I ordered a carrot and ginger shrub and hoped that it would be palatable. I was pleasantly surprised, I drank everything and, lo and behold, I was not even in a state of drunkenness. Even more exciting: my bill. It was barely $ 15 for two glasses and a bowl of bread – to absorb soft drinks, of course.
Getaway is a sober bar, a new type of dry nightlife that is appearing in New York. The idea is to provide opportunities for people who wish to socialize in a bar, but without having to drink alcohol.
They are part of a larger trend. People are paying more attention to their mental health and well-being, and many Americans are specifically looking to reduce their consumption of alcohol. People of all ages drink less beer, while the millennials drink less. And Silicon Valley is taking note, as high-tech companies re-evaluate their alcohol policies and investors seeking to capitalize on those who prefer not to drink.
"It's part of the culture, especially in San Francisco, that I go out for dinner and have two to three drinks a day," Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Silicon Valley entrepreneur, Justin Kan, told CNN Business. young law firm and Atrium technology. He said he recently witnessed a change in his technology circle. "Last night, I was at a dinner with a lot of technicians, and probably half of them were not drinking."
Kan announced last month, in a message on Twitter, that he was giving up alcohol. He called drinking a
unhealthy habit that had prevented him from living his life. It was not unusual for Kan to share personal details about himself: he had already seen his life through the co-founded start-up in 2007, Justin.tv, which eventually became Twitch, the popular platform for live broadcast for players currently owned by Amazon. .
The very day he tweeted, Kan started a group on the Telegram Chat app to connect with other people who were similarly deciding to become sober because of the alcohol. He did not expect more than 1,000 people to join us.
New products for the sober – and 'sober curious'
Their sales of alcoholic beverages are falling. Major alcohol companies, ranging from Heineken to AB InBev (owner of popular beer brands such as Budweiser), see an opportunity: they invest in non-alcoholic or low-alcohol drinks. Investors and start-ups alike are hoping to satisfy the "curious sober", people who, for reasons of well-being, re-evaluate their relationship with alcohol and the frequency of their consumption.
The emergence of sober bars is one of the signals quoted by investor Anu Duggal when he talks about the tendency not to drink. Duggal, based in New York, said that, like Kan, she noticed "a number of people who choose not to drink alcohol".
The Duggal firm, Female Founders Fund – which has supported popular consumer businesses such as Rent The Runway – is a recent investor in Kin Euphorics.
Kin's first product is a non-alcoholic drink called "High Rhode". It is both an adaptogen (a non-toxic plant supposed to have de-stressing effects), a part of the nootropes (a supplement supposed to help with cognitive functions) and a part of botany. On its website, the company notes that its claims have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and that its product is not intended to diagnose, prevent, treat or cure any disease.
Instead of an indulgence, Kin thinks that the consumption of his product is more a matter of "personal care". She wants to create a new market for products that do not contain alcohol but do not contain sugar.
Kin is co-founded by Matthew Cauble, co-founder of Soylent, a start-up company in the meal replacement sector in Silicon Valley, and Jen Batchelor, executive director. It has already attracted venture capital firms, including Canaan Partners, Refactor Capital, Weekend Fund and Fifty Years, to invest in companies that use businesses to solve the world's biggest problems. The company refused to disclose the amount of funds received.
"Curiosity is a real thing," Batchelor told CNN Business.
Batchelor says Kin is trying to create more options for consumers. Many people think that they will choose to drink alcohol or stay home alone. "If these are the two choices, then something does not work," she said. "You can do what makes you feel good and stay in a bar while taking out a client."
The company is expected to release its second product later this month.
Tech's complicated relationship with alcohol
While investing in new alcohol-free businesses, Silicon Valley is also reviewing its own relationship with alcohol.
Alcohol has been one of the benefits associated with technology cultures and startups over the years, with young companies embracing the idea of upsetting ideas, but also to bond around them. A drink or more with their colleagues. Inevitably, the availability of alcohol in offices has been scrutinized when companies face unflattering incidents fueled by alcohol. One of the most memorable: when Zenefits, a start-up of human resources services, banned the consumption of alcohol after apparently found cigarettes, beer goblets and condoms in the cage of ########################################################################### 39, staircase of the company.
Following a series of coordinated queries by employees and contractors in November over the handling of sexual harassment charges, Google has announced a number of changes in its work culture, including the reduction of excessive alcohol consumption. "Harassment is never acceptable and alcohol is never an excuse." But one of the most common factors among the harassment complaints filed today by Google is that the author had drunk (~ 20% of cases), "said the company. will be accused of discouraging workers from drinking excessively. Some teams limit workers to two drinks per event.
WeWork, the workers' community giant, said last October that it was planning to cut beer consumption in some of its offices in New York City, thus limiting the number of members to four glasses of beer. 12 ounces a day. WeWork previously offered an unlimited draft beer as an advantage to people renting out their coworking spaces. The company's corporate culture and the prevalence of alcohol in corporate events have been called into question by the ongoing lawsuit of a former employee.
Do not drink hip
Kin is not the only new brand to try to alleviate the biases of consuming a soft drink that attracts the attention of novice investors.
Last month, Liquid Death made waves during its launch. The start-up applies the bold marketing of energy drinks to a water-based drink. Its slogan is "kill your thirst". Like an alcohol brand, she has an age grid on her website saying "This water can give nightmares to people under 18".
The idea is to make sure that consumers look cool while staying hydrated, and to the naked eye, we may never know that they are consuming simple H2O .
According to CEO and co-founder Mike Cessario, the initial impetus was to satisfy fans of heavy metal and punk rock. But the ability to drink water in a can (more environmentally friendly than plastic) and give the impression that you're drinking a beer or an energy drink has a broader appeal.
It has already raised $ 1.6 million from investors, including Science, an incubator and a technology studio backed by companies such as Dollar Shave Club.
Science partner Mike Jones, who lives in Los Angeles, told CNN Business that he made the choice many years ago not to drink alcohol. "A lot of people around me chose not to drink and chose to be selective about what they put in their bodies," Jones said. "We are seeing more and more awareness around this."
As for Kan, he says it's hard for him to understand why he is now seeing an increasing number of people dropping his alcohol consumption in the same way.
Is this part of aging (Kan is now 35 years old – his stage of life is very different from his early years in Silicon Valley more than ten years ago)? A technological industry business in which engineers are constantly tweaking and repeating themselves? Or is it something broader, he thought during a recent phone call.
Whatever the case may be, Kan, who also invests in startups, says that he's not particularly optimistic about taking control through non-alcoholic alternatives. He said that it was "very unlikely" that alcohol would be replaced on a large scale. "I have a hard time seeing it disappear from the American mind."
