Premium-Cola

Premium-Cola is a German beverage brand founded in 2001 and based in Hamburg. It is associated with the Premium-Kollektiv, an organizational model that seeks to conduct commercial activity outside conventional capitalist business practices. The brand began with caffeinated cola and later expanded its portfolio to include beer, organic elderflower lemonade, and organic mate beverages. Its products are manufactured by external partner producers, while the collective coordinates the brand, commercial relationships, distribution, and organizational development. The brand’s founder and registered owner is Uwe Lübbermann. Although the business is legally structured as a sole proprietorship, many operational and strategic decisions are made through the Premium Collective. The collective includes employees, customers, suppliers, retailers, and other people connected to the brand. Members participate in online discussions and decisions, and the model emphasizes equal voting rights, consensus, and the ability of members to veto proposals. Day-to-day work is handled by a small organizational team and a broader network of spokespersons who communicate with customers and retailers. Premium-Cola presents social, ecological, and economic sustainability as interconnected objectives. Its stated practices include a common hourly wage, extensive transparency in price calculation, avoidance of external financing, short transport routes where possible, and the use of organically farmed ingredients. The collective also rejects conventional volume discounts. Instead, its so-called anti-volume discount can make smaller orders relatively more affordable, supporting small retailers despite their higher per-unit freight costs. The business generally avoids conventional promotional tools such as free goods, branded refrigerators, and large-scale commercial advertising. It relies more heavily on direct communication, interviews, product information, and public discussion of its organizational model. The portfolio has been produced through partnerships with independent manufacturers. Since 2008, Klosterbrauerei Weißenohe has produced the collective’s pilsner beer. The beer recipe has been published under a Creative Commons license, reflecting the organization’s preference for sharing and transparency. Cola has historically represented the largest share of the business, with beer also accounting for a substantial part of sales and smaller shares coming from lemonades and consulting work. Premium-Cola has attracted attention from business-ethics, corporate-responsibility, and alternative-enterprise observers because it attempts to combine commercial production with consensus governance and nonstandard pricing practices. Its model has also faced criticism and internal strain. Critics have questioned the absence of written employment contracts, the treatment of illness-related wage continuation, and the use of sales commissions alongside a stated standard wage. The COVID-19 pandemic caused a severe disruption because most revenue came from gastronomy and events. The collective responded by negotiating payment deferrals and voluntary redistribution among members and business partners, and it later received state support. Internal disputes followed, including controversies over working-hour records and attempts to change the founder’s position. The organization subsequently entered a rebuilding phase and introduced additional employment and record-checking procedures.

Premium-Cola was founded in 2001 in Germany by Uwe Lübbermann. From the beginning, the project was intended not merely as a conventional soft-drink label but as an experiment in alternative economic organization. The brand’s core proposition combined a cola product with a collective structure in which participants connected to the business could discuss and influence decisions. This included not only people performing paid work, but also customers, suppliers, retailers, and other supporters. The business developed around a networked production model. Premium-Cola does not operate as a conventional vertically integrated beverage manufacturer; instead, partner producers make the drinks while the collective coordinates recipes, sourcing, commercial relationships, logistics, communications, and governance. This arrangement allowed the brand to build a broader portfolio without establishing its own bottling or brewing infrastructure. The portfolio came to include caffeinated cola, pilsner beer, organic elderflower lemonade, and organic mate beverages. A significant product-development step came in 2008, when Klosterbrauerei Weißenohe began producing the collective’s pilsner beer. The recipe was made available under a Creative Commons license, consistent with Premium-Cola’s emphasis on transparency and shared knowledge. The collective also sought to limit transport distances and use ingredients from organic agriculture. Its environmental aims were presented alongside social and economic goals rather than as a separate marketing program. Premium-Cola’s organizational model is based on consensus democracy. Members have equal voting and veto rights, and many decisions are discussed through online channels. The registered legal structure is a sole proprietorship owned by Lübbermann, but the collective undertakes to make substantive decisions collectively. Operational work has been divided between a small organizational team and a larger group of spokespersons dealing with customers and retailers. The model also promotes a common wage for work performed on behalf of the collective, verbal rather than written agreements, and open calculation of prices. The brand’s commercial practices distinguish it from mainstream soft-drink companies. It generally avoids conventional advertising, branded refrigeration equipment, free-product incentives, and other standard sales tools. It does communicate publicly through interviews, website materials, and explanations of its products and economic model. It also rejects volume discounts. Instead, its anti-volume-discount approach can favor smaller deliveries, helping small outlets that would otherwise face higher freight costs per unit. Available figures indicate that the business sold more than one million bottles in 2013 and generated approximately €475,000 in revenue that year. In 2019, annual revenue was reported at approximately €700,000, with cola contributing the largest share, followed by beer, consulting, and other lemonades. These figures describe the collective’s business activity and should not be interpreted as public-company disclosures. The brand became a recurring example in discussions of alternative enterprises, business ethics, and corporate social responsibility. Its stated objective of addressing structural problems in conventional capitalism attracted positive attention, but the model also drew criticism. The Freiburg Syndikat of the anarcho-syndicalist trade-union federation FAU questioned whether collective principles were consistently applied, citing sales commissions and the lack of binding written rules for continued wage payments during illness. The COVID-19 pandemic created an especially severe challenge. Because the overwhelming majority of revenue was connected to hospitality and events, the collapse of those sectors put pressure on cash flow and relationships across the network. The collective arranged voluntary redistribution, payment pauses, and delayed invoicing, subject to the consent of affected parties. State financial assistance later provided additional support, but it also became a source of internal conflict. Disputes concerning working-hour records and alleged fraudulent entries were followed by court cases, demands for greater access to records, and attempts to force Lübbermann out. The legal and financial obligations connected to state aid made a simple change of ownership or control difficult, while several important members left. By the end of 2025, Premium-Cola was described as being in a rebuilding period. New procedures included a probationary period and the possibility of reviewing working-time and payroll information in cases of suspicion. The continuing organization therefore combines its original collective ambitions with more formal safeguards developed in response to the pandemic-era crisis.

1. 2025Rebuilding and procedural changes

   The collective begins rebuilding after internal and financial disruption, adding probationary employment and record-review procedures.

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2. 2020COVID-19 crisis affects the collective

   The shutdown of hospitality and events severely disrupts the company’s main revenue channels and prompts payment deferrals, redistribution, and later state support.

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3. 2019Revenue reaches approximately €700,000

   Pre-pandemic revenue is reported at approximately €700,000, with cola and beer forming the principal revenue categories.

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4. 2013More than one million bottles sold

   The business reports sales of 1,088,086 bottles and revenue of approximately €475,000.

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5. 2008Production of Premium Pilsner begins at Weißenohe

   Klosterbrauerei Weißenohe becomes the production partner for the collective’s pilsner beer.

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6. 2001Premium-Cola is founded

   Uwe Lübbermann establishes Premium-Cola as a beverage project with an alternative collective operating model.

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An alternative, sustainability-oriented beverage brand that combines organic products with collective governance, transparent pricing, consensus decision-making, and support for small retailers.

• Premium-ColaCaffeinated cola2001

  The brand’s principal soft drink and historical core offering. Premium-Cola is positioned as an independently organized alternative to mainstream cola brands. Production is handled through external partners, while the collective manages the brand, commercial network, and policy framework. The product is associated with the group’s organic sourcing and transparent, nonstandard business practices.

• Premium PilsnerBeer2008

  A pilsner beer produced for the Premium collective by Klosterbrauerei Weißenohe since 2008. Its recipe has been published under a Creative Commons license, making the product an example of the collective’s preference for openness and shared information. Beer became one of the group’s most important business categories after cola.

• Premium Organic Elderflower DrinkOrganic lemonade

  An organic elderflower beverage within the collective’s expanded non-cola range. It reflects the group’s use of organically farmed ingredients and its effort to maintain a diversified beverage portfolio while retaining the same collective commercial and governance principles.

• Premium Organic Mate DrinkOrganic mate beverage

  An organic mate drink added to the broader Premium beverage portfolio. Public reference material identifies it as one of the brand’s product categories, although detailed launch, formulation, and distribution information is not specified.

• 2025Formalize selected employment safeguardsStrategy

  After the pandemic-era organizational conflict, the collective entered a rebuilding phase and reassessed some of its informal working arrangements.

  What changed. It introduced a probationary period and allowed cross-checking of working-hour and payroll records when there is a specific suspicion.

  Aftermath. The changes represent a partial move toward more formal internal controls while preserving the collective’s broader decision-making aspirations.

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• 2020Use voluntary redistribution and payment deferrals during the pandemicStrategy

  The loss of gastronomy and events business created an immediate financial shock because these channels represented most of the collective’s revenue.

  What changed. The collective negotiated voluntary redistribution among members and business partners, paused some payments, and deferred invoices with the consent of affected parties. It later accepted state financial assistance.

  Aftermath. The measures helped address short-term disruption but contributed to internal disputes concerning state-aid obligations, records, and governance.

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• 2008Add a collective pilsner beerProduct launch

  The collective sought to broaden its beverage portfolio beyond cola while retaining partner-based production and its transparency-oriented organizational principles.

  What changed. Premium-Cola began working with Klosterbrauerei Weißenohe to produce a pilsner beer, with the recipe later made available under a Creative Commons license.

  Aftermath. Beer became a significant part of the group’s revenue mix and extended the Premium model into alcoholic beverages.

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• Pandemic-era working-hour and governance disputeControversy

  During the crisis following the COVID-19 pandemic, several cases concerning allegedly falsified working-hour records were discovered and later convicted in court. Requests for greater access to time sheets, disputes over state-aid obligations, and attempts to remove the registered owner produced a serious internal conflict. The episode led to departures by key members and left the collective substantially weakened.

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• 2025Premium Collective enters a rebuilding phase

  The collective began rebuilding after the pandemic-era crisis and introduced additional employment procedures, including a probationary period and the possibility of cross-checking working-time and payroll records when concerns arise.

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• 2020Premium-Cola faces pandemic disruption because of dependence on gastronomy and events

  The COVID-19 pandemic severely affected Premium-Cola because approximately 95 percent of its revenue had been associated with gastronomy and events. Members and business partners negotiated voluntary payment pauses and deferred invoices, followed later by state assistance.

  OtherRegulation
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1. Premium-Cola
2. Premium-Cola official website