The Dorset Ginger Company

April 2025

How one couple turned a favourite local remedy into a growing ginger drinks business.

Some founders start with a plan. Others start with a product they can’t live without.
For Nick & Timi Good, the couple behind The Dorset Ginger Company, it was a bottle of fiery, comforting ginger elixir that led to a leap neither of them expected. When the business behind their go-to remedy was about to close, they did more than stock up, they bought it.

In the late 70s, legendary business tycoon Victor Kiam regaled our TV screens with ads for a dry shaver brand with which he was so impressed, he bought the company. 40 years on and I found myself in the same position with The Dorset Ginger Drinks Company Ltd!

My wife, Timi, and I had happily been enjoying a range of locally produced, powerful ginger-based drinks, called Dorset Ginger.

I was suffering from IBS type symptoms and had had my gallbladder removed, but found that the drinks, packed with ginger, helped to soothe the pains as ginger has been recognised for its digestive benefits for centuries.

In 2017, I became frustrated when I could no longer find the drinks in local stores and so using the address on the bottle I tracked down where it was made. Finding the then owner, I asked where I might buy more of the ginger elixir only to be told that the business was about to cease trading.

Later that night, I confessed to Timi that we were now the proud owners of a drinks company! Amazingly she wasn’t mad, but ‘more surprised, excited and scared all at once’. I’d negotiated a good price for the company, well below market value, and I handed over all the ownership documents to her in a plastic bag!

Seven years on and the business has gone from strength to strength with new flavours introduced and sales of over 100,000 bottles a year. Timi and I haven’t looked back.

We’re blessed with stunning countryside, green, gently undulating hills but never far away is the sea.

We’re fortunate enough to be based in what I think is the most beautiful county in the country, Dorset. We’re blessed with stunning countryside, green, gently undulating hills but never far away is the sea.

Our small bottling plant is based in Poole so we’re close to the hustle and bustle of a busy town but there’s always the sound of the harbour, seagulls and ferries in the background.

When we bought the business, we inherited a range of 4 beautifully crafted and balanced ginger drinks but since taking over in 2017 we have extended the range to 11, introducing some interesting combinations such as Rhubarb with a Ginger Kick, Christmas favourite: Spiced Ginger Punch and a Mellow variety to cater for those who find the intensity of our drinks a little much.

All Dorset Ginger Company drinks (except our Sicilian Lemonade) are flat, ginger-based drinks that are much more than just cordials or mixers. They can be drunk straight with ice, mixed with water or lemonade and are delicious in cocktails or mocktails, but you can also use them for cooking and baking.

Made with the finest ginger, and not from concentrate fruit juices, they contain no artificial flavours, preservatives, colourings, or sweeteners and are all suitable for gluten-free and vegan diets. Aimed at genuine ginger connoisseurs, every variety delivers a powerful ginger kick with each sip, and are not for the faint hearted; they actually taste of ginger, not botanicals like other ginger drinks on the market.

We’re always interested in exploring more flavour combinations; sometimes suggestions come from customers, sometimes it’s just what we think will go well with ginger and sometimes we take inspiration from the kids, as long as they’re not too bizarre!

Last year we became an official Great Taste Producer with a number of our drinks awarded one or more Great Taste Stars. We also have a great gift pack, called the Famous Five – inspired by the Enid Blyton books set in Dorset – where people can explore five of our drinks, randomly selected by us.

In terms of memorable moments, obviously coming home and announcing that I had bought the company, and finding I still had a marriage was pretty memorable! But it’s the small everyday triumphs that you remember like when any of the drinks have won a Great Taste Award, or someone that we’ve met at a show becomes a new regular customer. Reading about yourself in print is pretty exciting too!

I bought the business because I believed in the products.

I bought the business because I believed in the products – for me they weren’t just fantastic tasting drinks, they helped with my health issues. I therefore stand by the core values of the original founder who wanted to produce genuine ginger drinks that tasted properly of ginger and which contain nothing artificial. Keeping the ingredients simple and honest is key to any NPD we do. We’d like to teach the Great British public to prefer a proper ginger drink over others on the market that have a fleeting hint of ginger and are then just a clever combination of botanicals!

All our bottles are made from glass and our caps from metal so that everything is recyclable. Perhaps one day we will be able to be carbon neutral, and our business will be entirely powered by solar energy.

Our size means that we can’t employ many other people right now, but we’d love to be able to take on a few more local staff. Our daughter Lili is at university at the moment, but she helps out when she can and who knows, maybe, one day when we retire we will have built a successful business that she might like to take to the next level!

We are a small family business and Timi and I do the day to day running of it. Dorset Ginger Company is not quite able to sustain us yet, so we have to do this in between our ‘day’ jobs; I’m a solar panel installer, while Timi is a Practice Secretary in a local doctor’s surgery. It means that we don’t have much spare time, and it is pretty relentless but we’re not complaining!

We both love working on the Dorset Ginger Company as it’s totally different to anything we’ve done before. It’s been exciting to learn a new skill and a different way of running a business and the best bit is going to events, meeting customers and watching them enjoy our drinks. We’ve also made lots of friends with other traders and small business owners – they’re a great bunch and truly inspiring!

We hope to grow the business organically and attend many more events to raise awareness of the brand, but obviously we would love to be stocked in more local stores and perhaps a national chain one day.

The full Dorset Ginger Company range comprises:

• Original Ginger (2 stars Great Taste Awards) – delicious served straight with ice or mixed with lemonade to make a classic ginger beer.
• Strong Ginger – a richer ginger drink with an extra kick that’s wonderfully refreshing with fizzy water or even added to black coffee.
• Strong Ginger with 50% less sugar – try this for an intense ginger punch with less natural sweetness on the tongue.
• Extra Strong Ginger – (2 stars Great Taste Awards) Dorset Ginger claims this is the strongest ginger drink in the UK, and they could be right! A truly powerful ginger kick that definitely warms the cockles and more!
• Extra Strong Ginger with Cinnamon – (1star Great Taste Awards) stunning in a coffee, this blend of ginger and spicy cinnamon makes an expert barista of us all. Alternatively warm it up with a slice of orange and lemon to make a luxurious non-alcoholic mulled drink.
• Apple Juice with a Ginger Kick – (1star Great Taste Awards) made with pure apple juice, the spicy ginger contrasts deliciously with the sweetness of the apple making a stunning drink consumed alone or blended with water, fruit juices or alcohol.
• Rhubarb with a Ginger Kick -(1star Great Taste Awards) a classic combination of rhubarb and ginger in a drink – delicious! Made with the juice of fresh, tart rhubarb.
• Raspberry with a Hint of Ginger – (1star Great Taste Awards) the sweetness of fresh raspberry juice offset by a subtle hint of ginger resulting in a delightfully refreshing tipple.
• Still Sicilian Lemonade – mouth-tinglingly zesty, fresh juice from Sicilian lemons for a pure taste of summer all year round. Ideal enjoyed on its own or with a splash of vodka.
• Mellow Ginger – this is a milder version of the Original Ginger for those who prefer their ginger a little less powerful.
• Spiced Ginger Punch – this is delicious served warm or cold at any time of year but the blended spices with ginger are perfect for the festive season.

All our drinks come in 75cl and 33cl sized glass bottles, both in cases of six for £33 and £16.50 respectively.

Use code: ARTISANFOUNDER10 for 10% OFF all orders for one month after this story publication.

IMAGES ©The Dorset Ginger Company 2025

Thank you, Nick, for sharing the story behind The Dorset Ginger Company. I loved hearing how one simple decision to follow your instinct turned into something so meaningful.

It’s clear how much care and purpose goes into every part of the business. From the ingredients you choose to the way you’ve honoured the original vision while building something of your own, it’s a brilliant reminder that strong values and a genuine love for the product can shape a brand people truly connect with. – Lyndsey

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