TWO friends who were fed up with the rubbish choice of non-alcoholic drinks in pubs decided to take the situation into their own hands.
Tony Lindesay and Hugo Norman set up the non-alcoholic cocktail business Mavrik Mocktails 18 months ago and their idea has taken off.
The pals have created a range of non-alcoholic canned mocktails, which they distribute from their base in Winchester.
They were inspired to start the business after they met for a drink in a pub and were left feeling dissatisfied by the choices on offer
Hugo said: "We had gone to the pub and we thought we would have one for the road as we were setting the world to rights. We asked the barman what non-alcoholic drinks he had, and he said orange juice or cola.
"We looked around the pub and could see young mums, under 25s, people who were driving that night, a whole range of people who were not drinking alcohol. That's when we realised that the choice was pitiful and we came up with the idea to do something about it."
Tony, an estate agent professional, and Hugo, a former operations professional for British American Tobacco, both married dads-of-two, are successful businessmen and have both had long careers with a range of skills, so they pooled their expertise and set about creating Mavrik.
They launched four flavours, a Venetian spritz, gin and tonic, dark and stormy, Cuban mojito, which have all proven popular.
Such has been the response to their idea, they have two more - a passion star martini and an espresso martini, in the pipeline.
They have seen their products snapped up by stockists all over, that sell them for around £2 per can.
Plus they sell them directly from their website - mavrik-drinks.com.
Hugo, 56, said: "It is going well for us. There is a big movement towards low or non-alcoholic drinks, and also towards buying drinks in a can, that we have hit a sweet spot.
"Plus January was good for us, most other traders say their quiet month in January, but with dry January we have been really busy, it's been one of our busiest months so far."
The friends were exhibiting their products at the Local Produce Trade Show, organised by Business South, held earlier this month at the Ageas Bowl.
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