Meet Our Makers: Ben Lenart, Managing Director of Almighty

Ben Lenart is the Managing Director of Almighty, the New Zealand brand giving hydration a glow up with their range of bright, bubbly, better-for-you thirst crushers.

Their sparkling water is filtered through activated charcoal then combined with pure fruit essences - like tangelo and peach, and blood orange - to make it pop.

To top off the proposition, there’s a great cause behind every can, with 10% of profits donated to edible education programs in schools.

C&C: Hi Ben! Can you tell us a bit about the early days of Almighty - where the idea came from and how the business got started?

Ben: It came off the back of a hospitality business that I had in Wellington with some friends. We decided to open a juice shop making cold pressed juice using the best fruits and vegetables to make fresh juices. We made really delicious products and we loved it, but it was not very scalable. So we evolved that business into a juice product that we would sell to our friends and family and send around the country and to Australia, with a longer shelf life. That’s how Almighty was born, so we created Almighty as a juice brand. Over time, we grew the distribution through lots of cafés and hospitality stockists and then we introduced the flavoured sparkling water in a can, which felt closer to our values. We wanted to create clean, conscious drinks that are healthier than juice. Juice is really indulgent and yum, but it has a lot of natural sugar and is a bit of a treat. Adding sparkling water allowed us to create something that you could have lots of to really make it part of your lifestyle. That was how it all evolved. 

C&C: We’d love to know more about Almighty’s commitment to health, with the use of high quality ingredients and no additives or preservatives. We even read that you supply drinks to athletic groups around New Zealand. Can you tell us some more about why this is important to Almighty?

Ben: It’s part of our core values. When we launched, we wanted to do something more meaningful than selling drinks and we’ve always contributed money to teach kids how to cook and grow vegetables since we’ve started and that continues to this day. We can teach the next generation healthier habits through what we’re actually consuming and where food comes from. This naturally meant that we started with juice but wanted to do something that is a healthy alternative to sugary drinks and alcohol. Health is such an important thing in life and we like the idea of providing drinks that are healthy alternatives, but at the same time we’ve got a view that balance is really healthy. We think it’s important to celebrate and indulge every now and then. Everything in moderation including moderation. It’s good to be healthy, but a healthy balance is really good. 

In terms of supplying the community with drinks, we love contributing there. We think we’re a great alternative to some other products that are very popular. We provide our drinks to the community, not just run clubs and pilates studios, we also provide them to arts organisations or anyone where there might be an environment where in the past there may have been sugary or alcoholic drinks. Like a gallery opening, for example - it can be quite booze oriented and we know that Almighty is a great alternative in that environment, a healthier alternative to having a glass of wine. You can still have a nice time walking around an art exhibition and still enjoy that social interaction without an alcoholic drink. We contribute lots of drinks and we love it.

C&C: We also read that sustainability is a big part of the Almighty story. Can you tell us a bit about Almighty’s recyclable packaging and being B corp certified? 

Ben: Totally, so we avoid using plastic in our packaging. We use glass for our juice bottles, aluminium cans for our sparkling water, cardboard packaging. This is something that I’m quite set on - not contribute a whole lot of plastic to the world, and not single use plastic for water. This is just something that’s important to us. 

On B Corp - we decided to get B Corp certified because we think it’s a great movement, but it also encompasses a lot of things that we already do. A fast way to communicate a message that we care about people and the environment, and we think that B Corp is a great mark to represent those values. B Corp has been great, we just went through the recertification process and it’s been a really positive movement. 

C&C: Turning to the retail side of the business, what has the process of getting Almighty on the shelf and into retailers been like for you?

Ben: It’s been interesting. We’ve got a model where we start in hospitality and build up some awareness, engagement and distribution through this because of our hospitality heritage. We just love it because we’re foodies and we love hospo. Then we shift into independent retail and then, if it’s appropriate, we shift into ecommerce and major retail. We’re in the phase of building retail and we love it - I come from a place where there’s not a strong retail channel, there are some great retailers but it’s very different from Australia where there are some great retailers, stores and so many places that are so great for our brand. We often connect with people that are really interested in food and flavour combinations (like in our sparkling waters and juices), so there are a lot of places in Australia that have an audience and care about those things as well. We’re loving it, we love engaging with lots of different retailers, it’s been awesome

C&C: In that process of getting the products on the shelf and going through this evolution, why did you choose to work with a distributor and how did you end up working with Cartel & Co?

Ben: We’re a relatively small company, we’re not Coca Cola or a big multinational with really strong distribution infrastructure. So using a distributor helps us to build scale relatively quickly and we have worked with a few distributors. We’ve got the same model in New Zealand that works well for us - we’ve got an efficient and engaged in office team, and working with distributors suits our model. We have worked with a national distributor up until last month that did allow us reach to the whole of Australia, which is a great thing for us, but we’ve now shifted to Cartel & Co to have a smaller team but a really engaged, energetic and motivated team that we believe will represent our brand much better. And also with a portfolio that is much smaller than the national distributor. So we think we’re going to have more focus and more engagement with Cartel & Co. We also think there’s a great cultural fit with the team and with the brands that Cartel & Co represent. So we’re really stoked on the partnership and think it’s going to be a great driver of growth for both Cartel & Co and us. 

C&C: If I was brand new to the Almighty world and I hadn’t tried any of the products, which product would you recommend that I try first?

Ben: Blood Orange flavoured sparkling water. That’s the best!

C&C: What do you envision for the future of Almighty as a brand?

Ben: We’d love to see Almighty become way more accessible to all Australians. We’d love to see it embraced in the way we’ve seen it embraced in the New Zealand market and in pockets of Australia. People absolutely love it and it really fits into the lifestyle, and we’d just love to be a much more prominent brand in the Australian market, in the way that Almighty have been loved in the home market.