Profile: Booch & Brew, Altrincham, England

Ian says:

Emma wrote an great article in Beverage Daily highlighting the versatility and health benefits of kombucha as a low alcohol/no alcohol alternative in the market.

…the tide towards other options that are not just your standard orange juice or lemonade, has definitely turned.

the_editor says:

Hip Pop was profiled in the Manchester Evening News, 23 May 2026

‘We started in a garage in Altrincham, now our hobby is worth millions’
They were complete novices, now Hollywood has come calling for Emily Thackery
By Lee Grimsditch, Features Writer

A woman who started making her own soft drinks in glass jars in her kitchen turned her hobby into an international company that has just launched a new soda in partnership with a Hollywood blockbuster.

Emma Thackray’s business started as a hobby she took up while living with family in the US for a few years. It was there she discovered a passion for fermenting foods and drinks, such as kombucha, sauerkraut, and kimchi. Born in Leeds, Emma had moved to Manchester to attend university. After living in the US for three years, the 44-year-old mum returned to the UK to live in Altrincham, where she continued with her hobby of fermenting foods and drinks in her kitchen. There, she met her future business partner, Kenny Goodman, through a nanny share. Kenny, who suffers from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome), found that the kombucha drinks that Emma made not only tasted great, but they also helped ease some of his symptoms.

Kombucha is a tangy, fizzy fermented tea made by putting a rubbery, alien-looking culture called a SCOBY (bacteria and yeast) into sweet tea. After fermenting for a few weeks, the drink is flavoured. Packed with probiotics, kombucha is a sweet, low-sugar alternative to soda. The pair decided to turn Emma’s skill for making fermented drinks into a proper business. Kenny began working on sales and marketing while Emma continued to make the drinks. Emma and Kenny were complete novices in the food and drinks industry. They started by selling their drinks at local farmers’ markets, such as the makers market in Chorlton, and by finding local independent shops to stock their sodas. “At the very beginning we were completely self-taught,” said Emma.

“I think one of the good things about our business is that we’ve been able to test our drinks with the Manchester and Greater Manchester audience. “It sounds a bit naff, but with real people, not just funky, cool types who live in Shoreditch. “People out and about in Stockport, or Macclesfield, have tasted our drinks thousands of times, so we’ve got all that feedback that we’ve used. Initially, we started with kombucha, but now the fastest growing segment of our business is our healthier soda that’s got fibre in it. “Because we were getting people’s feedback, we could definitely see we were onto something. I think, pre-2019, when people drank healthier drinks, they expected them not to taste very good. And you still see that now sometimes. “We set the brand up because we wanted to make really delicious tasting drinks that were healthier, and we were struggling to find ones that tasted nice.”

‘We went from a glass jar in my kitchen to a pot in the garage’

Emma was able to quit her job as the director of Dolly Parton’s children’s literacy charity, the Imagination Library, to continue experimenting with her products. Later, in 2019, they officially launched their drinks company Booch & Brew which was renamed Hip Pop in 2021. As sales increased, Emma and Kenny realised they were running out of room for producing the growing number of drinks they were selling. “We went from a glass jar in my kitchen to a 100-litre pot in the garage, and then a 300-litre. Then we ran out of room in the garage, and that’s when we moved onto the farm.” From Emma’s garage, they moved production to a manufacturing facility on a farm in Cheshire. However, just as their growing business was starting to make a name for itself, its future was plunged into uncertainty when the 2020 coronavirus pandemic led markets and local independent outlets to close. “We had to go online, like 100% online,” said Emma.

“That probably slowed us down for a couple of years because Kenny and I, our background, we’re not from the drinks industry. “So, we were building out our network as we’ve grown the business. It’s not like we used to work for another brand and then set up our own. We didn’t have any contacts, so we’ve had to build that.” Having survived the challenges of the pandemic, Hip Pop continued to grow its audience and, in 2023, relocated its operations again, this time to a railway arch behind Piccadilly in Manchester. “2023 was a big point in the business when we went into a top four supermarket. We went into Sainsbury’s, and we started to get that credibility.” Before being stocked on the shelves of Sainsbury’s, Emma said that northern high-end supermarket Booths was their first major retail stockist and had been a massive supporter of Hip Pop.

Now, Hip Pop is sold in 12,000 outlets, including Sainsbury’s, Co-op, Tesco, Waitrose, Morrison’s, and major supermarkets in Europe. Several restaurants and coffee shops now stock the brand, including chains like Zizzi’s, Chipotle, and Ask Italian. With the secured backing of “brilliant” investment angels, Hip Pop underwent a brand refresh in 2025 and has grown from a kitchen hobby to a multi-million pound business that’s just secured its biggest partner to date.

Entertainment giants Warner Brothers reached out to Emma and Kenny to ask whether they would collaborate on launching a soda for the upcoming Supergirl movie, set for release on June 6. “They [Warner Bros.] reached out to us. We had to double-check the phone call,” said Emma. “The Supergirl movie, the heroine Supergirl, she’s a little bit like a Hip Pop in the sense that she’s not like your typical polished superhero. “She’s kind of a bit edgy, and a little bit different, not so polished. And she’s real, and in those aspects of her character, that kind of sits with our brand. Like our brand tagline, if you like, is ‘Fizzy pop that’s refreshingly real.’ “So, that kind of being straight with people attitude, not pretending. We’re not going to tell you that a can of Hip Pop is going to cure your gut health. It’s really not, you know. If you want to be healthy, have a glass of water. “But if you want a can of pop, then have a Hip Pop.”

‘Don’t wait for perfection’

The Manchester drinks brand will be part of a big promotional campaign in the run-up to Supergirl’s release. And although Hip Pop will be part of the wider promotion across the UK, Emma’s keen to reinforce that Hip Pop is a brand with its roots and “heart” firmly in Manchester. Even the original starter culture Emma used to make the kombucha in her garage is still used in every batch they produce. And the drinks entrepreneur has some advice for anyone with a hobby who is thinking of turning it into a business. “If you’re building something from scratch like we have done, then don’t wait for perfection,” said Emma. You’re never going to have something that’s perfect from day one, so just get out there, launch and test, test, test. I think that’s so critical. “Get the product into people’s hands and get them trying it and testing it, and then learn and, you know, iterate based on feedback. “Manchester has been such a great place to do it. We’ve got loads of feedback from people. “And for a food and drink product, the hospitality scene in Manchester punches well above its weight. So again, that’s a great place where you can test and trial.”