The Lav'a Belle success story
A young founding couple conquers the aperitif scene with their purple liqueur
A start-up that turned a wish into an idea and turned a vision into reality: Veronika and Constantin Ebert, a young couple in their 30s from Stuttgart, are real France enthusiasts and wanted an aperitif that would capture the magic of the South of France. Both the typical taste and the color of Provence, the beautiful lavender fields, were important to them. But there was no such thing. So they decided to create a liqueur that would meet all their expectations: Lav'a Belle was born!
Constantin and Veronika Ebert
Lavabelle GmbH | Nadine Pfeifer
It took less than six months from the initial idea to the development of the recipe, the brand, the founding of Lavabelle GmbH and the commissioning of a contract bottler.
"We had absolutely no idea about the subject matter, but we got deeper and deeper into it," says Veronika Ebert.
Initially, they had 600 bottles filled and the living room became a warehouse. The bottles were sold out within three weeks via their online store. The start of the success story!
Today, more than 20 online stores, over 60 retailers and up to 40 wholesalers stock the purple aperitif. Sales of Lav'a Belle are growing continuously and, after a strong start from a standing start in 2021, have already almost doubled by 2023. Demand and sales are rising steadily - for example, sales increased by over 20% in the first half of 2024, particularly due to high demand in the hospitality industry.
While there were only a few restaurants in Stuttgart in 2022, Lav'a Belle is already available throughout Germany today. Lav'a Belle is on the menu in almost 200 bars and restaurants.
And since this year, Lav'a Belle has also been crossing borders and already has numerous customers in Austria, Switzerland, France and the Netherlands.
The non-alcoholic version Lav'a Belle Liberté was soon added to reflect the spirit of the times. In this way, Lav'a Belle is doing even more justice to the trend for lighter cocktails and non-alcoholic drinks with exciting flavors.
The hobby quickly became a full-time job. Veronika Ebert has now given up her job as a doctor to focus exclusively on her company. She takes care of sales herself and travels to wholesalers and restaurateurs in Germany and neighboring countries. "Footwork", which is exhausting but gives her absolute pleasure. Personal contact with wholesalers and restaurateurs is particularly important to her, as it is the only way to further develop and professionalize the sales concept. "Lavabelle is our baby. We taught it to walk, now we want to spend a lot of time with it and give it the best possible training so that it can soon stand on its own two feet," says Veronika Ebert.
Meanwhile, Constantin Ebert takes care of the processes in the background. In 2024, for example, he introduced new IT solutions and aligned the company's logistics with new partners for growth and internationalization. "Next, we urgently need to automate the financial processes and accounting," says Ebert.
The first half of the year also saw a soft relaunch of the corporate design, which was created by an absolute professional when it comes to spirits. "The unmistakable color scheme of the label and the unicorn in the logo have remained, but have been given a fresh and more modern touch," says Veronika Ebert about Lav'a Belle's new design.
But that's not all: Lav'a Belle has already won numerous awards. In addition to gold and silver in many international competitions, it also received a full 100% and therefore gold in the strict DLG (German Agricultural Society) test in 2023 and gold in the Women's International Trophy in 2024.
And a new partnership with a distributor in Austria has just been confirmed. An absolute novelty is also in joint development: "Le Spritz" - an aperitif with Lav'a Belle, rosé wine and sparkling water as a "ready-to-drink" beverage, in a handy 0.33-liter bottle. Santé!
Note: This article has been translated using a computer system without human intervention. LUMITOS offers these automatic translations to present a wider range of current news. Since this article has been translated with automatic translation, it is possible that it contains errors in vocabulary, syntax or grammar. The original article in German can be found here.
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