Small Business: What’s the buzz about alcoholic lemonade?

Edward Eaton (left) and Wilbur Morrison of Christchurch have developed BEE alcoholic lemonade and say some exciting summer projects are in store.

Craft brewers have been in turmoil, supermarket shoppers have long had their choices restricted, and RTDs have cornered a chunk of the youth market. Could honey-derived alcoholic lemonade add some fizz to the industry and win over customers dissatisfied with current offerings? Edward Eaton and Wilbur Morrison of Christchurch start-up BEE seem to think so - and have already made inroads.

What is BEE?

Put simply, it’s a new, and super tasty boozy lemonade.

It’s naturally brewed the old-fashioned way and is touching down in liquor and grocery stores across New Zealand.

It’s brewed from honey, which creates a light, fruity base, then we squeeze in a lot of lemons.

Where did you get the idea for the business?

After spending some time in the alcohol industry, we noticed supermarkets losing customers to liquor stores because of their ability to sell a wider range of alcohol.

We saw the opportunity and acted fast, releasing our supermarket-compliant alcoholic lemonade.

Alcoholic lemonade was booming in the US and starting to pick up in Australia, so it made sense that we make a Kiwi version.

In a market saturated with canned RTD (ready-to-drink) options, we wanted to re-imagine what has typically been viewed as outdated packaging formats by offering our lemonade in 1.25L PET bottles.

This not only reduces packaging waste but also allows people to share with friends or save some for later. It was important for us to offer a lighter alcohol and higher quality drink than what is traditionally associated with PET bottles.

What are your respective roles in the company?

Edward: I handle the marketing and events. Wilbur manages production, and finance, and acts as our general manager. We have also just welcomed Trace Dulieu to the team as our sales manager driving growth and new product development.

Trace brings some epic experience to the table after her time at alcohol giants like Asahi and Pernod Ricard - experience which we feel pretty lucky to have in our team.

Edward Eaton says the 5 per cent alcohol BEE lemonade product will give shoppers more choice at supermarkets.

The perks of a small team is that we get to work closely and collaboratively on all areas of the business. Product testing is often one we’re fighting over.

How have CO2 shortages impacted your businesses?

We have been lucky to navigate the CO2 shortages relatively unscathed. Because we contract manufacture, our forecasts need to be pretty accurate to book in time with our manufacturer.

This planning helps eliminate potential shortfalls. Working with skilled contract managers has also made getting through challenges like this much more manageable.

With some craft brewers running into trouble lately, how will BEE avoid the pitfalls affecting the likes of Epic, Brothers and Deep Creek?

It’s heartbreaking to see New Zealand breweries struggling. It is all the proof you need to see there are some real challenges out there.

We’re fortunate our category is slightly different to beer. We’ve been among the first to introduce alcoholic lemonade to Kiwis, and BEE is the first alcoholic lemonade you can get at the supermarket.

This creates new opportunities, which is great, but also comes with a different set of challenges.

How have you managed to get BEE into retail outlets?

To test our gut feel, we did a trial of BEE in a couple of stores in Christchurch and Dunedin. It was a success and the early customers have been instrumental in generating hype through word of mouth.

People were so keen for alcoholic lemonade, they were asking for it in store so that meant supermarkets were eager to get BEE on the shelves.

Since then, shoppers have been coming back for more, which has been a huge driver of our expansion.

Who are your customers now - and who are you targeting with the upcoming Pink product?

Our biggest fans are people aged 25 to 30 who are searching for something different to traditional RTDs. They like it because it’s lighter in alcohol, tastes great and comes in an easily shareable pack.

For many, old-fashioned lemonade has an incredible sense of nostalgia.

It’s so Kiwi to have a lemon tree in the backyard, and for early summertime memories to be filled with homemade lemonade, a squeeze of lemon on fresh fish, or a wedge of lemon plopped in a drink while barbecuing with mates.

Right from the start, there’s been a ton of requests for Pink. Questions have come up about whether BEE pink lemonade is targeted at a certain audience - far from it!

We’ve had massive enthusiasm across the board from all our test groups and customers. It’s quickly become my favourite too. Thanks to the popularity of the Barbie movie, pink is a real trend across a diverse audience.

We couldn’t be more thrilled with how the flavour has come out on this one.

Apart from Pink Lemonade, what else is coming up for BEE?

We’ve got a lot cooking behind the scenes, but it’s all hush-hush for now. The hard part is figuring out which one comes next.

Watch this space. This summer we are partnering with some pretty special events, like Rolling Meadows and Nest Fest to share BEE with movers and groovers up and down the country.