Sam Carson | Wellbeing in Business

QUT alumnus Sam Carson delves into Acai Brothers, the successful superfood business he co-founded with long-time friend and fellow alumnus Ben Day. Coming from a background in health and fitness, the pair were driven to establish a brand that reflected key values such as community, lifestyle, and fitness, as well as providing customers with a healthy way to eat out.

Can you tell us a bit about how the idea for Acai Brothers came about?

Acai Brothers was born because where we were from, the Redlands, there weren’t many healthy options and both Ben and I thought it would be great to bring a healthy grab-and-go option to the community. We saw that superfoods were beginning to gain some traction and thought about developing our very own acai bowl brand. We met with a food chef who had experience in this area and she developed our first menu. We saw an opportunity in this space and decided to do something about it.

What role did your background in sport play in shaping your business' focus on wellbeing?

Sport has played a huge role in my business life. It has taught me to be patient, reliant and structured. When we started out, Ben and I were both gym owners. This gave us quite a unique access point to a wellbeing-focused target market.

Many people struggle to maintain healthy food choices while eating out. How does Acai Brothers empower customers to make wellbeing-focused choices?

Wellbeing is often linked to having a sense of community. How do you create inclusive spaces that foster connections and promote the wellbeing of Acai Brother’s customers?

Community for Acai Brothers is one of our pillars and it starts at a customer level right through to head office. We encourage our store owners to get involved in their local communities and we also do this on a national level, from catering right down to our marketing strategies. We’ve worked hard to break the stigma attached to superfoods by creating an inviting atmosphere in our stores to make all people feel comfortable.

As a former athlete, how do you prioritise your own health and wellbeing while balancing a busy schedule?

It’s part of my everyday life. It doesn’t have to be hard but just something for the body to keep the mind in check. The mind is a very strong tool and the stronger it is, the better I perform. It starts by eating healthy and challenging the body every single day so everything else is easy.

How does Acai Brothers prioritise the wellbeing of its employees?

We encourage our store owners to be role models of wellbeing to their employees; it starts at the head office level which then trickles down to the franchisees and the employees.  Examples include participating in local run clubs, joining a local health and wellness centre, and reading books that are of interest to the specific person because we know that a healthy body starts with a healthy mind.

In what ways does your work with Acai Brothers align with your daily mantra of, “Get up every morning and do something good”?

You simply just feel better when you're healthy. When you're not, you can feel an energy shift, which impacts decision-making and so much more. Maintaining good health is a priority and we’ve created a business that helps people do that.

You took quite a substantial break in your university studies. In what ways do you think the decision to come back and complete your degree impacted your career?

I hate not finishing something, so I had to come back and finish the degree I set out to achieve. When I left QUT to pursue a career, I was 20 years old and still had two years left of my degree to complete. I came back to QUT at the age of 24 to complete the course. The knowledge that I learnt throughout my extended major in marketing at QUT allowed me to have the confidence to try new things at Acai Brothers and to set us up for success.

Sam Carson

QUT degree - Bachelor of Business (Marketing) (2016)

Have a question for Sam? Connect with him on LinkedIn.