Plash: Ex-Nestlé Researcher From Austria Mixes Mocktails With Electrolytes

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All the cocktail feeling, none of the hangover, plus a dose of magnesium: Austrian food innovator Gerhard Petzl has launched Plash in Switzerland, a non-alcoholic drinks brand that combines mocktails with electrolytes. The former Nestlé researcher wants to carve out a category of its own between premium mocktails and functional beverages, with Austria to follow in 2027.

Three Flavors at 20 Calories

Plash comes in three flavors inspired by cocktail classics: Margarita with pink guava, Mojito with lemon and mint, and Spritz with orange and ginger. According to the company, each 330-milliliter can contains just 3 grams of sugar and about 20 calories, plus up to 10 percent fruit juice. The functional part comes from the electrolytes magnesium, calcium, potassium and sodium, which are otherwise found mainly in isotonic sports drinks. The drinks are vegan and free from gluten, soy and dairy.

“I wanted to develop a drink that combines the enjoyment of a cocktail with little sugar, few calories and natural fruit juices, complemented by the electrolytes magnesium, calcium, potassium and sodium,” Mr. Petzl said. Plash, he added, is meant to bring enjoyment, lifestyle and functional benefits together in a non-alcoholic category of its own.

From Nestlé’s Lab to His Own Brand

Mr. Petzl has more than 30 years of experience in the food industry. The Austrian native spent over 20 years working as a pastry chef, chocolatier, consultant and entrepreneur in Europe, the United States, Asia and Australia, winning, among other honors, a gold medal at the Culinary Olympics in Berlin. He then spent almost a decade in research and development at Nestlé in Switzerland. In 2025, he founded Plash as a sole proprietorship based on Lake Geneva, and the brand is registered with the Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property.

To build the brand, Mr. Petzl skipped the traditional advertising or design agency. He developed the brand idea, positioning and visual concept himself and brought in a former Nestlé designer to execute the brand and packaging design. Each flavor has its own color scheme, complemented by custom typography and a premium look.

How Plash Plans to Scale

Mr. Petzl is building distribution across several channels, with a focus on retail, restaurants, hotels, events and corporate customers. In Plash’s online shop, a tasting set with all three flavors costs 14.50 Swiss francs (about €15.50), and a tray of 24 cans of a single flavor costs 69.95 francs (about €75). That works out to 2.91 francs (about €3.10) per can, or 2.76 francs (about €2.95) in the XL pack of 72 cans.

Business-to-business sales are meant to become a second pillar:

• Trio box: The gift box with all three flavors can be customized with a company’s branding and is pitched as a non-alcoholic alternative to wine or chocolate as gifts for clients and employees. Orders range from 10 to 500 boxes.
• Co-branding: Cans with a company’s own logo next to the Plash lettering are available from 30 cartons.
• Events and bulk buyers: Events can order trays of 24 cans, and bulk buyers can order pallets starting at a quarter pallet of 480 cans.

For now, Mr. Petzl is focusing on the Swiss market. Plash is set to become available in Austria starting in 2027.

Competition From Mocktails and Sports Drinks

By straddling mocktails and functional drinks, Plash takes on two camps at once. In ready-to-drink non-alcoholic cocktails in cans, brands such as Nohrlund from Denmark and Lyre’s from Australia are already on the market, while in Austria the Vienna-based start-up kein & low focuses on non-alcoholic alternatives. On electrolytes, Plash competes with isotonic sports drinks such as Powerade and Gatorade, as well as electrolyte powders like Liquid I.V. Plash says it is the first company in Switzerland and the European Union to combine both in a ready-to-drink can.