The head of Celsius’ international development says he’s happy with the energy-drink brand’s current UK growth, but that there is room for more penetration in the independent sector.
Celsius launched in the UK in 2025, with four new fruit-forward flavours launching at the beginning of 2026.
Speaking to our sister website Better Retailing at an event in Dublin, Celsius international president Garrett Quigley, said the brand had plenty of space to grow through increased distribution in independents and targeting a different customer base to the typical energy-drink consumer.
“I’m happy, but am I satisfied? No, because there’s more to go for,” he said. “A lot of stores still only have two flavours. I want them to have all four, and then I want to be able to bring the next ones when we get there.”
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In the past 13 weeks, Celsius has increased its distribution in Great Britain by 60%, while unit rate of sale has grown by 58%. Additionally, the brand has generated approximately 5% of total year-to-date energy category growth, generating more sales in this period than the next 35 growing brands combined.
‘A strong opportunity for retailers’
Quigley said the brand presented a strong opportunity for retailers to attract new customers to the energy category, with its positioning that emphasises its fruit flavours, zero sugar and collaborations with top athletes.
“The 18-34 year-old target market are big consumers and are fast-growing,” he said. “A large portion of those consumers doesn’t like traditional energy drinks, and coming in with a distinctive proposition with a clear brand identity which isn’t trying to copy them really appeals to the demographic.”
With sugar-free representing the fastest-growing segment of energy drinks in Great Britain, Quigley believes Celsius is well positioned to capitalise. In the past four weeks, Celsius grew approximately 104%, more than five times faster than the sugar-free segment, and contributed around 10% of total sugar-free growth, despite holding just over 3% of segment sales.
“When they look through the ingredients and see zero sugar and the vitamins, it’s got the core ingredients which mean they don’t reject this category,” he added. “We’ve got something that’s driving the acceleration, something the cohort is looking for.”
