Jake Gautreaux and Dominic Evans have known each other since high school, having graduated together in 2012. Despite going their separate ways afterwards, with Dom taking up engineering and Jake going straight into business, the pair’s friendship remained strong.
So when they reunited in 2017, Jake and Dom entertained the idea of forming their own business venture. They realised that there was a gap in the market for an alternative and affordable vodka brand.
“At the time, there was minimal independent Australian vodka on the market and certainly none around the $40 mark,” Dom explains.
Thus, an idea for a liquor business that would become the Thirsty Group began to take shape.
Early days
Their venture would begin as a part-time one, with a garage as their first office. To bring their vodka idea to life, they initially bought spirits from a contract producer and resold them under their own brand, Baxter. In their free time, they would go around touting their vodka to hospitality establishments.
“I would load up my car with 10 cases and venture out to the bars on Chapel Street with a mindset of ‘sell, sell, sell’,” Jake recalls.
Thanks to their friendship with the guys who ran the music festival Beyond the Valley, they got into BTV, running the backstage bar.
“We supplied free booze in exchange for tickets and brand exposure,” Jake says. “Off the back of this, we were able to tap into influencer marketing and network at the event. We met the right people, which led to us sponsoring some larger festivals and further getting the name out there.”
Building connections
This enabled Jake and Dom to execute some big activations, including boat parties and other brand collaborations. Their marketing was all down to grassroots and networking, as they didn’t throw a lot of money into this initially, relying mainly on mutually beneficial opportunities to create hype and brand awareness.
Jake and Dom derived a lot of value from their in-person sales approach, building strong relationships and further expanding their network within the industry. Social media (both organic and paid) played a big part in sharing their event content on a wider scale, including influencer posts that they were able to use from events and activations.
The pair were grateful to have met the right people, which led to them sponsoring some larger festivals and further getting Baxter’s name out into the market, while continuing to snag milestones including boat parties and other brand collaborations.
Growing the business
The considerable success Baxter vodka achieved enabled Jake and Dom to move out of the garage and into a warehouse in 2018, where they were able to produce and bottle Baxter themselves, without the need of a contract producer, and in greater volume.
The shift towards in-house production did not come without growing pains.
“We started out with the official still, while learning how to make alcohol in the garage, just doing some moonshine on the side,” Jake admits. “It was honestly terrible stuff but a good learning curve for us.”
This move to a larger venue allowed the pair to make their product, and the process for making it, better. It also provided an opportunity to venture into other products. This decision was a strategic one.
“Our biggest challenges have always been money,” Dom explains. “We haven’t done a capital raise yet and so have always just had to come up with the money in creative ways to capitalise on the opportunity that presented itself. A big solution for this was creating many different products so we would always have at least one product that a bar desired.”
Adapting to change
Jake and Dom also saw an opportunity to fill gaps in the alcohol market that arose at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. At the time, Aussies had limited access to liqueurs due to the supply-chain breakdown, as the vast majority of liqueurs sold here come from overseas. Jake and Dom launched Aubrey Liqueurs. So a challenging period ended up providing the business an opportunity for growth. “When COVID hit, all the bars shut, which meant our sales went to zero overnight,” Dom recalls. “We pushed hard to get into Liquorland Australia-wide and were lucky enough to get picked up, which saved us.”
Dom also credits the business’ adaptability as an ingredient in its continued growth. “The key driver for our growth has been the ability to pivot when opportunities arise,” he shares. As an example, the Thirsty Group leveraged its alcohol production facility to make hand sanitiser during the pandemic.
With the success of the vodka and liqueur products, Thirsty Group ventured into gin, alongside expanding its distillery, which now bears a HACCP certification. It also has a second warehouse now, which has been upgraded extensively over the last two years to be able to produce and bottle about 2 million bottles a year, whether it be contract or the company’s own. “It was all about having full control over the products for us,” Jake says. “Having control from start to finish meant we didn’t have to rely on external sources. Our goal of having a streamlined and cost-effective process came to fruition.”
Commitments for the future
Despite the increased production activity, Thirsty Group has remained committed to sustainability.
“We have goals for reducing energy usage per bottle by being more efficient with better machines and procedures and using companies that are also certified neutral,” Dom relates. “We also pay to offset our carbon through Our Trace.”
Thirsty Group is looking to expand further not only in its products – with plans for tequila and RTD for vodka on the horizon – but also in its reach, with Jake and Dom exploring opportunities to export their products to the US, Europe and Asia.
“We are currently looking at export opportunities in the States and exhibited at USA trade tasting ,” Jake says. “We also went to the ProWein event in Germany and Vinexpo in Hong Kong. In the next couple of years, we want to be the largest independent alcohol producer in the country.”
This story was originally published on Inside Small Business.
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