Latest news with #gingerbeer
The Sun
03-07-2025
- Business
- The Sun
Tesco has axed a Clubcard offer on a popular own-brand item and shoppers are angry
SHOPPERS have lost their cool with Tesco after it withdrew a popular Clubcard offer on cold drinks before the heatwave. A range of its own-brand canned soft drinks were on a six for £1.80 deal in May, including Orange Zero, Diet Lemonade, Lemon and Lime Zero, Cream Soda and Ginger Beer. 1 Each can costs 55p, but the offer meant you could get them for 30p each. However, buying six now costs £3.30, almost double the cost of them on the deal. The promotion stopped before temperatures soared, leaving customers hot under the collar. One said this week on X: "Why have you stopped your Clubcard offer on mixed cans of your own-brand soft drinks…. "I have used this offer for months as I find the flavour is very good, especially the ginger beer which I think is as good as any other make." Another added on the Tesco website: "Very disappointed now Tesco stopped selling it in my local store, (I) had to buy online and now charging 55p a can no longer on the multi deal. 'I'm sure Tesco would have made their money on the sales? The product is 5* Tesco 1*" A third said: "I can't believe Tesco is being stingy and stopping the offer." Consumer champion Martyn James said: 'Supermarkets love brand loyalty - especially over their own products. 'But when demand is high, they often neglect to pass on deals to people who need a break. 'So come on Tesco, when the heat goes up, get our prices down!' Tesco was contacted for comment. Retailers have various discounts on soft drinks at the moment to cool customers down. Tesco is alternatively offering five selected mini cans (150ml) for £2.50 Clubcard, including Fanta Orange and Appletiser, although it's not as cheap as the withdrawn deal. Morrisons has a two for £14 promotion on 18-packs on Fanta Orange, and three for £24 on Tango Orange as well as 7UP Zero Sugar Lemon & Lime cans. Iceland also has a five for £2.50 mix & match deal on mini cans including Coca-Cola Original and Dr Pepper. It comes after Tesco added an award-winning Irish liqueur to shelves for just £20. The retailer said in February it had launched a trial offering customers tailored discounts based on their shopping habits too. Last month, shoppers were left feeling "betrayed" from shelves.
Irish Times
19-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
‘Ireland's answer to Hollows & Fentimans': The father-daughter team behind Zingibeer are chasing Gen Z drinkers
Founded by a father and daughter team in 2021, Smithfield -based ginger beer brand Zingibeer topped the €500,000 turnover mark for the first time last year, despite a challenging period which saw them forced to rebuild their distribution model. 'We want to be Ireland's answer to Hollows and Fentimans,' co-founder Rachel Byrne told The Irish Times. A former banker with AIB, she said the brand's ginger beer is 'very, very popular amongst students.' The company has sought to stand out from the pack by targeting Generation Z (born between 1997 and 2012) as their main customer demographic, securing strategic placements in Dublin bars frequented by college students. 'We are in all the student bars, we are in UCD, in DCU, we are in the Pav in Trinity.' And research showing that young people now are drinking less alcohol than in previous generations doesn't concern Ms Byrne; 'I get the sense that young people now are looking for a little bit more quality over quantity'. READ MORE 'Young people are more considered in their spend. 'What am I actually buying? Who is making this product? What's actually in it?'' She says this trend helps Zingibeer which is vegan, gluten-, preservative-, and sulphite-free and thus more friendly to people with allergies or dietary choices. Zingibeer is manufactured by JJ's Craft Brewing Company in Limerick, a strategic move Rachel and her father Kevin Byrne made to reduce the company's risk. 'We did look at setting up our own brewery, but when it came down to it we didn't want the risk and stress of it,' Ms Byrne said. In an effort to improve its profit margin, Zingibeer changed distributor and has looked to supply some of its product directly to on-trade customers, pubs and restaurants. That decision has boosted margins to a healthier level. The transition, however, left Zingibeer without any distribution for a number of months. Despite this, revenue at the company still grew. 'We hit €500,000 in revenue last year, that was exciting. I remember thinking, 'That's a good chunk of money'.' Revenue grew by 30 per cent to €660,000 in 2024, and the company is expecting growth of 30 per cent to more than €850,000 this year. Zingibeer's rhinoceros hornbill icon will soon be on the sides of cans, as the company looks to continue to develop its product with younger generations in mind. 'It's not a toucan,' Ms Byrne said in a reference to the use of that bird by Guinness. The company created its branding around the national bird of Malaysia, where it first sourced its ginger. Their ginger beer may have entered a relatively small market, but it is growing and they are competing in Ireland against offerings from two large global brands, Hollows & Fentimans and Crabbies. 'We are definitely second to Hollows & Fentimans in terms of volume, and we're winning in a lot of the on-trade accounts,' she said, but the brand is fighting against companies with a '10-year head start'. Being a domestic brand has helped so far, with bars being 'happy' to offer Zingibeer 'because it's Irish and because people really like it.' Outside of Ireland, the Byrnes have begun working with a Danish distributor to bring its brand to an international audience.
