Salud Beverages taps into growing demand for ready-to-drink gin, tonics

Ajay Shetty began his journey in the alcobev industry over a decade ago, and quickly realized the potential for ready-to-drink beverages. He saw that consumers were looking for convenient and easy-to-drink options that were also high-quality.

In 2020, Shetty founded Salud Beverages with the goal of creating a brand that would redefine the RTD (ready-to-drink) category. The company's flagship product, G&T 2.0, is a refreshing and flavorful gin and tonic that is made with premium ingredients. Since its launch, Salud Beverages has quickly become a leading player in the Indian RTD market. The company has won several awards, including the "Best RTD Beverage" at the India Beverage Awards.

In an interview with Bizz Buzz, Shetty discusses the company's evolution, the challenges it has faced, and its plans for the future. He also talks about the growing demand for RTD beverages in India and the role that Salud Beverages is playing in this market

How has Salud Beverages evolved?

Being in the industry for over a decade, I noticed a gap and opportunity in the alcobev market but specifically in the RTD (ready-to-drink) segment. Ever since, the whole idea of Salud Beverages came into the picture and I have always wanted to create a global lifestyle brand. This ultimately led to the idea of Salud being born, with India's first RTD gin and tonic. My team and I got together to ideate the product and ultimately landed on the idea of an urban lifestyle brand. The soul of the brand is to create a change in the way people celebrate life with Life 2.0, G&T 2.0, with its easy-to-drink and carefree nature, is the flagship product.

What exactly is the market size for gin in India? Is the trend for gin still strong in India?

India is now the fifth largest gin consumer and there has been a shift of drink preference from hard liquor to clear spirits like a gin. Especially with living in a hot country, it's so much more refreshing to be drinking long, cold gin and tonics rather than whisky on the rocks. This has certainly pushed gin culture forward. After studying the demand and consumption of gin in general, yes there's definitely a need for a product like this right now. It's also in away creating its own niche in the market. Our idea is to change the way people perceive the beverage, and make it an easy-to-drink option for anybody and everybody. To change the way one unwinds on a regular basis.

How do you plan to reach out to your target audience with G&T 2.0?

Salud is a new age brand that’s all about unwinding, relaxing and creating a new way to chill with a refreshing drink! Given the current generation and times, social media is definitely the way to reach out and engage with our core market and hence digital is our go-to medium but it also goes further than that. Our ancillaries – like the recently launched Salud Merchandise and Salud Sessions – add to our platform of Life 2.0, bringing people together to bond and celebrate life the Salud way.

What is your take on the NFT collection?

Salud Beverages, an award winning and the urban lifestyle brand, is all set to debut 9 uniquely designed Ethereum based NFTs. These NFTs have been designed in an extensive collaboration with Salud’s very own in-house artist and world-renowned NFT artist Ishita Banerjee to uncompromisingly conceptualize Salud and its universal appeal in the NFT space. The Salud NFT tokens present access to select and exclusive activities to the holders. Salud being the first Indian beverage brand to launch a roadmap for their inevitable entry into Web 3.0, it is expected to take this platform by storm.

Salud has always been ahead in their vision of creating and exploring new avenues for the brand to be in everyone’s life. The whole concept of entering into the digital world is to embark on creating a worldwide community that is changing the way the world parties. The Web 3.0 roadmap could become a new way of engaging with the consumers.

“NFT, the new age technology has been dominating the world and being part of the emergence has potential opportunities for brands like ours. We have always aimed to stay ahead of the curve and have our audience on Metaverse and Web 3.0 to be the brand’s ambassadors. A premium rewards and benefits program is the heart and soul of ensuring value beyond the impeccably designed digital artwork for Salud NFT collectors. It’s an exciting time for us as we explore the Metaverse and the wearable tech space for possible integrations for the brand and Salud NFT holders in the near future.

Salud Beverages is in the business of creating experiences that can’t be replicated and Salud NFT collectors will be privy to VIP hospitality at Salud events and parties, invitations to exclusive Salud sponsored events. Additionally, discounts on Salud Merchandise, an exclusive line of clothing and accessories developed in appreciation for clean and contemporary wardrobe basics, are a few benefits Salud’s giving us a sneak peak of.

How do you think the gin landscape will expand?

When the brand Sipsmith won a case in 2009, against the revenue and measures department - HMRC in UK, that's when the gin-aissance era – as we like to call it – started. The result was distilleries were allowed to produce small batches of gin, which led to a massive jump in the production, which then further led to the onset of the tonics being produced, because they're the perfect pair, of course. Gin and tonic soon became a global trend, gaining in popularity and leading to a massive boost in consumption. Given the tropical climate here, it didn't take long for this refreshing drink to catch on in India. It's easy to consume, fresh, clean and easily available. Consumers have also become a lot more aware, socially responsible and health conscious, so a drink that is low in calories allows them to indulge guilt-free.

What is the impact of the pandemic on the consumer's drinking patterns?

Now that people can no longer go out and party, the focus has shifted to finding new ways to connect with friends, and with yourself. So, drinking has become more of a way to unwind, find some peace of mind in all the chaos, and maybe bond with a friend by virtually sharing a cold one! On an industry level, there has definitely been a learning curve, as the world has changed in the pandemic. The main challenge was, of course, building a brand through Covid considering how the supply chain in the alcobev industry changed drastically in the last few months. We constantly reworked the business prototypes to ensure there were no roadblocks in our path. Our story, however, has just begun and we as a team, having done this already with the launch and sale of the previous brand, are confident and well equipped to handle this and change the game. As a brand, we are less of a ‘party’ beverage and more of a ‘celebrating life’ beverage. It's more about bonding and forming meaningful social connections – something that has gained huge importance in the last year.