Pure Bottling
It’s happy tenth birthday time to Pure Bottling, the world class beverage manufacturing company with a love for iconic Kiwi drinks.
There’s plenty to celebrate at Pure Bottling’s Tauranga-based enterprise where beverages, sports drinks, kombucha, juices, mixers and alcohol are all manufactured - canned or bottled and sent on their merry way to happy consumers.
Over the years, this company has built itself up to be the manufacturer of choice for about 30 brands. But, says Pure Bottling’s head of beverages, Andrew Friedlieb, more than 200 brands have come through the factory, “which shows how hard it is”.
Impressive brand names are associated with this enterprise. Pure Bottling brings drinks to market for clients like names like Almighty, Alchemy & Tonic, MAC’S SODA, BATCHED, Stil Vodka, Lo Bros, AF Drinks, Arepa and No Ugly along with many more.
Some of the brands Pure Bottling is involved with have fabulous stories to tell, like their very first Karma Drinks and Almighty Beverages, for example. Pure Bottling started manufacturing products for both of these successful enterprises nine years ago. Both are now multi-million-dollar brands selling across NZ and Australia.
Then there’s, Lo Bros which is one of NZ’s leading kombucha producers; there’s AF drinks, an alcohol alternative recently launched into the US; and there’s Arepa and No Ugly which are both popular wellness tonics…and there’s Alchemy & Tonic.
The genesis of Alchemy & Tonic dates back to Covid Times. This relatively new-kid-on-the-block is enjoying speedy growth. It is, in fact, the fastest growing mixer brand in Australia and NZ
Alcohol-producing clients include premium cocktail brand BATCHED, the real hero of which is, arguably, its espresso martini. This premium NZ mixer, with its “bringing the bar to you” tagline, sells to the NZ and Australian market and is about to break into the US one. Then there’s Stil Vodka – the production of its vodka uses water from the Bay of Plenty and competes with some big name imported vodkas.
Andrew says Pure Bottling’s decade in business is a good time to reflect upon and celebrate its much-valued involvement with iconic Kiwi brands producing “really cool stuff”.
“The connectivity of NZ business is really close,” says Andrew who thrives on the stories behind the different brands, and their success trajectories.
So much of New Zealand’s quality beverages come out of Tauranga, despite the fact Pure Bottling competes against other very well-funded Auckland-based manufacturers, he says.
At that Tauranga headquarters, staff numbers these days sit at about 55 and Andrew’s tickled by the fact his team includes three generations, with staff who have worked their way up from the factory floor.
“We really like that we provide employment to our local population, many of whom walk to work,” he smiles.
Ten years on and there’s no resting on laurels. Just six months ago Pure Bottling put in a new can-filling line – a multi-million-dollar investment made in response to the huge growth in demand for aluminium cans. Also invested in was the installation of a new ERP software programme, which, Andrew explains, is about managing the information between manufacturing and systems.
As for the years ahead… “we have really ambitious growth plans and are hunting for new customers to fill that growth,” this happy head of beverages reports.
(February 2025 Supermarket News)