Swindon Lives - Kris Talikowski

Owner of The Core, Kris Talikowski chatted to TGtS about juicing, McFly and why he thinks that Swindon has bags of business potential.

Where is home and why?

I have moved around a lot in my life. I was born in Southampton, grew up in Essex. I went to University in Plymouth and was then enticed to Swindon by an ex-girlfriend. I have been in Swindon for 8 years now, and I have met some amazing people here, so I now consider it to be home.

What inspired you to set up your business here?  

I truly believe that if you can make a business work in Swindon you can make it work anywhere, and that especially goes for a health focussed juice bar. Research has shown Swindon to be a microcosm of the whole UK population in terms of demographics and for that reason Swindon provides excellent feedback about how your business may be received across a wider UK audience.  If we can get Swindon “Juiced” I’m sure we can do it anywhere else! 

What advice would you give anyone looking to do the same?  

I think it is very important that each business has its own unique selling point, ours is that we are a 100% health focussed juice bar. Business owners should try to create something new, exciting and niche rather than copy already existing ideas. 

What do you think attracts business people to Swindon? 

There is a good mix of leading, large companies and smaller independent businesses. Old Town is now Swindon’s cultural quarter much like Clifton is to Bristol.  Swindon provides a useful ‘test-bed’ to see if your business will work and whether it is then scalable on a national or level.  We have been received so well, that we’ve already had franchise interest in the UK and Australia. 

How do you like to spend your time off?

I think you need to live by what you promote, which for me, means that I try to live as healthy a lifestyle as I recommend to my customers.  I love the gym, basketball and swimming, and I get immense enjoyment from helping people to improve their health.  

Your phone book must be full of business contacts, but who is the most famous person in there? 

Through the Juice Bar and wider Juicing ‘Industry’, I have had the privilege of meeting many famous people, including McFly, Anne Hathaway and Ed Shearan and getting them ‘Juiced’.  They’ve been a huge influence on their followers so juicing is now not just a thing some super healthy people do, but most people have tried it at some point.

Your 2pm meeting has been cancelled, meaning you now have a two-hour lunch break. What do you do?

When you do a job that you love like owning a juice bar, your life feels like one long lunch break! I get to meet and inspire people every day to be healthy, and because it is my passion, it doesn’t feel like work at all…

Describe Swindon in three words...

Lots of Potential. 

What has been your biggest achievement to date? 

Juicing in the house on ‘Britains Next Top Model’ was lots of fun, and provided a platform to bring the benefits of juicing to a wider audience. It inspired lots of viewers to get healthy, which has to go down as one of my biggest achievements to date.

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The secret to supreme health is actually only as far as away a freshly extracted juice (or two) a day!