Arrowtown Drinks
Rob Smith
Spark Special Recognition Prize Winner
Graduate Rob Smith started his own alcoholic sparkling water business in 2020, with a simple mission to offer people healthy low-sugar drinks that are bursting in flavour.
Finishing his Environment and Business degree in 2018, Rob and his brother James set up Arrowtown Drinks from the garage of their home in Hellingly, East Sussex, with ambitions to break into a rapidly growing food and drink industry.
“Working with Spark has been a gamechanger for our business. I appreciate all the help they have offered. Having them on hand to answer questions and help us navigate the financials and legal responsibilities surrounding business start-ups has been priceless. We’ve been lucky to meet some great people already through Spark and look forward to meeting many more.”
Rob Smith
Founder & Director
Arrowtown Drinks
Taking advantage of Spark’s business support programme, which is available to University students up to 7 years after graduation, Rob enquired about available funding streams which could help get his start-up out of the garage and onto supermarket shelves.
A successful proof of concept application secured a £1000 grant which Rob used on recipe development work and taste sampling. He also received a £2500 digital grant from Spark, which he will use to fund a three-month summer internship to assist the team over a busy seasonal period. This will also free him up to focus on launching into more UK retailers.
Not only does Arrowtown Drinks hit the mark on flavour and healthiness – it gives back too. “We decided to donate a percentage from every can sold to two different wildlife conservation charities – Tusk, the African wildlife conservation charity, and the marine conservation charity Sea Shepherd. This was something that was very important to us; giving people the ability to make a difference by doing something as simple as changing a drink. Hence our slogan ‘do your bit with every sip."
