A Cheshire-based drinks business has secured its first retail listing with renowned food and drink grocers, Booths, after rebranding its popular Kombucha line to ‘Hip Pop’.
Originally launched in 2019 as ‘Booch & Brew’ by friends Emma Thackray and Kenny Goodman, the newly rebranded ‘Hip Pop’ produces organic, vegan Kombucha – a healthy, sparkling fermented soft drink – in four different flavours: Ginger & Yuzu, Strawberry & Pineapple, Blueberry & Ginger and Elderflower & Apple.
Its first major retail listing in Booths’ grocery stores follows an impressive period of online growth for the brand, which has been supported by an investment in new brewing equipment after a successful crowd funding campaign in November 2020.
As a result, the Hip Pop team have scaled production and increased e-Commerce sales by over 250% over the last six months, inspiring a new retail strategy and expansion into gut-friendly and vegan soft drinks.
Emma Thackray, co-founder of Hip Pop, confirmed: “Since closing our first crowd funding campaign last autumn, the team, Kenny and I have worked incredibly hard to scale the business.
“We believe one of the best ways in which we can achieve both brand recognition and long-term growth is by expanding our gut-focused product line under the new Hip Pop name and working directly with leading retailers.
“We are, therefore, really excited to have secured our first retail listing with such a well-known chain as Booths and look forward to building on this success and expanding our product range of functional health drinks in the near future.”
Originally founded in 1847, Booths is now a leading grocery chain with 27 stores located across Northern England. Having secured second place in the list of the World’s greatest Food Retailers, the firm prides itself on working closely with British suppliers to secure long and lasting relationships.
Headquartered in Altrincham, Hip Pop has doubled its headcount over the last 12 months and now employs a team of 12.
In March 2020, Juliet Barratt, co-founder, and previous chief marketing officer of Grenade, joined the drinks business as its non-executive director and has played a fundamental role in its growth strategy to date.
Forecast to accelerate retail distribution by 150% over the next 12 months, Hip Pop boasts an exciting pipeline of NPD due to be released within the UK and overseas in early 2022.
