innocent drinks

HERE’S A LIST OF PERFECT PAIRINGS Santa and his sleigh. Paul Hollywood and soggy bottoms. innocent and fruit and veg. We’re surprised we made it to the end of the year without getting flagged for over-posting about fruit and veg. Always ones to tempt fate, we thought we’d wrap up 2024 with, you guessed it, one last post about fruit and veg. The true spirit of the season is about giving back and spreading joy. And if there’s one thing, we’re joyful about, it’s all the incredible work of our charity partners in helping to get more fruit and veg to people.   A special shout out to Alexandra Rose Charity, UKHarvest and Petits Frères des Pauvres in France. Together we've helped give 625,500 portions of fruit and veg to those who need it the most. We’re still on a mission to get to a billion portions by 2030, so we will be back with even more fruit and veg news in the new year. Until then, rest up and have a merry one.  

This month, we're looking at our brand new UK and Ireland Category Development Lead, Kayleigh.   She's such a high flier that we might just start telling people our smoothies let you soar through the skies.   As a kid she wanted to work with dolphins and whales, and now she's treading even rougher seas in the chilled juice market. Making sure we balance what's right for us, the customers, and most importantly, our drinkers.   If you want to know a little bit more about what it's like to work in Category Management at innocent, or if you have no idea what that is, then click on the link below: https://lnkd.in/gfeMW-v

WE TOOK SOME FRUIT AND VEG TO PARLIAMENT   It’s not every day you get to stroll into parliament with enough cauliflower, beetroot and pineapple to set up your own market stall. But that’s exactly what we did yesterday in partnership with Alexandra Rose Charity.   We were there to champion fruit and veg for all and raise awareness with politicians and policy makers about the incredible work Alexandra Rose Charity are doing to improve access to fruit and veg through their Rose Vouchers for Fruit & Veg project. Rose Vouchers are given out to families every week, helping them to afford fresh fruit and veg from local markets for them and their children.   We were lucky enough to have Hassan on hand, from Strawberry Hill Fruiterers on Shepherd’s Bush Market, he is one of the brilliant traders who participates in the Rose Voucher's project and knows first-hand how important vouchers are in helping lower-income families get their 5-a-day.     A shout out to Steve Race for hosting the room for us.

At innocent we’re as much fun and games as the next company, but when it comes to food safety & quality, we’re not messing about.  Most of us love some mould when it comes to stilton. But we know that not everyone would appreciate a bottle of Bolt from the Blue-Cheese. That’s why we’ve got a team of top-quality folk on hand to make sure we never slip up on the essentials, so that you lot get to enjoy delicious drinks, all day, every day.  A shout out to our Julie, Su, Caroline and Meghna who helped us all celebrate the great things they do last week, by holding a panel in fruit towers for World Quality Week. We learned a lot about food safety & quality culture. After all compliance is everyone’s business at innocent and it’s important that we all know about the part each of us plays in blending fruit and vegetables in a responsible way.  Here's some high quality shots of some high quality drinks.

Here at innocent, being natural is one of the values we hold nearest and dearest. Our drinks and people wouldn't be the same without it.   So, every year we come together on what we call our 'Nature Day', to learn about fruit and veg, and to say thank you for all the hard work that goes into getting us to a billion more portions of the stuff by 2030.   This year, we sent them off to Fruit Camp. Think Scouts, but with fewer bears, fancy dress, and some questionable pictures in the group chat. Don't think our nan would be pleased.   Check out the video to see what our UK and Ireland bunch got up to:

It’s Monday. Another day where we can chat about how much we love fruit and veg. But we’re not the only ones, our friends at the Alexandra Rose Charity (they help families in need to buy and eat more fresh fruit & veg) are pretty big on the stuff too, so we thought it was about time we made our partnership with them, LinkedIn official.    Only one third of adults and 12% of 11–18-year-olds manage to get their 5 a day. It’s even tougher for lower-income families.    That’s why we’re chuffed to donate 520,000 portions of fruit & veg by the end of the year, through Alexandra Rose Charity's ‘Rose Vouchers for Fruit & Veg Project’. These vouchers help families afford fresh fruit & veg from local markets.    And because we’d hate for anyone to miss out, we’ve teamed up with Co-op to help you lot do a really good deed. Until the 19th of November, when you buy one of our Strawberries & Bananas or Mangoes, Passion Fruits & Apples smoothies at a participating Co-op store, we’ll donate a portion of fruit and veg to the legends over at Alexandra Rose Charity. So, not only is your smoothie one of your 5-a-day, it’s also one way to do something very very nice. Like helping your nan across the road. If you want to find out more, have a look at the link below.  https://lnkd.in/ecdxcp7A

THINGS THAT WEIGH 35KG     An average Labrador.     The amount of jelly beans you could buy for a fiver back in 2007.     And the largest pumpkin we've ever grown to put into one of our drinks.     It’s Halloween at Fruit Towers. So we've put our pumpkin hats on, and our carving knives down to save on food waste this year. We've glammed up our pumpkins and saved the insides to eat on a cold rainy day in Ladbroke Grove.    Our lot in Amsterdam, Munich and Paris took it even further and decided to balance their creations on their heads and make pancakes...always one step ahead.    If any of you need a hand with some pumpkin cooking, then we've got one spare. But maybe a few recipes from Hubbub might be more handy. Check them out below, and remember to #eatyourpumpkin. 

It's Autumn and that means one thing. Getting comfy with a cup of tea and pretending to do some work while reading our latest Q&A.   This month we've got one of the brilliant minds and taste buds behind some of your favourite smoothies, our Rachel. So good at her job that when life gives her lemons, she adds apples, pears and a couple cucumbers and calls it a job well done.   When she's not working her smoothie-making magic, she's inspiring her team, or co-leading our run club, Kensal Strides. Check out life at innocent in the article below. It might be one of your recipes that we'll be picking out the fridge next year. 

We're chuffed to say the Big Knit is coming back in 2025. We'll be donating 30p to Age UK for every bottle we sell that has a little hat on it. Since 2003, we've raised £3.2 million for Age UK who help offer support for older people who need it the most. But before we can pop lots of little hats on our smoothie bottles, we actually need little hats to pop on smoothie bottles. 1.4 million to be exact. We know. No biggie at all. So, if you're a knitter, crocheter, or someone with no creative talents at all, we're calling you to knit some little hats and send them to us in Fruit Towers. If you don't know how to knit a hat, or fancy learning how to knit a pineapple instead, you can find all the details on where to start here: https://lnkd.in/edYaF-J6.

At innocent, we’re all about fruit and veg. But we know lots of people still aren’t getting their 5-a-day. So, this morning, we teamed up with our friends at UKHarvest to host a breakfast roundtable at their Nourish Hub, getting down to the core of increasing accessibility to fruit & veg. We chatted about the big barriers, shone a light on some inspiring initiatives, and explored how we can all learn from the amazing work happening across the country. We’ll help share the brilliant insights and solutions from this group soon, so keep your eyes peeled. A shout out to our speakers Ffion Hayward Amy Deptford Megan Blake Karina O'Gorman (she/her) Louisa Handley, RNutr (AfN) and to Rupy Aujla for chairing. And to all the experts who joined us, thank you. Alexandra Rose Charity Asda Barfoots of Botley Ltd Belazu | B Corp™ British Nutrition Foundation The Bread and Butter Thing Community Shop FareShare UK FEAST With Us Feeding Britain The Food Foundation Great British Apples & Pears Gavin Wren Hackney School of Food Hubbub IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution) Natoora Sainsbury's Southwark Council Professor Danielle McCarthy, PhD, RNutr The Chichester Food & Drink Company #downtothecore