KITRI Spotlight: Natasha Durling

We're so excited to collaborate with our favourite cocktail makers Lockdown Liquor & Co. this festive season.

  

We sat down with their wonderful founder (and one of our #KITRIgirls) Natasha Durling about all things LL, our new collaboration and future aspirations...

  

 

We would love to know more about Lockdown Liquor and what inspired you to start the business?

Lockdown Liquor didn’t start originally as a business idea; we really just wanted to bring some positivity to what was a pretty negative situation as well as raise some funds and awareness for NHS Charities Together. The speed of growth was quite overwhelming and at this stage we realised that there was obvious potential and opportunity, which confirmed the incorporation of Lockdown Liquor as a company.

The demand stemmed from the period within Lockdown where people found themselves with more time at home to be able to experiment with making their favourite cocktails as well as spending a little bit more on using premium ingredients within their cocktails. There was a real shift to enhance the 'at home' experience from a food and drink perspective, once consumers realised there was a solution to pre-mix cocktails in a quality and consistent way it was the perfect solution.

   

Startup life is definitely a wild ride! What has been your biggest challenge and greatest success so far?

Lockdown Liquor has grown at speed with 90% YOY since its inception and this year will see us hit 200%, which has been both our greatest success and challenge. I think for us it was always very important to keep the full production in-house so we could regulate the quality and grow at speed without being dependant on any third parties.

  

  

What is your top advice for aspiring female founders?

I constantly remind my team that it shouldn’t be a choice between a family and your business, it’s more common now for Female founders to do both successfully but it wasn’t always the case. My advice is to find something that you are truly passionate about and to keep pushing boundaries.

    

(We may be a little biased) but we are can’t get enough of the Lockdown Liquor x KITRI Lychee Martini. Tell us a bit about the collaboration.

I’ve always been a huge KITRI fan, and we have been wanting to work with a brand for some time to create an exclusive label design. When we learned KITRI were launching a Winter Party Collection it was the ideal opportunity to produce the Lockdown Liquor x KITRI Lychee Martini creating the perfect party-ready cocktail. Both brands share a similar ethos which came to life with the collaboration, KITRI represents a smart, fun and creative spirit throughout its collection which pairs perfectly with our unique and sophisticated Lychee Martini.

 

 

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How are you planning to spend the festive season? Will you be out-out this year, or keeping it cosy at home?

This year we are heading to Thailand to enjoy a hot Christmas, so you will find me sipping Margaritas on the beach on Christmas Day which I cannot wait for!

    

What’s next for lockdown liquor?

That's a big question... Our core aim for the brand is to make premium quality cocktails accessible to everyone, both on trade clients as well as consumers. Working really closely to assist the On Trade in maximising their offering to customers, improving efficiency, opening new revenue streams is a real focus, especially after what the hospitality industry has been through over the last few years. This to be done without compromising on the quality and removing the negative stigma that has been associated with premixed cocktails previously. Lockdown Liquor has always looked to challenge the industry and category which we continue to strive to do with new products and offerings constantly being reviewed.