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While its products surged in popularity during a trial with leading bottle shop chains Dan Murphy’s and BWS, cocktail mixer maker Mr Consistent was also tinkering with a spritzer range in anticipation of festivals making a comeback.
In development over the past six months, the range was recently launched with half its first run already sold by Christmas Eve.
Already having sold 8,000 Margi Spritz via its e-commerce platform, what started as an experiment is quickly on its way to becoming a potential retail product for the Gold-Coast based company.
The other two spritz flavours – Mojito and Sangria – have also sold 4,000 units respectively.
“It was literally just a big trial batch. We’re only selling it on our website,” said Jeremy Bell, a co-founder of the company alongside Jeremy Davidson and Michael Sebire - winners of the 2021 Australian Young Entrepreneur Award in the Startup category.
“But we will have a full production run that will be available in retailers [by] late January or early February.”
“It would definitely go into all of our independent bottle shops. It will also go into stores like Universal.”
With its current range already stocked both online and in-store with Universal Store (ASX: UNI), Mr Consistent is currently laying the groundwork to have its new four-pack spritzers on the fashion retailer’s shelves.
Designed with large-scale events in mind, the refreshing drinks were made to be used with one type of alcohol or none at all.
“We really want to be part of festivals,” explains Bell, who placed 71 in Australia's Top 100 Young Entrepreneurs list alongside Davidson and Sebire.
“The idea behind it is that it actually [has] a 4 per cent alcohol by volume (ABV) once it’s mixed with 30mls of spirit, and then poured over ice we can actually fit into the legalities of serving within a festival.
“It even opens us up to being able to do that in stadiums - that's what inspired it.”
Even if COVID-19 throws a spanner in the works, he sees it as an opportunity to stay ahead of festivals kicking off and support events when the time is right.
“We want to be on the front foot - we'd prefer to work on a product that is ready to go and is there to support people when they can actually go [to festivals],” Bell explains.
“Once [events] can open up - we want to be ready, we want to be prepared.”
To create a buzz amongst locals, the trio hosted a launch party at Burleigh Heads Bowls Club over a week ago, which was met with an enthusiastic response.
The team also hit the ground at Burleigh Hill, where 2,000 cans were given out to passers-by.
“We've had unbelievable feedback and we've had really good sales through our online platform. We'll start to see people actually receiving the product,” Bell said.
“We’ve given out in close to 4,000 cans over the last two weeks. All the feedback we’ve heard is good.
The company’s trial with 38 Dan Murphy stores and 34 BWS shops in November was an instant success, and saw its products reach cocktail-lovers across Australia within a matter of weeks.
To keep up with the demand, Mr Consistent is on the cusp of moving into its new production facility, which will ramp up its output tenfold.
After ending up as a top 10 non-alcoholic best-seller in Dan Murphy’s over the Christmas period, the founders are keen to continue developing their relationships with major bottle shop chains.
“We're hoping something like that will lead to national ranging in the next month or two which would be pretty cool.
“That's the next step up - there's 1,200-1,300 BWS stores, and I think we're in about 30 of them.
“So, there's still a lot of ground to cover with those guys.”
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