Innovation

Co-founder Ben Lenart has been with Almighty since its inception and felt healthy beverages were an innovation that “didn’t exist and was a great opportunity to create a profitable business that benefited society.” Almighty uses recyclable packaging, starting with glass bottles but now provides aluminum cans as there are good recycling schemes in both Aotearoa and Australia. Lenart noted that it is not the “perfect reuse container for your whole life situation” but the best solution possible. The aim to offer healthier alternatives is the fundamental mission behind their business, “integrating this into a culture and challenging the status quo.”

Not only does Almighty aim to provide healthier alternatives to the current market, but they also work with local communities to educate children on how to grow, cook and enjoy fresh produce, generating a love for real food. Almighty works with Garden to Table, a charitable trust working with over 200 schools throughout New Zealand, teaching kiwi kids the knowledge and skills for their well-being through nutrition. Almighty also work with Common Unity, another charity that works collaboratively with the community, schools, and organizations across Lower Hutt to help them prosper with projects relating to agriculture and food. Almighty helps by contributing 10% of its profits towards these charities and by providing its time. It is not just “part of its story, but it’s something we’ve always done, something that we just care about.”

Almighty seeks to have a real long-term impact providing a generational change in our communities that provide healthy alternatives to the current status quo and influencing change in lifestyles for the better.

Inspiration

Ben Lenart described the inspiration for Almighty as a series of evolutions. “It started as a little café in Wellington where I got some friends involved as business partners, and we opened a juice shop.” From here, Ben learned more about business and the feasibility of scaling with the opportunity to have more of an impact with size. Almighty was the “big moment where I felt like we were going to make something meaningful.” All of the founders were interested in food and beverage and contributing positively to the community with a sustainability conscience and a general desire to make “quality healthy products.” Almighty transitioned from a café to a little juice shop that would “sell bottles of juice, one by one, to a wholesale business selling pallets of juice to partners up and down the country and then to Australia.” This evolution always kept the mission of creating “delicious and healthy drinks that don’t trash the environment and positively contribute to the next generation of foodies and gardeners.”

Overall impact

Almighty focuses most directly on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 and 12 but also helps to address number 4.

SDG 3 focuses on promoting good health and better well-being within society. Almighty addresses these SDGs through both its products and community work. It uses only organic fruits and vegetables and additional “superfoods” containing vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants.

The latest active sparkling water from Almighty (containing natural fruit flavors and caffeine) is a compelling alternative to sugary energy drinks. These energy drinks are a huge problem within the modern diet. Although Almighty products itself as healthy, Almighty’s strong point of difference is that they are actively working within the community, encouraging society to become healthier and providing generational change. Lenart said that one of the “most tangible outcomes are seeing kids go from not touching vegetables or anything green, then after a few weeks in the garden and harvesting vegetables and herbs they become engaged.” Understanding where food comes from and becoming open to trying new vegetables and healthy foods was something that was “extremely rewarding” for Lenart. In terms of long-term outcomes, Almighty is actively seeking a generational change to healthier lifestyles in society; the work they have done within the community is far-reaching and continues to grow.

SDG 12 focuses on ensuring sustainable consumption and production patterns. Not only do Almighty’s edible education programs promote sustainable consumption through vegetable harvesting, but the products themselves are also as sustainable as they can be for a beverage. Almighty uses no plastic within its supply chain. It uses aluminum and glass bottles that can be consistently recycled(nearly 75% of aluminum ever produced is still in use today.) Sustainability is an integral part of Almighty’s business plan, and they are constantly striving to achieve outcomes with the lowest impact on the environment.

SDG 4 focuses on quality education, ensuring equitable education, and promoting lifelong learning opportunities for all. Through the Garden to Table project, Almighty provides education and learning for primary school children about gardening, promoting health and well-being. Teaching children from a young age about the importance of good nutrition is a great learning opportunity that many often do not have.

Business benefit

Despite Almighty using all organic ingredients, they still manage a relatively low price point. This strategy makes beverages appealing to consumers. Almighty now supplies throughout New Zealand and Australia, half through wholesale, another 40 percent to supermarkets, and the final 10 percent through E-commerce. Despite not directly discussing revenues, Lenart stated Almighty has “continued to grow.” They will continue to focus on developing alternative healthy beverage solutions; the recent release of the “Almighty Active” has been a great success with the constant push to “integrate healthy alternatives into our culture.” A lot of Almighty’s success “doesn’t come through as statistics” but instead the reward of contributing to a better society. From a little juice shop that sold individual juices one by one, the growth Almighty has seen in the past seven years is a success within itself.

Social and environmental benefit

Almighty has a positive impact on the environment, but more particularly betterment of society. With the edible education program, Almighty encourages better living from a young age, “there’s a huge upside in people eating well, and we try to add value to the communities we operate in.” As foodies, good health is always important in the employees’ personal lives, and this has also made it an “integral part of the business.” Having a business that correlates directly with Ben Lenart’s interests has made Almighty a great “opportunity to have more impact because of the scale of operations.” Almighty has consistently aimed to drive good health and well-being. Although they continue to expand their operations, the investment of time and money into countless school kids throughout New Zealand has a social benefit. Evaluating environmental impact, Almighty ensures there is no plastic within its operations and is constantly acting with a sustainable conscience. The importance of healthy alternatives has one essential side to the business considering “not trashing the environment. It would make me feel sick if dumping loads of plastic into the ocean. There’s already a lot of plastic in the beverage world, so there isn’t any in our supply chain is necessary.”

Interview

Ben Lenart, Founder