Broadland Wineries is eyeing a move into kombucha, The Grocer can reveal.
The winemaker, which recently launched a new wing of its business dedicated to low and no-alcohol products called The Live Kindly Drinks Company, has applied to register the name ‘Booch & Bloom’ with the Intellectual Property Office.
A spokeswoman for Broadland Wineries said The Live Kindly Drinks Company was “focusing on non-alcoholic drinks with societal and environmental benefits” and was “currently exploring a number of product styles, brand concepts and partnerships”. She stressed it was “still in the new product development phase”.
Broadland CEO Mark Lansley founded The Live Kindly Drinks Company earlier this year.
It forms part of an ongoing effort to diversify Broadland’s business away from ‘British’-made wines, spurred on by a change to how duty is collected on diluted alcoholic drinks, which is expected to send Broadland’s production costs surging. It comes into force in February 2020.
Yet the news comes on the back of a solid year for the supplier - for the 52 weeks to 31 March, profits surged by £1.7m to £2m. This time last year, Broadland’s profits had been sent plunging by Brexit’s effect on the pound. Sales meanwhile grew 11.6% to £70.6m.
Broadland is not the only wine supplier eyeing kombucha: rival Lanchester Wines earlier this month announced the return of its own kombucha brand, Dragon Tree, to the market after a 16-year hiatus.
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