be the biggest in the world’,” Sali says.

“That excitement that I felt going to a barbecue and talking about the company I worked with (Village) and everyone wanting to know about the next Brad Pitt movie or what Martin Scorsese was up to – then all of a sudden I went to Swisse.

“I’ll tell people I worked there and they asked if I worked at the embassy. I’d say ‘no, it’s in vitamins’, then change the subject because back then everyone was marketing IBS – ‘this will help with your irritable bowel syndrome or urinary tract infection’.

“It was a very health-focused, claim-benefits category.

“They weren’t very great talking points at barbies, especially for blokes, because we’re not great at talking about our health at the best of times.

“So at Swisse we bought this whole lifestyle factor.”

Swisse became a permanent fixture inside the Melbourne Cup’s Birdcage, recruiting celebrities including Nicole Kidman, ­Hilary Swank and AFL premiership captain Tom Harley. Vitamins became sexy, marketed as how people could deliver peak versions of themselves.

But there was a downside, which Sali is now eager to resolve in his Wanderlust.

While vitamins are aimed at making people more healthy, he says their production can have the opposite effect on the planet.

“I’ll use the example of vitamin C, vitamin D and zinc.

“If we were to pick up the five leading brands … they are all from the same source, the same product effectively, with a different label on it,” Sali says.

“Vitamin C is one of the dirtiest products to manufacture. And it’s only manufactured in China. So its carbon footprint is very ordinary.”

In contrast, his new 55 Wanderlust products – stocked in 2000 retailers nationwide, including Chemist Warehouse, Price­line and Terry White – are all plant-based.

“It’s a whole different story. Our vitamin D is from algae – a wonderful source, pulling carbon from the air as you’re growing in water. It has a really light touch on the environment.”

And it is here that Sali is tapping into corporate zeitgeist, as scores of companies become desperate to show off their environment, social and governance (ESG) credentials to satisfy growing activist investor demand.

If he pulls it off, the benefits are substantial.

The global wellness economy is valued at $4.5 trillion, representing 5.3 per cent of the global economic output, according to the Global Wellness Institute.

Meanwhile, IBISWorld estimates Australia’s corporate wellness service sector to be worth about $287m and growing at 6.1 per cent a year.

Impact or “shared value” investing has been Sali’s main focus since selling Swisse.

It is a market worth about $US715bn ($982bn) and growing, providing investors with financial as well as social ­returns.

In 2016 Sali established a principle-driven family office known as Light Warrior that is run by Adam Gregory, formerly the co-head of Goldman Sachs’ Australian consumer retail and healthcare investment banking business.

Wanderlust is one of Light Warrior’s investments, along with Made by Cow, a raw milk producer also backed by Roc Partners and Bega Cheese-owned Lion Dairy.

“I’m not a doctor – I’m an entrepreneur who sees opportunity to enable people to be their best selves,” Sali said.

For Wanderlust, he has recruited former L’Oreal executive Collette O’Neill as general manager. Sali sees the cosmetics industry as a recipe for success, particularly tapping into the rise of the “conscious consumer”.

Since launching six months ago, Wanderlust has generated $15m in sales.

O’Neill says the beauty industry has a track record in “bringing experiences to life” and creating a sense of community, which she and Sali hope to replicate at Wanderlust, dovetailing its supplements into its festivals business.

“This rise of this conscious consumer, whether it’s skincare or supplements – consumers today are asking what’s in their product, they want to know more and it’s up to brands to deliver that,” O’Neill says.

“With beauty, and it’s the same with supplements and self care, as a consequence I suppose of the times we live in, it’s less of an indulgence and more of an essential and a habit.

“It’s really changed us fundamentally on this wellness and self care journey about taking care of your health.

“After everything the world has been through over the last two years, consumers are clearly seeking more from their supplements, and I think Wanderlust has truly set a new benchmark standard for the industry.”