**History and Ownership:**
– Innocent Drinks was founded in 1998 by Richard Reed, Adam Balon, and Jon Wright.
– The company started by selling smoothies at a music festival in London.
– Received investment from Maurice Pinto.
– Sold a stake to The Coca-Cola Company in 2009.
– Sales surged in 2016 due to new products like coconut water.
**Product Range:**
– Primary product is smoothies made from whole crushed fruit and juices.
– Product line includes juice for kids, not-from-concentrate juice, Innocent Bubbles, and coconut water.
– Introduced Super Smoothies in 2014 with added vitamins.
– Launched a range of cold press fruit and veg juices in 2015.
– Introduced a vegan nut and oat drinks range in 2018.
**Health Claims and Product Quality:**
– A 250 ml bottle of Innocent Smoothie contains 171 kcal and 34.3 g of sugar.
– No artificial ingredients in Innocent drinks.
– Academic studies showed smoothies contain comparable fiber to whole fruit.
– Some Innocent smoothies have low Glycemic Index values.
– Promoted as a healthy option despite high sugar content.
**Environmental Impact and Controversies:**
– Discovered unsustainable water use by a supplier.
– Use of single-use plastics led to a negative environmental impact.
– Bottles contain 50% recycled plastic and 50% virgin plastic.
– Worked on reducing water use with strawberry farms and developed an irrigation app.
– Warned by Advertising Standards Authority for unsubstantiated health claims in 2007.
**Charitable Initiatives:**
– Company committed funds to Innocent foundation annually, increasing over the years.
– Innocent Drinks pledges 10% of profits to charity yearly.
– Innocent Foundation, funded by employees, shareholders, and the company, has supported 67 projects since 1998.
– Initiatives include the Big Knit Project, Trussell Trust Partnership, Action Against Hunger Partnership, and Oxfam Emergency Response Network, focusing on various charitable causes.
Innocent Drinks is a British-based company that produces smoothies and juice sold in supermarkets, coffee shops and various other outlets. The company sells more than two million smoothies per week. Innocent is over 90% owned by The Coca-Cola Company.
 | |
 Innocent strawberry and banana smoothie | |
| Industry | Beverage |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1998 |
| Founder | Richard Reed, Adam Balon and Jon Wright |
| Headquarters | London , United Kingdom |
Area served | Europe |
| Products | Drinks |
| Owner | The Coca-Cola Company (90%) |
| Website | www |