Australian craft spirits distributor and wholesaler Nip of Courage has been selected as a recipient of the ‘Boosting Female Founders Grant’ in an initiative backed by The Australian Government.
Founder and female entrepreneur Kathleen Davies has embarked on a two year project investing $1million into stimulating growth for the Australian craft spirits industry during one of Australia’s toughest economic downturns.
The grant will provide a portion of much needed investment to the craft spirits industry within Australia. Davies and her predominantly female team will work closely with local distributors and a large number of emerging craft distilleries to increase market share and visibility in both domestic and international markets.
One of these projects – NOC Wholesale – was officially announced in November 2020, and will provide a national logistics and warehousing solution exclusively for Australian distilleries.
This wholesaling program will enable bars to order single bottles from multiple craft distillers around Australia, making Australian craft spirits more accessible to the trade.
“It has been really difficult for small bars to really support local Australian craft distilleries, because they end up dealing with 20 different suppliers and paying for freight on one bottle,” Davies said.
“We’re creating a one-stop-shop that will range hundreds of lines, so it removes some of the big obstacles to ranging local spirits. Hopefully this will help improve market share for some of our amazing Australian distillers, because currently they have less than one per cent.”
With the help of the additional funding, Nip of Courage will also revitalise The Community Spirit campaign in 2021, promoting regional Australian distilleries and their communities.
Davies’ goal is to transform start up distilleries in the emerging craft spirit market into high performing businesses through rigorous planning and development. This will include industry seminars, a national distribution strategy, a strong focus on brand and marketing, production capabilities, and innovation and resilience to cope with a changing market place. Lack of business acumen and strategic planning is something that is desperately suppressing the growth of the industry compared to overseas markets.
“All the distilleries that we range we will work with to have things like bar codes on all their bottles so any bar with an off-premise licence can scan the bottles and sell them retail. But also we’ll help create bottle and pack photos so it’s easier for the trade to share details about the spirits and what they are ranging through social media,” Davies told The Shout.
There are approximately 300 Australian craft distilleries located predominantly in regional areas where the economies are fragile and the job opportunities are limited. The emerging industry currently represents less than one per cent in terms of volume and value in the Australian marketplace.
The Boosting Female Founders Initiative provides female founders of start-up businesses with funding to launch and scale their businesses into domestic and global markets. It will help female entrepreneurs overcome the disadvantages they face in getting access to finance and support to grow their start-ups. Targeted support will be on a co-contribution basis.
Nip of Courage has been chosen from a pool of over 2,200 applicants by an independent assessment committee to receive the Boosting Female Founders Grant to assist in championing and growing the craft spirits sector in Australia.
Nip of Courage are proud to be able to support the Australian craft spirits industry with the backing of the Australian federal government’s initiative.
The grant announcement caps an amazing week for the Nip of Courage team, coming just days after they took home an international ‘Ethical Award’ from The Spirits Business UK for stepping up to assist Australian craft distillers affected by bushfires earlier this year. The bushfire project called The Community Spirit was a collaboration funded by Spirits & Cocktails Australia.
NOC Wholesale will officially launch in early 2021, with a number of local initiatives and campaigns rolling out throughout the year.