It’s a whole new world as health charity gets down to business

And so, this year the 31-year-old launched her own brand in a bid to compete with the big boys — and her plan is working.

Being a charity, you can get bulldozed by the big boys

She says: “We decided that if we really wanted to bring about change from a nutrition perspective, we needed to also be approaching things from a commercial viewpoint.

“Being a charity, you take five steps forward then a big business comes and makes you take ten steps back. You can get bulldozed by the big boys such as Coca Cola who have much deeper pockets and stronger bargaining power.

“We said; ‘we want to be one of those big guys, one of the major players, and what’s to stop us?’”

Since she launched Rebel Kitchen in January, she has watched sales soar.

The company’s dairy-free products are now stocked in Whole Foods Market, Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason, online supermarket Ocado and 221 Waitrose stores across the UK. Arbib says she’s now in talks with Tesco and Asda.

“We want to be one of these big commercial brands one day that has health at its very core. We hope to be one of the major players so that we can affect a real change.

“The dream is to be as big a brand as [Coca Cola] and to show people that not only are our products healthy but that we are looking at the business from a holistic perspective.”

She says she “roped” her husband, who works in private equity, into the company.

“His business acumen is something that we need, but he is also passionate about Rebel Kitchen because he loves early-stage businesses. It’s a no-brainer for him to be involved.”

The couple invested their own money into the venture (Arbib won’t say how much). The range includes “mylk” drinks for children in Choco, Banana and Orange Choc varieties, made from coconut milk and spring water. They cost 99p each. There are also adult drinks, priced at £1.89, for 330ml.

“You shouldn’t have to be wealthy to have healthy food and drinks,” she adds. “Right now there are a lot of health foods that are very niche and expensive that caters for a small section of society. But we want to make health foods accessible to more people. We’re going to make it happen — it’s happening.”

Waitrose sales are up 50 per cent week-on-week. The couple expect Waitrose to sell over 500,000 units in year one, resulting in a turnover forecast of £320,000.

Approximately 300,000 units have been produced to date — that’s using around 138,000 coconuts.

The company launched with the children’s range of coconut milks “to give ourselves a platform that is less noisy — the drinks fixture for adults is quite noisy,” she says.

“We found that to give ourselves the best fighting chance and that launching the kids was the best place to start. And we were right as all the doors opened to us.

“There are so many products that I would like to create but it’s a case of finding the right starting point.

“Coconut milk was a no-brainer as we are completely obsessed with coconuts in our house.”

So what does Arbib, an energetic mother-of-three, think of PepsiCo chief executive Indra Nooyi’s comments that women can’t have it all, but can only “pretend” to?

Nooyi, named one of the world’s most powerful women by Forbes, has said she was laden “with guilt” over the sacrifices she has had to make with her two daughters as a result of her career.

“The quick answer is, I disagree,” says Arbib, whose children are aged eight, six and four.

“I think we can try to have it all. There is always going to be a matter of juggling and time management but everything has its place.

“I think it’s rigid to think you cannot be a highly successful corporate head while at the same time being a good mother.”

She continues: “We live in an integrated and online world that doesn’t necessarily tie us to the office all day.

“I think companies need to give working mothers more flexibility to work from home and work remotely. And let’s not pretend that we can all do it on our own.

“We shouldn’t be scared to ask for help of friends and family. We should all lean on each other so that we can all achieve our potential.”

Arbib speaks to me from Rebel Kitchen’s central London offices, ahead of her commute home to Hampshire.

Did she anticipate that the business would take off as it has? “I’m a fast-paced person,” says Arbib, who is equally fast-talking.

“I’m an energiser-type bunny. I don’t know how to do business any other way.”

Born in New York to Israeli parents, she moved to the UK aged ten. She returned to the United States to study classics at Brown University before doing a law conversion at the London College of Law.

“In typical Jewish fashion, I got married aged 20. I did my law conversion six months with a belly and six months with a newborn.”

Before launching her business, she decided to “take a break and raise my children the way my parents raised me, which was to be around”.