Lët’z Kola, a cola made in Luxembourg
Three 100% Luxembourgish drinks are now on sale. A concrete project that was carried out to the heart of Georges Eischen, managing partner of La Provençale.
Less sugar and less calories
Three 100% Luxembourgish drinks are now on sale. A concrete project that was carried out to the heart of Georges Eischen, managing partner of La Provençale.
La Provençale, the food wholesaler deployed in Leudelange, is undoubtedly one of those Luxembourg players who want to make it a point of honor to promote local products. We already remember that in 2019, the company launched the Lët’Z Chips brand. And what could be better than accompanying these thin slices of fried potatoes with a good shot of cola, just as Luxembourgish as these? For Georges Eischen, managing partner of La Provençale, the idea was perfect.
A desire to enter an already competitive market, but also and above all, in the midst of a pandemic. With a large production of local sugar beets, he and his associates initially wanted to use the sugar from the latter for the production of this range of sodas. “Unfortunately, we had to abandon the idea for two reasons: the excessive distance between the refinery and the place of production of the beets and the impossibility for the refiner to guarantee us that the sugar that he would deliver to us was that from our beets”, he explains.
A very hard first observation
The project therefore got off to a rather bad start and Georges Eischen had to make up his mind to an unfortunate observation: in Luxembourg, no company has the necessary equipment to produce and bottle sodas, despite the few local brands that can be found on the shelves of our supermarkets. By expanding my search for bottlers to the Greater Region, I realized that there were a large number of breweries that produced sodas in addition to their beers. Which gave me the idea of contacting the Brasserie Simon to suggest that they embark on this adventure with us. They were immediately accepted.”
This time it was the right one, the Lët’z Kola project was launched. But one question remained: how to stand out, on the one hand, from the indestructible American giant Coca-Cola and, on the other hand, to differentiate oneself from the already existing alternatives? “To create the products, we started by blind tasting everything on the market to help us refine our own vision of the taste of our cola and lemonades. This interesting exercise opened our eyes: for us, it was clear that our products had to be based on ingredients of natural origin, without colouring, without artificial flavoring and without preservatives,” recalls Georges Eischen.
Much less sweet than industrial cola
Through countless experiments and tastings, the recipes are refined and then brought to life. This is how the Lët’z Kola was born, but also the Lët’z Limo in its orange or lime form. “Cola, with its pronounced taste of cola nuts and a note of lime which gives it this surprising freshness, contains 37% less sugar than an industrial cola (it is also 35% less caloric, editor’s note). This result is possible thanks to a combination of sugar and a sweetener of natural origin from Stevia. Orange lemonade contains 8% real fruit juice, while Lemon & Lime lemonade contains 12%,” he says.
Visuals: La Provençale
Visuals: La Provençale
Georges Eischen also guarantees to the older generations that they will rediscover the taste of lemonades and other orangeades of yesteryear.
In total, a substantial investment of 1.5 million euros was necessary, in particular to set up the production lines within the Brasserie Simon in Wiltz. For its part, La Provençale has long worked on the identity it wanted to give to its products. Thus we find on each bottle the traditional “Roude Leiw” as a logo, but also the Dräi Eechelen museum, the fortress of Luxembourg, the Gëlle Fra, the castle of Vianden, the basilica of Echternach, the Philharmonie, the Coque or even the Red Bridge.
The Lët’z Kola and the other ranges are sold in returnable glass bottles for 5.40 euros for 4 bottles of 33cl, an ecological choice according to Georges Eischen. Drinks are available at the La Provençale store as well as on the webshopas well as in the various partners of Brasserie Simon such as the Cactus brand.
Finally, in order to develop the image of the brand beyond simple sodas, a range of clothing with the effigy of the lion accompanying the start of sales was created. More info on the brand’s official website.
follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Subscribe to our newsletter from 5 p.m.