Alcohol-free drink plugs hole for adults who don ’ t booze
BEING a teetotaller has opened a new world of opportunities for alcohol-free beverage entrepreneur Gladys Mawoneke with her Breva fine malt drink that has taken the country by storm. Breva, coined from the word “brave ”, started as a result of Mawoneke ’ s quest to find a thirst quencher that was neither still or sparkling water nor a fizzy cold drink.
“Breva came about because I don ’ t drink alcohol, neither do most of my family members. So, I had little to choose from in the market,” she said.
“I felt I was not alone and that there were others who felt the same way.
“My yearning for an alternative to alcoholic drinks became pronounced when I was out and about or being entertained.”
The Rhodes University law graduate and former journalist says she always wanted to be an entrepreneur.
Before conceptualising Breva, Mawoneke worked for other businesses, selling bread, vegetables and unpasteurised amasi and milk in the Cape Town townships of Khayelitsha, Gugulethu and Mitchells Plain in the Western Cape.
After thinking she had finally made it upon receiving a distribution contract in 2011, Mawoneke ’ s hopes were dashed when the company was liquidated.
She reconsidered going alone with an adult nonalcoholic, lifestyle-orientated beverage after establishing that 65% of South African adults didn ’ t drink alcohol.
“But I must hasten to say that this must not be confused with the per capita number of people in South Africa drinking alcohol.”
Mawoneke approached the Industrial Development Corporation in 2012 and was provided with
“grant funding for a feasibility study ”.
“I saw a gap in the market, generated the name Breva, a label for a beverage that is truly South African.”
The 100% alcohol-free malt drink was launched in Mzansi retail stores in September last year.
It ’ s available at the Pick n Pay, Shoprite and Checkers liquor stores and select Spur restaurants in the Western Cape, select Tsogo Sun Hotels and Legend Resorts and at Woolworths, as a bottled nonalcoholic drink.
Breva is manufactured at a bottling plant in Wellington, Western Cape.
“As a start-up,” which she says is already making more than R1million a year in returns, “I had to cut costs and minimise risk by not going big, setting up or owning the plant.”
The drink is available in four flavours (pineapple, peach, apple and passion fruit) and packaged in branding that has the Blue Crane as its trade mark.
Mawoneke, an admitted attorney who has a Masters in Business and Leadership from Unisa School of Business and Leadership, employs four full-time and 10 contracted employees.
“Our model is to outsource what is not core to the business, like bottling and distribution. Marketing the drink is essential to get it right in the consumers ’ hands.”
Mawoneke markets her drink as an “innovative beverage and a solution for adult consumers, even for those who take alcohol drinks ”.