- Briefly tell us about yourself and your brand
I’m Alex Wright, co-founder of Dash which is sparkling spring water infused with wonky fruit & veg.
We started Dash to use the fruit & veg which are rejected by supermarkets to create a delicious no sugar, no sweetener beverage.
- What inspired you to do what you do?
My co-founder and I both come from farming backgrounds, after seeing first hand that 30% of fruit & veg goes to waste in the Western world we wanted to do something about it.
Whilst looking into which products to create we saw a gap in the market to create a beverage that could infuse wonky fruit whilst making a delicious beverage without the usual sugar or sweetener.
- What has been the hardest part of starting your business?
The operational side of making our drinks, it took us about 9 months of attempting to source fruit & veg, spring water and can ourselves before we realised it’s much better if we partner with a specialised co-packer who can craft our beverages perfectly for us.
- Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
We have a clear mission that by 2025 we aspire to infuse 2,600 tonnes of wonky fruit which would have otherwise gone to waste – which translates into 150 million cans.
- How do you deal with competition
When we started Dash there were no other drinks which contained no sugar or sweeteners. People thought we were mad creating a beverage which was not sweet!
Fast forward 3 years many other brands have created similar beverages to Dash which has been fantastic to encourage consumers to stop drinking sugar / sweetener laden soft drinks.
- What advice would you give to younger brands?
Never stray away from your core mission, that’s your north star and should be the reason you get out of bed in the morning.