"Non-Alcoholic is the New Veganâ€
© Emmanuele Contini
An Interview with Isabella Steiner from "nüchtern.berlin"
A ‘Späti’ late-night convenience store that only sells non-alcoholic beverages? Anyone who is familiar with Berlin and its convenience stores full of beer and other alcoholic beverages may think that this sounds crazy, but ‘nüchtern.berlin’ (literally ‘sober.berlin’) has now run a successful proof of concept. Their warehouse is bursting at the seams and their non-alcoholic product business is booming – both offline and online. We sat down with the company's founder, Isabella Steiner, to talk about the concept, their plans for the future, and what it takes to make a successful non-alcoholic beverage.
BCB: Isabella, what led you to create ‘nüchtern.berlin’?
Isabella Steiner: I studied sociology, so I have always been interested in trends in society. By 2015, it was possible to see a sobriety trend on the horizon, particularly in the USA and the UK.
That is where most health and beauty trends seem to originate, isn’t it?
Isabella: Exactly. I thought it was an interesting idea. What I also noticed, though, was that the whole thing was seen as the solution to a problem – addiction – and I simply could not identify with that approach. My business partner and I (editor’s note: Katja Kauf, who left the company as of the end of 2021) thought it would be better to treat this trend as a matter of lifestyle: What non-alcoholic alternative would we enjoy drinking? What should the bottle look like? What should it taste like? This is how we came up with our guiding principle: What do I drink when I’m not drinking?
You started out in 2019 as a content platform, didn’t you?
Isabella: Yes, we didn’t know back then what our business would look like, but we were certain that it would be a business! In other words, simply writing about this topic or creating images didn’t really interest us. We originally want to set up Germany’s first trade show for non-alcoholic beverages. When we were in London we checked out the ‘Mindful Drinking Festival’, and we saw that: There is already a lot to work with here. That’s great – we can do that too.
Then the coronavirus came...
Isabella: That’s right. So we had to decide what we could do instead. Something small, right here in Berlin... and that’s when we came up with the idea of the ‘Späti’, i.e. the late-night convenience store. It’s something that everyone here is already familiar with and understands. And thanks to the fact that we had already written a great deal of content and were well networked in what was still a very small segment, we were able to get started straight away.
You began by opening a pop-up ‘Späti’ in Kreuzberg in ‘Hallesches Haus’, a mix of a general store, lunch room and event space, for two weeks.
Isabella: We did that to see if people liked the concept, or if they would simply laugh at us as they walked past.
They obviously chose the first option.
Isabella: That is why, when the 14-day trial run was finished, we decided to follow it up with a twelve-week stint in the ‘goeben’ gallery in Schöneberg, this time with an entirely different look. In February 2021 we launched our first permanent bricks-and-mortar location with our shop in the Bergmannkiez neighbourhood.
Isabella Steiner, Founder of the non-alcoholic late-night convenience store "nüchtern.berlin"
© Jule Felice Frommelt
How many products is your ‘Späti’ carrying right now, and what are its most popular items?
Isabella: It varies between 170 and 200 different drinks. Wine and sparkling wine are booming, and our non-alcoholic whisky is a real mainstay. The same thing applies to the whisky that applies to many other products: once someone discovers how much they like it, they keep coming back for more. Interestingly, the first thing that many people ask us when they come to us for the first time is whether everything is really non-alcoholic.
© Emmanuele Contini
In recent years, more and more new non-alcoholic products have been showcased at ‘Bar Convent Berlin’ for people to discover and try out. What factors do you think are most important to the success of these items?
Isabella: One thing that is important is the packaging. For example, we have some products that are really good, but people simply don’t like the packaging. Any time that someone buys a non-alcoholic product for the first time, the appearance plays a role in their decision. For instance, people really love ‘Wonderleaf’ (editor’s note: produced by Rheinland Distillers in Bonn). It has a high-quality appearance, and a real gloss – many people are drawn to that. Another popular choice is ‘Herbe Hibiskus’ from Dr. Jaglas, a product that also features its own special packaging. Taste, after all, is very individual. For example, for me personally it is important that something smells good when I open the bottle.
How much of your sales do you generate online, and how much in your bricks-and-mortar location?
Isabella: 40 percent of our sales are made in our physical location, and 60 percent online. We are reaching our limits here with our shop – there simply is not enough space any more. That is why we want to set up an external warehouse and open a second shop in Berlin. To this end, we are aiming to bring in external investors in 2022 – we are bootstrapped and we need money to expand. We also want to move into Hamburg and Munich – in fact, we recently had a three-day pop-up shop there.
You are also involved in the B2B sector, although this is more of a sideline.
Isabella: We are now supplying a number of bars and restaurants in Berlin, including ‘Bonvivant Cocktail Bistro’, ‘tulus lotrek’ and the new ‘Lonely Hearts Cafe’, which only has non-alcoholic cocktails on the menu. Here too, we need to increase our spatial and personnel capacities, but our first forays into the B2B sector have been very successful.
How do you see the development of non-alcoholic spirits and drinks in the hospitality business? After all, today there are some exquisite creations that shatter the old stereotype of juice-and-syrup concoctions.
Isabella: Definitely – we really don’t need any more ‘Safer Sex On The Beach’ drinks! (laughs). Non-alcoholic is the new vegan: I think that there is a great deal of potential here, and I believe that our consumer concept will also generate increased demand, because people are going to start asking for the alternative drinks they enjoy at home when they go out to bars and restaurants.
Do you think that more expensive establishments will be the first to adopt this trend?
Isabella: Yes, their target group is older, 50 and up, and these are the people who are already looking for this sort of thing. But there are still very few locations where you can find equivalent high-quality non-alcoholic drinks on the menu – drinks that are every bit as good as the other concoctions on offer. In our book ‘Mindful Drinking’, we also included a guide to bars in Vienna, Zurich, Berlin and other cities – that was actually the most difficult part of the book to write.
What did you mean when you referred to ‘equivalent’ drinks?
Isabella: For me, something is equivalent if it evokes the same feeling in me. If I open up a bottle of wine or Crémant or give a bottle to friends as a gift, I really want to savour – to heighten – the moment. If a non-alcoholic drink can make a moment more beautiful, then it is equivalent to me.
Could it even be that the difference between alcoholic and non-alcoholic doesn't actually play much of a role when the drink is being consumed?
Isabella: If you are talking about savouring the moment and not simply trying to feel the effects of the alcohol, it certainly is. Anyone who is looking to get a bit tipsy is obviously after something different – you cannot offer them a non-alcoholic product. We are not trying to say that the stuff in your fridge will make you crazy, please stop drinking it. Not at all.
What then?
Isabella: Be aware of the alternatives. There really are alternatives, but many people simply don’t know about them yet. No one needs to be standing around at their office party drinking a glass of water or orange juice any more. If you have a non-alcoholic sparkling wine, for instance, you can still enjoy a drink of ‘bubbly’ that tastes good and no one will be the wiser.
What is your personal favourite?
Isabella: The new aperitif ‘Volée’, which is made with grapefruit and topped up with a non-alcoholic sparkling wine. It tastes delicious and its colours really appeal to me.
Isabella, thank you for taking the time to talk to us.
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