In what it’s calling the country’s first alcohol-free bottle shop, Curious AF has turned its Dry July pop-up shop into a permanent store, moving into a new premise in Ponsonby, following strong consumer demand.
Founder Lisa King, who also founded social enterprise Eat My Lunch in 2015, said sales for alcohol-free drinks had taken off significantly since the business launched almost two years ago.
King said Curious AF had been fielding interest from drink companies, interested in taking a stake in the company. It was in the middle of discussions and could not share details.
“You’d think it would be alcohol companies that would feel [threatened] - they are all definitely looking at getting into non-alc. But it is actually the soft drink companies, the Cokes and the likes, because traditionally if people didn’t want to drink alcohol, they’d have a Coke or Sprite,” King said.
Its Ponsonby bottle shop would open on Friday, selling its own range of gin and tonics, vodka spritz and margaritas, as well as global brands it deemed best in the market. King said Curious AF’s biggest customer base was those who wanted to moderate their alcohol intake as opposed to those that did not drink alcohol.
“It is an emerging category, but the trend has been there for a while, it is just that everyone is starting to wake up to it, and it is at the point where it is going to explode and become normal.”
