Story – Clean Break

Our Story

These are the three mantras which our founder Rich made a commitment to live by after walking away from a successful 20+ year career working in the alcohol industry. Here’s how the last few years have panned out in his own words.

“I feel lucky to have spent 20 years of my life in a job which always felt like a hobby. Firstly managing bars and then in sales roles in the alcohol industry, I was fortunate to visit some incredible vineyards, breweries & distilleries all over the world, and met wonderful personalities, becoming familiar with some of the worlds most admired drinks brands. Alcohol was a huge part of my identity and my life was built around it inside and outside of work.

Entering my thirties and settling down to start a family, the negative effects of alcohol became ever more acute & apparent. Around this time my love of running began and I was subconsciously beginning to reject alcohol until at the end of 2021, I made the decision to take a break from drinking alcohol.

At the time I hadn’t considered the impact that this might have on my career, it soon became clear that a) this was unlikely to be a short-term change, and b) it felt somewhat in conflict with my day job…I was actively distancing myself from the very thing which I was being paid to promote & sell. I felt like a hypocrite as my career no longer matched my lifestyle, and in many ways my new values.

Walking away from a career which I’d built over all those years was incredibly hard, not least because I had no idea what I now wanted to do…I knew what I didn’t want to do anymore and that was sell alcohol. So, I found myself somewhat lacking in purpose, and to some degree felt a loss of identity given that alcohol had been the foundation for my lifestyle and career for so many years!

Thankfully, whilst this shift was happening, I had also begun to invest in myself, my mindset, and my wellbeing, and had made real positive progress in all these areas. So, combined with a new level of creativity, energy and clarity thanks to my new alcohol-free lifestyle, an idea was hatched which would allow me to follow a dream and long-term aspiration to start my own business.

Clean Break began life as an idea for a book title (which I still intend to write at some point in the future), Clean Break – my ‘messy’ divorce from alcohol!

With young mouths to feed and a mortgage to pay, the prospect of writing a book didn’t seem like a particularly reliable source of income. But luckily it did seem like a great name for a brand, not just an alcohol-free beer brand, but for a lifestyle brand which could represent health, wellbeing and opportunity.

Upon leaving my career in alcohol sales, I took a role working within the security industry, a sector which I had absolutely no experience of, but which turned out to be a great segue out of my previous role.

But sometimes life gives us very clear and obvious signs. And so when the security company decided not to extend my three month probation period, I knew at that moment that I had a new purpose in life……..to share the joys and benefits of taking a Clean Break from alcohol.

The rest is, as they say, history.

Of course my background in the drinks industry has been a huge advantage in getting things up and running, but I’ve also been lucky enough to work with some incredibly talented people in order to bring my idea for Clean Break to life…….huge shout outs in particular have to go to Jordan Childs from Mash Gang, Mike Williams of The Brewers Design Society and Neil & team at Allendale Brewery.

Where Clean Break goes, I have no idea. But I’m grateful to once again be enjoying the journey and the path it’s taking me on, and along the way I hope to inspire others to do the same and help them make #positiveprogress in their own lives.

Cheers, Rich

Promise

The very first thing we did when creating Take A Clean Break (well maybe the second thing, after registering the business at companies house!) was to make a promise to always

‘do what feels right & make others feel great’

To help us live up to our promise, our founder Rich created our vision, purpose & values, and these have gone on to form the basis for every decision we’ve made since.

Vision

Taking a Clean Break from alcohol has been the single best decision that Rich has ever made for his physical and mental fitness. He describes it as a ‘superpower’ and says it’s given him a renewed level of energy and self-belief to take on any challenge, be that creating Clean Break from scratch and in doing so building a new career for himself, or running three ultra marathons in the first half of 2023!

Purpose

Having stopped drinking alcohol at the end of 2021 and walked away from a successful 20+ year career in the alcohol sales industry, Rich found himself somewhat lacking in purpose. But following a passing comment from one of his friends about him not being able to stop drinking alcohol as everyone he knew drank, Rich felt there was something fundamentally wrong with that belief, and from this point a new purpose was born.

And having experienced the benefits of an alcohol-free lifestyle first-hand, plus recognising the positive progress that he’d made in his own life, that purpose grew further.

Values

Be OPEN & HONEST

We believe in the power of talking and sharing how we feel with others, and where some would see showing this level of vulnerability as a weakness, we see it as a sign of strength and resilience. Openness & honesty is a foundation to good communication and good communication is essential to building long lasting and strong relationships.

Seek OPPORTUNITY & ADVENTURE

We only get one go at this wonderful thing called life, and before you know it, it’s gone. And it can become very familiar, very quickly, but by seeking opportunity & adventure at every turn and embracing a growth mindset, we believe everyone can live a purposeful & fulfilled life.

RESPECT & INSPIRE others

We are all perfectly imperfect. But also capable of doing amazing things. Let’s encourage and help each other to follow our dreams. Apparently, Albert Einstein once said ‘The most important decision we make is whether we believe we live in a friendly or hostile universe’……..choose your universe. Ours is overwhelmingly friendly.

Positive Progress Plan

From day 1, Rich knew he had an opportunity to not just build something incredible for himself, but to also help others along the way. And so, the Positive Progress Plan was born with the sole intention of helping others to make positive progress in their own lives.

The idea started life as a commitment to donate a percentage of profits to charity, until Rich realised that there was no guarantee that the business would make any profit, and of course 10% of nothing is……. well, nothing!

But for a consumer to know that a guaranteed amount of money from every purchase that they make would go to charitable causes……. now that really would fulfil the promise to always do what feels right.

We’ve committed to donating 10p from every unit sold (can or pint) to support the work of our chosen charity partners.

Clean Break Brewing are extremely pleased to support the below charities or causes, and donates 10p from every unit sold, net of certain expenses, to the excellent work carried out by them. To learn more about the fantastic work that they do, please visit their website using the links provided:

The Running Charity uses an active-wellbeing programme to improve the resilience, physical fitness and mental wellbeing, of vulnerable and homeless young people.

The Running Charity, a charitable incorporated organisation, is a registered charity in the UK (number: 1157501). Further details can be found at http://www.therunningcharity.org

The Burnt Chef Project is a globally recognised not-for-profit Social Enterprise fully committed to making the hospitality profession healthier and more sustainable by focussing on people’s wellbeing first.

They provide a wide range of tools, services and education to help challenge the stigma of mental health whilst beginning to create a culture of care and compassion. Together we will pave the way to a healthier, happier and more sustainable hospitality industry.

https://www.theburntchefproject.com/