Wonki: A Sustainable Alcoholic Sip, Doing the World a Flavour

It’s human nature to choose beauty. Symmetry puts us at ease and helps us avoid danger. But our obsession with looks has created an ugly problem. Each year, Australia wastes over 7.3 million tonnes of food. One third of that is perfectly imperfect produce deemed ‘too ugly’ for supermarket shelves. It’s costing our planet and our wallets – with total food waste costing the Australian economy around $36.6 billion each year. Not to mention the livelihoods of Aussie farmers. Wonki’s challenge was two-fold: How could they save food while supporting local farmers and businesses struggling in current economic conditions?

Wonki makes imperfect produce premium with a seasonal drink. The final recipe took 6 months and 25 iterations to come to fruit-ition. By developing a universal framework, Wonki reduced r&d required for new flavours, leaving more time and money to spend on reducing waste. Their solution is intentionally hyper-local. Wonki work exclusively with local farmers, manufacturers, distillers, designers and couriers. By limiting their focus they’ve been able to maximise impact while minimising their footprint. Within 6 months, Wonki was onboarded by BWS and Dan Murphy’s across Melbourne. By keeping their growth centralised, they are able to scale sustainably.

Despite being in-market for less than a year, Wonki has saved over 10 tonnes of produce from waste — a potential carbon cost of 25 tonnes. What’s more, it’s created a valuable lifeline for Australian farmers and local businesses in a tough economic environment. For customers, Wonki offers a healthier alternative to other alcoholic pre-mixed beverages with no artificial flavours, low-sugar, and a lower alcohol volume. In its key demographic of 18-35 year olds, climate anxiety is real. Wonki empowers its audience to confront the topic head-on by providing a sustainable alternative in-market and encouraging meaningful conversation about food waste.

Wonki’s design features extend beyond the beautiful brand into a consciously-created product with sustainability at every step. Sourcing Together with local social enterprise Farmer’s Pick, Wonki identify and source surplus produce from Aussie farms. Development Flavours are iterated and validated with the community to ensure product-market-fit (reducing excess product risk). Local juicers then produce a test batch, trialled with the community for final approval. Juicing waste (pith, seeds, etc) becomes animal feed or compost in a closed-loop. Preston’s Gypsy Hub mixes the juice with vodka from a local, certified sustainable producer to create Wonki. Poured into recycled cans (95% less emissions than glass bottles). A challenge: leftovers. Excess product is poured into kegs and sold to venues, saving it from waste. Packaging Initially cluster-packed using recycled PET, Wonki is transitioning to a KHS clip. Made from robust cardboard in an energy and resource-efficient process, it removes the need for chemical-coated separators. Wonki’s can designs for each flavour repurpose the same core elements, reducing production time and indirect Scope 2 emissions. Distribution Initially stocked exclusively in Melbourne’s CBD to minimise distribution footprint. Online orders shipped nationally with Sendle a carbon-neutral courier. Every Wonki can opened starts vital conversations about food-waste.