Lovely Drinks: Our Going for Gold sponsor

Lovely Drinks, an award-winning soft drinks company based near Bristol has recently come on board as a Going for Gold sponsor. Supplying independent cafes, delis and local businesses, the company has won many awards for its drinks. These include 20 Great Taste Awards, several Taste of the West awards, two Bath Good Food Awards and two Bristol Good Food Awards. It has also been shortlisted for the BBC Food & Farming Awards.

Rick, Lovely Drinks’ founder explains a bit more about how the company began:

“Lovely Drinks started as a hobby when I was experimenting with making elderflower pressé from my garden and nearby hedgerows. My partner suggested we took it to the local farmers market, which we did and it went down well. We tried another variety – elderflower and rose. As our sales grew, we had to move into the shed! I had long had an interest in flowers and horticulture, passed onto me and my brothers by my mother who always used to make elderflower drinks from the garden. We started branching into our own apple juice and other drinks from lavender. The growth of the company was completely natural, we never intended it to become a brand!”

Rick heard about the Going for Gold project at a Bristol Green Capital Partnership Green Mingle, a monthly networking event offering individuals and organisations an opportunity to meet in an informal setting to make connections, share ideas and learn about innovative projects and initiatives that focus on sustainability in Bristol. Going for Gold really appealed to Rick as reducing waste had always concerned him. Rick adds:

“As a company we wanted to be involved with an environmental project because that’s important to us. We also wanted to give back to the city that helped us – we couldn’t have developed without Bristol – and the Going for Gold project does just that. By sponsoring the project, we hope to spread the word, encourage other food businesses in Bristol to get involved, and of course to raise awareness of our own products.”

Some of the ways in which Lovely Drinks reduce their environmental impacts include:

• Sourcing ingredients locally;
• Following organic principles;
• Using paper labels and reusing the cardboard the bottles come in as packaging for their product;
• Avoiding plastic packaging;
• Using recyclable glass bottles that are made from 60% recycled material; and
• Composting any non-avoidable food waste material onsite and using putting the nutrients back into the food cycle.

As a result, the company produces very little waste indeed. It is clear that Rick has worked hard to minimise their waste. As he explains:

“The most effective way to do this is to keep things as simple as possible. The fewer the ingredients the better, as there is less packaging and less waste.”

Many thanks to Lovely Drinks for supporting Going for Gold!