The Taste for Success!
27th May 2024
Dublin City Council is delighted to announce that Drink Botanicals Ireland who are supported by Local Enterprise Office Dublin City, were winners at this year’s National Enterprise Awards.
The awards, which took place at the Round Room in the Mansion House in Dublin, were in their 24th year and run annually by the Local Enterprise Offices.
Drink Botanicals Ireland took home the One to Watch award at the ceremony. Drink Botanicals are a supplier of premium dried garnishes, natural-based syrups, and cocktail ancillaries to both consumer and industry customers at home and abroad.
Founded in 2017 by Laura McCarthy when she was still a marketing student in TU Dublin. There she noticed a gap in the market. With the growing interest in luxury drinks, she saw an opportunity to create a product that would allow consumers to make cocktails and mocktails in the company of friends and family. She visited many bars that were serving drinks with botanicals such as juniper berries and hibiscus, but noticed that there was no product available in retail stores for consumers to recreate this product. Laura has further expanded the Drink Botanicals Ireland offering and their range includes; natural based syrups, premium dried garnishes and cocktail/mocktail kits.
With global expansion, they have found success in international markets like the United Kingdom and United States via Amazon, and have secured a UAE distribution contract. Committed to excellence, they stand out by delivering only top-quality products.
Drink Botanicals Ireland employ 5 full time and 2 part time staff members currently and have plans to grow their employees in 2024.
Accepting the Award, Laura McCarthy, founder of Drink Botanicals Ireland said “I am so proud to represent Dublin City at the National Enterprise Awards. There are so many other great businesses here and I’m so happy that we were able to come away with the One to Watch Award.
Opportunities like this inspire me to continue striving for growth for my business and the great support from the Local Enterprise Office helps to make it happen.”
Greg Swift, Head of Enterprise, Dublin City Council said “Well done to Laura and her team on their great win here this evening. Laura has taken advantage of various LEO supports so it’s great to see a business supported by LEO Dublin City winning one of the awards.
Drink Botanicals Ireland honoured tonight have made so much progress with the business in a short space of time particularly in the export markets that they really are ‘One to Watch’ and I hope they continue to grow from strength to strength going forward.”
Mary MacSweeney, Acting Executive Manager, Culture Recreation and Economic Services, Dublin City Council said “It was fantastic to see Laura and the team at Drink Botanicals Ireland win the One to Watch Award at the National Enterprise Awards. Dublin City Council engages with an average of 20,000 business every year. Businesses just like Laura’s, who are relatively new in starting on their journey to long established institutions of Dublin. Over the last number of years Laura has been a great example of how to start building a business here in Dublin City, linking in frequently with the LEO in Dublin City Council to explore supports which she used to expand and bring Drink Botanicals Ireland to new heights both here in Dublin and in markets abroad.”
The overall winner at the National Enterprise Awards was Dreamdev Technologies who are supported by Local Enterprise Office Kildare.
Announcing the award winners at the Mansion House and after earlier launching the new Local Enterprise Office Policy Statement, Minister Burke said; “The National Enterprise Awards are the highlight of the small business and enterprise calendar. Year on year the diversity of businesses and the standard of companies that are coming through the process is getting stronger. We should not be surprised given the innovation and endurance that businesses have shown in recent years. We have some outstanding winners but the finalists on the whole have been excellent, and this is very much the start of their journey.
Several other companies won across a range of categories at the Awards, which were established by the Local Enterprise Offices to celebrate the impact and quality of small businesses across the country.
This year’s winners share a €50,000 investment fund and eight regional winners were also announced on the night:
•PRM Assist in the Dublin Region (backed by LEO Fingal)
•Nutshed in the South West Region (backed by LEO Tipperary)
•Watt Footprint in the Mid East Region (backed by LEO Westmeath)
•Expat Taxes in the South Region (backed by LEO Waterford)
•Brady’s Coffee in the South East Region (backed by LEO Wicklow)
•Sleater Solutions in the North West Region (backed by LEO Sligo)
•Zoma in the North East Region (backed by LEO Louth)
•Grá Chocolates in the West Region (backed by LEO Galway)
Also honoured on the night were Bevcraft who won the Outstanding Achievement Award.
Pictured: 31 finalists competed for the title of National Enterprise Awards Winner 2024 with a combined prize fund of €50,000 across all the categories. Pictured in Red is Laura McCarthy, Drink Botanicals Ireland. Laura took home the ‘One to Watch’ Award. (Image: Conor McCabe Photography).
