Since forming Club Soda in 2015, Laura Willoughby has been championing mindful drinking, but it’s not always been an easy job. She shares three things she learned about the complications of wholesale, building an emerging category and the nature of the trade
Wholesalers are conservative gatekeepers of what society drinks
In the on-trade, most venues don’t want to order from multiple wholesalers and providers and really just order from the biggies such as Matthew Clark and Bidfood. If the product you want to stock isn’t with them, the majority of places find it hard to stock it. It’s the same the whole way through the industry and, as you can imagine, it’s very hard to get alcohol-free products stocked as part of this, which makes growth for those in this new category difficult. The wholesalers will tell you that if you can find 20 new customers, they’ll consider putting you on, but it doesn’t guarantee it. It’s a broken system in terms of products, meeting the demands of customers and introducing a whole new category of drinks. It’s not that different in supermarkets either, which either have limited shelf space or lack expertise to range the category.
People don’t understand the low & no or mid-strength category yet
We run an Academy for people working in drinks, and it still surprises me how much confusion there is around low & no and mid-strength. That’s understandable, everyone’s busy and this is yet another category to get your head around. What I didn’t fully appreciate at first is just how vital education is to keeping this sector alive and kicking and getting customers coming through the door. Bring together data, real shop-floor insight, proper tasting, expert guidance and peer learning, and suddenly it all clicks.
The drinks industry is a nurturing space
Despite the problems, the drinks industry is a friendly place and there’s something nurturing about it. The industry is about giving people a good experience, and I think that shows in how the sector operates. I’ve found that it often attracts people who are quite neurodiverse because they don’t just want to sit in front of a computer and they love spending time with people. Because of that, I think as an industry we’re always starting with a solid base of wanting to make sure people are having a good time. That’s also true of the alcohol-free space, which is really lovely and collaborative, with brands always supporting each other and sharing information. Especially with small businesses, there’s somewhat of that start-up spirit, where people rely on sharing knowledge with their peers. We’re also lucky enough to have support in our industry from charities like The Drinks Trust, which supports health and careers and helps people in hardship. It is a great example of the generous nature of the sector.
