Manchester-based soft drinks brand Hip Pop has assembled its senior leadership team, having appointed Matt Taylor as its head of sales.
Taylor has joined Hip Pop from Britvic, where he was a senior account manager. Prior to this, he spent six years at Nestlé, joining the fmcg giant as an apprentice before progressing to a variety of customer business manager roles.
He joins head of marketing Alena Linhartová, head of operations Elli Leeming and management accountant Adam Kenyani on Hip Pop’s senior leadership team, all of whom have joined Hip Pop this year.
The team has been compiled and is headed up by Hip Pop’s CEO Graham Beales, who joined the business from sports nutrition brand Grenade last November.
Taylor brought “big corporate experience with the grocers” to Hip Pop, Beales said. “He’s not just the sales guy; he understands the marketing and supply chain elements as well. He’s a relationship builder. He’s tactical and strategic in terms of his thinking and his approach.”
Linhartová, meanwhile, was “very brand-orientated and strategic” and would be tasked with managing Hip Pop’s “complete marketing portfolio, from e-commerce right through to branding and strategy”, Beales said.
Leeming, who joined the soft drinks supplier in January from craft brewer Vocation, is responsible for managing the manufacturing of Hip Pop’s drinks, as well as growing its co-manufacturing and co-packing business.
Kenyani – having joined from Adding Value Accounting in February – was in charge of “policing” Hip Pop’s spend and “guiding the teams through their budgets”, Beales said. He had “a great balance between practice accounting and management accounting”, he added.
Hip Pop now had a “really eclectic mix of people” that were “completely focused on the company’s growth objectives”, Beales said.
Launched in 2019 by Kenny Goodman and Emma Thackray, Hip Pop makes a range of vegan, low-sugar and non-artificial kombucha and sodas.
Its drinks are listed with retailers including Sainsbury’s, M&S, Waitrose, Co-op and Ocado.
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