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So, who are Th1rst Drinks?
Th1rst is a functional flavoured water with ingredients including Ginseng, Essential Amino Acids and B Vitamins, designed to promote the body’s normal energy-yielding metabolism without the spikes and crashes of sugar and caffeine and typical energy drink ingredients.
When did you and your co-founder, Rob Austin, decide you wanted to start Th1rst?
Rob and I had been working together on commercial partnerships within the British Touring Car Championship (BTCC), the UK’s premier televised motorsport championship, a series Rob is a race winner in, which led us to talking with soft drink and energy drink brands as are commonly active within the sport.
“We released just how unhealthy the majority were, and it was then that we envisioned creating our own product.”
When we started looking into the products we would be promoting though we released just how unhealthy the majority were, and it was then that we envisioned creating our own product.
Your products are low calorie and very tasty, how did you decide on your fantastic flavours?
Lots of taste testing! Rob and I spent time with our drinks development partner who helped us create the product whilst schooling us on the industry and how to create a professional and scalable drink. We only use natural flavourings and colours with the drinks.
What was your motivation behind these healthy drinks?
Continuing from when Rob and I had the idea for creating our own drink, we then thought about what we wanted to achieve which includes creating a sustainable business model linking sports sponsorship with supporting talented competitors to drive the sports’ competitiveness whilst ensuring our customers get access to the sports as well as enjoying our healthy products. We have already made BTCC hospitality available to our supporters and plan to continue this alongside our retail and distribution partners in the future.
The Sugar tax is a hot topic right now, do you think it’s time for big brands to start cutting out the sugar?
Its better for Th1rst if they don’t! Seriously though most brands have or will shortly release reformulated versions of their drinks, to bring them under the sugar tax threshold or will remain resolute to offering a sugar rich product attracting the extra tax.
“Th1srt now offers consumers a healthy choice with a flavoursome alternative”
In truth, there is space in the market for all product types. Th1srt now offers consumers a healthy choice with a flavoursome alternative to water or just-under-sugar-tax reformulated products.
Can we expect more flavours in the near future?
We will be back in the development lab in the summer and expect Cherry to be the next flavour.
What has been your biggest challenge so far?
With 400k+ possible sales outlets in the UK alone, segmenting the market and reaching those with route to market is a mammoth task and something the big brands have well established, and the people to manage.
“Listings & distribution by far has been the biggest challenge and we are not through it yet.”
We took the decision after going it alone for the first 6-months to partner with a sales mentor, which has given us the focus and market intelligence needed to break down the market and target better the outlets to establish our brand with.
Where can we find these dapper drinks?
Today we continue to sell direct for ad-hoc purchases and via our monthly subscription model (all our website prices include delivery) as well as being stocked in many independent retailers both online and on the high street. Our stockists are listed on the website and growing.
What’s it like to be part of the Th1rst team?
It’s an exclusive team right now, but we expect it to grow as we make Th1rst available to a wider market and to support our growth and sporting ambitions.
What does the future hold for Th1rst?
2018 is all about growing the availability of Th1rst and reaching new consumers whilst supporting Rob in his 2018 BTCC campaign in the all new Alfa Romeo touring car, which your readers can follow live on ITV4 and via Th1rst social media. Rob won his last race of 2017 and we are confident of more success this year.
Th1rst drinks are going far very fast! We’re looking forward to seeing what’s next for them and their awesome energy water!