Nick Smith revs up his passion for Supercharged Beverage venture

Nick Smith will be the first to admit that it takes boundless energy just to launch a sport drink company, much less nurture its growth to more than $500,000 in sales before its first anniversary.

But the naturally high-energy Smith — who grew up in the mountain town of Andrews, N.C., visiting family often in Columbus before making a permanent move with his wife to Harris County — appears up to the challenge. After all, he researched and developed Supercharged Beverage Company all while holding down a full-time job more than a decade with the Columbus Water Works, which he left at the end of December.

But the time ultimately arrived last April for the launch of his natural sports drink called Supercharged, and its presence has been growing ever since in local supermarkets like Publix and Piggly-Wiggly, as well as in quite a few convenience stores. But that’s simply a sip from the bucket as Smith, 33, now is working — with a little help from his friends and distributor connections — to expand in markets other than Columbus, LaGrange and Macon, Ga., and east Alabama. (The drink even has a small presence in Chicago, Ill.) At the moment, the company is tackling the college town market of Athens, Ga.

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