We meet one half of Botivo, the non-alcoholic drink that has made tee-total Friday nights a whole lot more exciting.
GM: Hi Imme, how are you? Congratulations on Botivo, it’s our number one non-alcoholic drink of choice by far. What makes it so delicious?
IE: Thanks! I wish I could take credit for that but my co-founder, Sam Paget Steavenson, hand makes every batch on Lannock Farm in Hertfordshire. It’s delicious for the very simple reason that it is a true craft product and takes over one year to make, using no flavourings or preservatives. I always think about it like chicken stock; you can buy it in the supermarket in a cube and it’s nice, but you make it yourself and slow cook overnight with all natural, real ingredients, and its incredible. Nothing beats using real ingredients, flavourings just cannot deliver the same complexity or taste.
GM: So how did the whole thing come about?
IE: Sam, my co-founder and Botivo maker, originally created it for another business he started, which does the drinks for super high net worth clients and their private events. To give you an insight into his skills, he was hand picked to make the drinks for the 2018 Royal Wedding. He’s a magician. Botivo was made for these events for non-drinking guests, but at every event people would ask where they could buy it. After the 100th person asked, the penny dropped and he realised he should bottle it and sell it. I came in a couple of months later and redid the brand and bottle you see today. I got involved for one very simple reason - I tried it and became obsessed with the liquid. I am an alcohol drinker and had never considered drinking a non-alcoholic drink, so it took me by surprise and I thought, if I am drinking this and I am the least likely person to drink this, it’s something special.
GM: Starting a business from scratch is an arduous process. Had you and Sam ever worked together before?
IE: I had been looking for Sam after I tried Botivo, but we had never met. We actually bumped into each other at 2am on the dance floor of a mutual friend’s wedding. I couldn’t believe I had met the maker of this delicious liquid, so went home that night and wrote a big proposal and strategy for how I wanted to redo the brand and be his business partner. Luckily, he was looking for a business partner and believed in the vision. I started the next week.
GM: You’re described on your website - which I love, by the way - as ‘The Hedonist’ of the team, with your friends still reeling from the news of you starting a non-alcoholic drink. Are you a convert to the sober way of life?
IE: I should probably say yes, but the answer is not yet. I still really enjoy alcohol, the complexity and the quality of the products. I don’t see Botivo as something you drink when you are not drinking, it’s just a delicious hand made drink that happens not to have alcohol in it. We are not a moderation brand, we are a pleasure one.
GM: I’ve noticed some recipes on your site for alcoholic cocktails with Botivo as a mixer. Clever of you to sneak them on there.
IE: It’s an amazing liquid because all you need to do is add one mixer to create a unique alcoholic drink, but it also works as a modifier in alcoholic drinks. We recently did a survey of our customers and 1 in 4 are popping it into alcoholic drinks in the home - tequila and soda, their gin and tonic. My favourite recipe is the white negroni which is just equal parts Botivo, gin, white vermouth and water, with a lemon twist over ice. It’s delish.
GM: What were you doing before Botivo and how have you managed the transition into running your own business?
I worked for almost 20 years in brand building and consumer understanding for some of the biggest brands in the world, from Diageo, Heineken, Beam Suntori, Nike, Adidas, you name it. It was all about building brands that consumers emotionally connected with, so I brought that expertise and strategy to Botivo.
GM: Your mission is to make a drink ‘that does not live in opposition to alcohol, but in a category of its own’. What’s your strategy for realising this?
IE: We know that Botivo is a super unique liquid and people are using it with alcohol naturally. We are stocked in over 25 Michelin start restaurants and increasingly bartenders are using it in the alcoholic part of the menu as well. We are building a bartender strategy to start educating people about its versatility, and educating consumers about this as well.
GM: You seem to be stocked everywhere, but maybe that’s just a London-centric perspective. How far is your reach at this point?
IE: We haven’t scratched the surface - there is a lot more to do, but we are in 35 of the top 100 and 25 Michelin star restaurants. We are also everywhere from Berry bros, Hedonism Wines, through to the Wine Society. We are also the only non-alcoholic drink, outside of beer, in WholeFoods. So we are growing.
GM: Do you have plans to expand internationally?
IE: We are entering France and Netherlands this year, other EU markets next year and plans for the USA 2026.
GM: And finally, it’s Friday. What are you doing this evening and more importantly, what are you drinking?
IE: Obviously a Botivo and soda, I drink it every day. We are at Taste London this Friday evening with our yellow sampling piano. It’s a giant yellow piano that opens up into a bar. Come and say hi and have a taste!
