Yes You Can Drinks: How a former Olympian and his partner made their names on the non-alcoholic beverages scene

Yes You Can Drinks is the brainchild of Olympian Tyler Martin and his partner, Sophie Heatley, and is the outcome of an idea that came to the duo when Sophie was pregnant. 

The idea was to create a premium non-alcoholic drinks range that tasted just like the alcoholic versions and, fast forward to nine months post-launch, the brand has taken out a swag of international awards and boosted its online sales by 400%.

But the journey from concept to creation wasn’t a simple one.

Martin and Heatley had to navigate confusing distribution channels, a COVID-19 summer and chose to reformulate their drinks almost as soon as they were launched.

And, of course, it all happened while venturing into the world of new parenthood. 

In a recent interview with SmartCompany Plus, Martin shares the highs, lows and learnings of starting out in an industry he had no experience in.

A scalable idea

In early 2020, Martin was on the look out for the next big opportunity. He had just sold his swimwear distribution business, his days as an Olympic water polo player were behind him, and he wanted to use his commerce and marketing degree. 

“I knew I wanted to make something that I was proud to stand behind as a brand, that was scalable and good for people,” said Martin.

“Then the lightbulb moment came at lunch when out with my partner Sophie who was pregnant. Everyone was ordering spritz, but the only non-alcoholic option on the menu was soda.”

Martin then went down a rabbit hole of research before the couple decided to create their own non-alcoholic beverage company. “We thought, how hard could it be?” said Martin.

“Inevitably, it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. Friends who work in beverage later confessed that they thought we were crazy but didn’t want to tell us not to do it.

“If I’d known how complicated it would be, I probably wouldn’t have started. But at some point, you get so far down the road that you can’t go back.” 

From concept to creation

When you have no experience in creating, distributing or selling a beverage, it’s a significant process to get from brand ideation to final product.

“I literally had no idea and had to work out how it all came together,” Martin admitted. “I made a billion mistakes, wasted time and burnt money. But at the end of the day, we’ve created an offering that people buy, which is quite cool when you sit back and think about it.”

All up, it took 14 months for Martin and Heatley to develop their core range of three drinks; a spritz, dark and stormy and a G&T. All with a signature mouthfeel that resembles the warmth of alcohol.

Then it was time to get the stock to the public.

The soft launch and distributor challenge

Yes You Can launched digitally in October 2021 before Martin had even secured distributors or thought to enter the drinks in competitions.

“We were so focused on the brand, the quality of the product and the headaches of production that we stupidly neglected some of the big distribution and launch strategies.

“We thought we’d sell online, make some noise with samplings and do some guerrilla marketing. Then COVID-19 wiped out summer, and the businesses and distributors we wanted to use all said they didn’t want to see any new brands. They just didn’t care about products that weren’t already making them money.” 

Despite the less-than-ideal start, Martin was slowly gaining traction with suppliers by the end of summer. And he was already working on a limited-edition Australian Natives collection behind the scenes.

Since January 2022, the stockist list has doubled every month, and within six months of launching, the drinks landed on Dan Murphy shelves. The success, Martin believes, is partially due to their commitment to flavour and creating a premium product.

“We reformulated the drinks after the first run,” Martin said.

“Most brands making non-alcoholic drinks use artificial colours and flavours, so we thought it was normal. We quickly realised it didn’t align with our brand because we wanted to offer a product that is truly better for you. The reformulation was a nightmare that involved a five-month testing period. But, we can now comfortably sell our range in a health food store.”

A fun approach to marketing

From the start, Martin and Heatley have focused on creating a brand that speaks to millennials and gen Z. And their approach has helped them stand out in a growing market.

“Our marketing approach has always been a little bit cheeky and very approachable,” Martin said.

“Our slogan is ‘taking the piss out of drinking’, but we don’t want to preach sobriety. These are drinks for people who might want a drink or a night off, right up to people who don’t drink alcohol.”

Martin’s unique eye for marketing led to the creation of an advent calendar for dry — “or less drenched” — months. With a daily message and the surprise element of six-different flavours, they’ve been an attention-grabbing hit.

Yes You Can Drinks advent calendar. Source: supplied

“At one point, they were actually selling too fast,” Martin said.

“We had supply chain issues during the floods and couldn’t get hold of enough stock. But, despite the logistics, they’ve been a huge success.”

The awards that changed it all

Despite “having made enough mistakes to write a book”, Martin and Heatley got one thing very right: entering Yes You Can into international spirit competitions. They only wish they had done it sooner.

“If I had my time again, I would have gone for the awards while the beverage was still in a glass bottle with a concept for the design,” Martin said.

“That way, we could have launched and said, ‘Hey, we’ve won all these awards,’ which would have helped with distribution.”

Instead, Yes You Can were entered into competitions post-launch. The beverages took out two silvers and a gold at both the 2022 London Spirits Competition and the San Francisco World Spirits Competition (Martin describes the latter as “the Oscars of drinks”). The drinks then went on to win their category at the World Drinks Awards while also getting gold and two more silvers for individual flavours.

The awards opened up opportunities they could only dream about and validated their position on stockist shelves and in customers’ trolleys.

The future of Yes You Can

With the first year almost behind them, Martin and Heatley are looking to the future and how they can grow the brand.

Already available for sale in New Zealand, Martin is currently exploring other international options and stockists for Yes You Can. But first, there’s a team to build.

“To mitigate the kinds of mistakes I’ve been making, we need a team of good operators who want to jump on our brand and help take it global,” Martin says.

Until now, the company has had a small employee footprint. Martin and Heatley led the charge, aided by an intern, two part-time graphic designers, a casual, and a “super lean” supply chain.

“It can be lonely founding a company in the early days,” Martin admitted.

“But the real challenge is not having someone to bounce ideas off.

“If I could begin again, I would hunt down a mentor in this space. Someone who could give advice, prevent mistakes or leverage opportunities from their network. Launching Yes You Can has pushed me to be somewhat shameless in reaching out to people — I’ve had to swallow my pride. I think that would be the biggest piece of advice I can give any other budding entrepreneurs. That, and understanding your strengths and skill set so you can hire to have the right team behind you.”