Lisa King: Free AF founder on the record low levels of alcohol consumption

New data from Stats NZ shows alcohol consumption among Kiwis has been trending down - with research indicating New Zealanders are drinking below the OECD average.

The total value of the low or no alcohol drinks category is now worth $13 billion dollars globally, a 5 percent increase on the previous year.

Free AF founder Lisa King says there's a significant shift in how people view alcohol, with young people being more mindful about the harm that comes with it.

"We're seeing a real shift towards moderation - not complete sobriety, but definitely a reduction and moderation in drinking. That's particularly driven by the younger generation, they're much more health-conscious."

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News talksb Now.

Speaker 2 (00:13):
Last month, stats in OECD alcohol data showed alcohol consumption
at record low levels. And it's a trend we've been
seeing for a while now, isn't it. The total value
of the low or no alcohol drinks category is now
worth thirteen billion dollars globally, a five percent increase on
previous years. One company driving the change here in New
Zealand is Free af. They have become a bit of

(00:35):
a staple in our house and founder Lisa King joins me, Now,
good morning.

Speaker 3 (00:39):
Lisa, hy, good morning.

Speaker 2 (00:41):
Why do you think we're seeing this long term trend
towards no or low alcohol products? What do you think
is driving it?

Speaker 3 (00:50):
Yeah, Well, I I think there's just a real shift
in how people are thinking about alcohol, and that people
are becoming more mindful about the impact that alcohol has
on your mind and body. And so we're seeing a
real shift towards moderation, not complete sobriety, but definitely a
reduction and moderation and drinking. And I think that's particularly

(01:12):
driven by the younger generation. You know, they're very much
more health conscious they don't necessarily feel the same social
pressure to drink, and they're also not willing to sacrifice,
you know, their time and weekends being hungover or not
feeling good.

Speaker 2 (01:26):
I wonder if the other thing driving it too For
someone like myself, it's like there are now some other options,
you know, that was the thing, wasn't it, Like you know,
you went out and you went't drinking alcohol. You look
around and go, I want water rejuice.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
Yeah, you know, And that definitely was when we first
started AF, when I first started not drinking just around COVID.
You know, they're just with such a lack of options,
and as well, people kind of didn't get the idea
of alcohol free drinks. When I was telling people about
my idea for AF, people would be like why, like

(01:58):
why would you have a gin and tonic, you know,
without the alcohol? And now we just don't get those comments.

Speaker 2 (02:05):
And you make it genitalic makes me feel like I'm
drinking a gin and tonic. This is quite a big
swing though, for New Zealand culture, isn't it. I Mean,
has it surprised you how much it's grown?

Speaker 3 (02:15):
Yeah? I think, you know, from those early days and
really trying to convince people that this was a thing
and convince retailers to stock our products. To now, you know,
a very short time of you know, mare four years,
we're just seeing such acceptance, and given the heavy drinking
culture of New Zealand. I was surprised that it happened
so quickly.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
You're in the US now too, Were they seeing the
same trends as US?

Speaker 3 (02:39):
Yeah, even faster. We launched in the US last year
and none of the supermarkets actually had you know, shelf
space for products like ours, so we were one of
the first, which was surprising, you know, for a market
like the US. But in a short eighteen months, pretty
much every grosser, every retailer now stock these types of products,

(03:00):
including your big box retailers like Target and Walmart. So
they're really heavily investing into this.

Speaker 2 (03:07):
Lisa, this week you released your first alcohol free wine.
I celebrated the all black success this morning with a
sparkling red alcohol free What was the driver between moving
into the wine set of area.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
Yeah, we did a pop up store a couple of
years ago, and we'd bought products from all around the
world and people kept asking for wine, and so there
are very few good non olk wines. I'm not sure
if you've tried something.

Speaker 2 (03:35):
I've been through them all probably.

Speaker 3 (03:38):
Yeah, and they're not great. And so there was but
people kept asking for it, and so we thought, well,
why don't we try making it ourselves using our approach
to making non olk drinks, and so we launched a
sparkling rose last year in cans and it was so
popular it sold out several times and quickly became one

(03:58):
of our best selling products. But people kept feeding back like, oh,
I really want to take it somewhere and share it,
or you know, take it to a baby shower or weddings.
But I don't want to take cans and I want something,
you know, in a beautiful bottle that I could share.
So that's what we've been working on for the last
six seven months is finding this beautiful bottle. You know.

(04:20):
We wanted it with the cork like a champagne bottle
for people to be able to pop open, particularly in
the lead up to this festive season and New Year's
and summer and weddings. So yeah, it's launching this week.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
I feel like you're a bit ahead of the game
when you came out with AF drinks. Did you strike
at the right time. I mean, did you see this
trend coming or was it just fantastic luck on your partly?

Speaker 3 (04:43):
So timing, you know, there's definitely a bit of luck
with that when it comes to business. When I was
looking at it, I definitely saw the trend happening in
places like the UK and it kind of made sense
to me that was going to come to New Zealand.
And so the team, you know, we worked really hard
over like eight months to try and be one of

(05:04):
the first to launch this in New Zealand. And so, yeah,
timing has been on our side for sure.

Speaker 2 (05:12):
Is there anything else exciting in the pipeline? Where do
you sort of think this market of drinks is going
to go in the future.

Speaker 3 (05:18):
Yeah, well, it's still you know, it's one of the
fastest growing categories in beverages globally at the moment, and
there's lots happening in it, but you know, people are
still getting used to it, and so we're always looking
at like drink trends, what people are drinking, you know,
what's coming up for the summer, and so yeah, we've

(05:38):
got a few new products coming out early next year.
And I think the caterery is just going to keep
growing and growing, and we're seeing in places like Spain
and Germany, you know, nine out drinks in our ten
percent of total alcohol sales, and so I think there's
just so much room for these types of drinks.

Speaker 2 (05:59):
Nice to talk to you this morning. That was Free
AF founder Leasa King there, just talking about the rise
in the desire to drink alcohol free drinks that we see.

Speaker 1 (06:10):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to News Talks it Be from nine am Sunday,
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