Non-alcoholic beverage retailer Boisson has closed a $12 million seed round that will support retail expansion in Los Angeles and fuel the launch of a new on-premise business division.
What is Boisson?
Launched in New York City in 2021 by co-founders Nick Bodkins and Barrie Arnold, Boisson is part of a new generation of beverage stores that are focused on the burgeoning no-and-low alcohol segment. As wellness-minded consumers continue to decrease their alcohol intake, brands have sought to offer them zero-proof alternatives with sophisticated flavors and functional benefits. According to IWSR, the no/low category gained +3% share within the total beverage alcohol market last year, and total volume is forecasted to grow by +31% by 2024.
Boisson sells products from 125 different non-alcoholic beverage brands across categories including wine, beer, spirits, aperitifs and mixers; the retailer’s website lists drinks ranging from hop-infused tea HopLark and sparkling aperitif TOST to dealcoholized wines and zero-proof spirits like Seedlip. In addition to ecommerce, the brand currently has five retail stores in Manhattan and Brooklyn, with three Los Angeles locations in Studio City, Brentwood and Beverly Hills slated to open throughout August and September. According to a press release, Boisson has increased sales 7.5x since launch.
“The demand for non-alcoholic beverages has grown significantly over the last year and we are excited to use these funds to expand our presence and begin partnering with restaurants and hospitality organizations,” said Bodkins in a press release. “We believe the N/A category will become a mainstay in the food & beverage industry and are committed to providing sophisticated zero-proof sips to consumers whether they’re staying at home or enjoying an evening out.”
Who participated in the round?
The round was co-led by Connect Ventures and Blue Scorpion Investments. The latter is a previous backer of Van Leeuwen Ice Cream, while the former is a partnership between entertainment and sports management firm Creative Artists Agency and venture firm New Enterprise Associates that invests in technology and software.
Additional investors include reigning UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, Midnight Ventures and Red Krypton.
“As the popularity of non-alcoholic beverages continues to surge, Boisson has quickly emerged as the premier non-alcoholic retailer and distributor, bringing efficiency and scalability to this fragmented market, while providing increased access and product variety to both individual consumers, and the Food & Beverage industry,” said Michael Blank of Connect Ventures. “Fueled by the cultural and generational shifts happening within the space, Boisson is poised to use this new capital to accelerate their growth and continue to scale rapidly across the U.S. and around the globe and we are thrilled to be part of their journey.”
Having previously raised around $625,000 from friends and family, Bodkins said he and Arnold were conscious of the capital intensive nature of their ambitions for Boisson, a recognition shared by Scorpion and Connect Ventures. The former’s robust CPG experience is a strategic asset for Boisson, he noted, while Connect Ventures brings a combination of technical expertise and connections to a broad range of influential celebrities in entertainment, sports and food.
“I really think that the non-alcoholic market, at its core, speaks to many of those areas in a way that felt like a natural fit to us,” he said. “There are a lot of sports figures that are rethinking their relationship with alcohol, just from a performance point of view. I think in the culinary space there is a new found understanding that three in ten consumers that come into a bar or restaurant are not drinking for some reason.”
How does this fuel the non-alcoholic beverage movement?
While the non-alcoholic innovation boom has provided consumers with more options than ever, brick-and-mortar retailers have been slower to catch up as they look to build shelf sets around this still evolving category. As some stores develop a merchandising blueprint – see Town & Country Markets – the growth of dedicated non-alcoholic beverage markets like Boisson, No&Low and TheZeroProof.com gives startup brands a launching pad to find their audiences and scale, and to collectively help influence larger retailers as they expand.
Still, Bodkins said consumers should still expect a curated shopping experience.
“We’re not going to carry sodas. We’re not going to carry sparkling water and things like that,” he said. “We’re really trying to highlight and elevate the brand that wants to live and play in the classic and new cocktail space. About nine out of 10 of the people that come into our stores drink [alcohol], but for those that don’t, a lot of them are looking for specialty non alcoholic bitters or bitters and soda like things like that. We want to be able to expand that offering to the extent that we can as well because I think there’s some folks that are doing really cool stuff in that space.”
Selling products online or in-stores is only part of how Bodkins sees Boisson’s potential impact on the broader non-alcoholic beverage movement. The company also draws revenue from working with on-premise foodservice providers looking to get involved in the growing market.
“We have tens of thousands of customers’ taste and flavor and brand preferences, so when a bar or a restaurant is looking to adding a NA option to their menu, we are more suited to help them build that and help them get customers that are interested in those products by matching that off-premise and on-premise in a way that’s truly never been done in the alcohol space,” Bodkins explained.
The business’ various components are working in service of growing the overall non-alcoholic space, Bodkins said, an effort that involves lots of customer education and engagement. Opening more physical locations will help draw more consumers into the market, but the shopping experience is designed to be curated and accessible.
“We’re not Bevmo, we’re not 20,000 square feet,” Bodkins said. “We don’t carry 10,000 products. It’s not that kind of a shopping experience and I think in the same space, especially in urban areas with smaller store footprint, Boisson’s 500 square feet is going to carry far more skews and far more knowledge in the team that’s helping you find the products that you want.”