Fran founded Riviera whilst in her third year of University after noticing a gap in the market for a better tasting and better for you iced tea brand. She studied Criminology at University with a dream to join the police. During lockdown, furloughed from a job she hated, she decided to start freelancing. She started working for a drinks startup and fell in love with the industry. Having always been a bit of a workaholic but often underappreciated, she decided to go out on her own and launch her own brand. Riviera was founded with savings initially intended for travelling and as a market stall business on her weekends after working full time.
After realising how much people loved her iced tea she started selling into local cafes. The brand has since grown from her spare room to a warehouse with over 200,000 cans produced. Today, 2 years on, Riviera is stocked in over 300 venues including pubs, garden centres and cafes. Still a boostrapped business and as the sole employee Fran has won 6 wholesale listings and seen the brand successfully launch into 100 co-op stores. Fran shares all the ups and downs of starting a business on her fast growing tiktok account.
