Australia’s first non-alcoholic craft beer company, Sobah is breaking down the stigma of socialising sober and promoting First Nations’ culture, arts, language and history.
The purpose-led business is proudly Aboriginal owned and run by Lozen Schultz and her husband, Clinton Schultz on Kombumerri country, a part of the Yugambeh language regions, known as the Gold Coast, Queensland.
Sobah’s non-alcoholic craft beer is infused with bush tucker and uses ethically sourced ingredients and knowledge.
Along with the ethos behind their product, Sobah’s mission lies in championing positive awareness and change. The company supports organisations and strategies that are working to help people and communities heal and create space for traditional, spiritual and culturally influenced choices outside the reliance on government funding and control.
Here, Lozen tells us more about Sobah’s journey to creating positive impact and the relationships and partnerships helping to expand their footprint.
Tell us about the catalyst for launching Sobah?
My husband Clinton gave up drinking alcohol in 2014 but loved the taste of beer, so he went on drinking non-alc beers that were imported from Europe. There wasn’t anything else available here at the time. Becoming fed up with ordinary flavour profiles and lack of variety, Clinton started flavouring the beers with native fruit which got him thinking… In 2016, he started formulating his own recipe for a non-alcoholic craft beer infused with bush tucker. I was pregnant with our third son at the time, so I was also drinking non-alc beer. We launched a food truck with native ingredients across the menu early in 2017 and added beer fonts and beer on tap. We soon learnt that there were plenty of people wanting decent tasting non-alc beer and no one was doing it in Australia, so we leapt in. We also decided to make Sobah stand for something, that it’d be a mechanism for raising awareness and funds for causes that needed attention and support. Sobah officially launched commercially with 3 different beers in Dec 2017.
What are your proudest moments in the business so far?
Being pioneers in the space of no-lo beverages in Australia, there was a lot of education at the beginning. “What for?” was a common question we kept finding ourselves responding to.. but recently at an event, people were coming up to us and telling us why they loved having non-alc beer. Seeing the topic go full circle and knowing that we played a massive part in that gives us a sense of relief – finally “they” get it! But more significantly, we’re proud to be making contributions to our charity and NFP partners. This includes the Half Cut Org in saving the Daintree Rainforest and returning ownership to the traditional owners, and The Coral Sea Foundation for their Sea Women of the Great Barrier Reef initiative. Both causes promote First Nations custodianship and values the contribution First Nations people must be afforded in addressing climate change and sustainability.
How does the business champion climate change action, and why is this core to your ethos?
As a First Nations business, we’re responsible for caring for People and Place. Sobah is a social enterprise at our core, a business for purpose over profit, and we’re in the application process to become B Corp certified. We make considerate decisions about how our actions as a product-based business impacts the environment and the welfare of our team and customers, so we actively make operating sustainably a priority. All Australian companies should be considering the welfare of our country and people in their everyday operations and asking themselves: what can I do to “do more good and less harm” (which is our motto).
How did the partnership with Coral Sea Foundation come about, and can you share more about the Sea Women of the Great Barrier Reef initiative?
Sobah and The Good Beer Co have had an excellent professional relationship for several years with the notion that one day we’d work with James to create a non-alc beer for an environmental cause. James is also our business advisor for sustainability.
What advice would you have for other aspiring, First Nations entrepreneurs?
Clinton talks about this frequently – it’s about working with “our ways” of knowing and being. First Nations peoples have been trading while living sustainably for thousands of years and these traditional and ethical ways of doing business will become a model for others to follow.
How do you find working with your husband? Is it challenging to keep a life/business balance?
It can be both rewarding and taxing on your relationship! It’s important to have boundaries (and respect them!), and work in ways that neither person works for the other. Having a family business is a partnership. We also have a rule (that’s often so hard to follow!) that we don’t talk business in the bedroom, but often that’s a great place to debrief about all things from family life to work life. Women can find it hard to switch off, so making sure that happens before tucking in at night is really important for our relationships and wellbeing.
What are your growth plans for the business over the next three years?
We’re opening a brewery with brew-cafe and studio for wellness workshops at Burleigh Heads early next year so it’s safe to say that the next 3 years will be about building the venue and tourism aspect of the business, as well as fulfilling our goals for export. The brewery will allow us to brew under contract for other non-alc beverages companies while bringing more of our own drinks to market.
