After more than twenty years inside the chocolate industry, one British founder who grew tired of watching 70% of natural produce be binned has taken a stand to turn what was considered trash into treasure.
Flo Broughton, 47, the chocolatier behind the much-loved British brand Choc on Choc, stocked in Selfridges, Waitrose, M&S, Ocado, Next, Fenwick, Soho House and Emirates, is launching her new venture, Trash, an upcycled superfruit water. The female entrepreneur has created a product that rescues the sweet, nutrient-rich pulp surrounding the cocoa bean and cold-presses it, turning it into a refreshing, low-calorie drink with naturally occurring electrolytes and antioxidants.
TRASH® made its public debut at Taste of London in Regent’s Park last week.
Flo, who has developed the product alongside industry partners, said: “The best part of the cacao fruit gets cut away and binned at source, around 70% of it. When I discovered this I couldn’t stop thinking about this number, and while the world throws away around 2.5 billion tonnes of food a year, I decided I wanted to do my bit and hold my industry to account for the waste we were responsible for.”
Each 250ml can is made from simple ingredients: 30% rescued cacao fruit (not from concentrate) and 70% water and no added sugar. Naturally light and low in calories, every can delivers a functional hit of 40mg vitamin C, 150mg potassium and 28mg magnesium, alongside naturally occurring electrolytes and antioxidants, for clean, natural hydration. The result is a crisp, zesty tropical taste that is as good for you as it is for the planet.
Flo knows a thing or two about building a brand from nothing. She started Choc on Choc back in 2003 as a father-daughter duo working from a kitchen table, and more than twenty years on it remains a family-run business, handmaking its chocolates in Rode village near Bath. Now that brand has firmly found its feet, she is ready to build another from scratch, alongside it.
“I spent twenty years making chocolate before I really sat with the fact that we throw most of the fruit away,” added Flo. “Once you have seen it, you cannot unsee it. TRASH® is my way of proving that trash can become treasure as we rescue this fruit. Farmers benefit too, earning around 30% more income per cacao pod when the whole fruit is used. It’s sustainable by design, but also a really exciting flavour and something really different entering the market. We thought Taste of London felt like the perfect place to let people try this for themselves.”
Visitors to the TRASH® stand tasted the product, and discovered the story behind the 70% statistic as the brand invites the public to rethink everything they thought they knew about waste, health drinks and what belongs in the bin.
TRASH® is available in a 250ml recyclable aluminium can with an RRP of £3, and is Upcycled Certified.
The brand is actively looking for ambassadors, stockists and partners and has had strong initial interest from retail buyers. For trade enquiries, samples and stockist information see https://trashdrinks.com/.
