H&C News meets with suppliers regularly to keep up to date with the latest product and service innovations, aiming to get the inside track on what companies offer to the market and how it is delivered.
This week, we met with Dan Bolton, managing director of Hi-Spirits at their offices in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, to gain a better understanding of the business.
Hi-Spirits is one of the UK’s leading spirits distributors, with a diverse portfolio of award winning brands, supported with a wide range of marketing activity including promotions, point-of-sale, suggested serves, cocktail competitions and sponsorship.
Hi-Spirits’ portfolio has expanded substantially over recent months through agreements to distribute the Southern Comfort, TUACA and Paddy Irish Whiskey brands, all recently acquired by US spirits company Sazerac, as well as taking on UK distribution for Dutch spirits company Toorank. These join existing brands in the portfolio including Buffalo Trace Bourbon, Antica Sambuca, Fireball, Tito’s Handmade Vodka, Fernet Branca and Lazzaroni Amaretto.
How long has Hi-Spirits been in business, and when did you join the company?
Hi-Spirits was founded in 2002, growing out of an entrepreneurial start-up business which had introduced the Czech brand Sebor Absinth into UK pubs and bars. In 2003 Hi-Spirits launched Antica Sambuca in the UK and a year later expanded the range with the first flavoured Sambucas, which bought new consumers into the category.
Hi-Spirits’ philosophy has always been about bringing the right brands to the right consumers and outlets and initially the business was very much a disruptor, taking niche spirits categories such as absinthe and sambuca to the masses.
We still follow this philosophy today, but as the portfolio has expanded, our approach has evolved. Our agreement with Sazerac in 2008 to distribute Buffalo Trace Bourbon was a game changer, and has seen us play a key role in the development of American whiskey, which is one of the fastest growing spirits categories in the UK.
I joined Hi-Spirits as MD in 2013 having previously been with Louis Latour Agencies, Bibendum and Matthew Clark. It’s great company with a great team, and as our portfolio continues to grow, there is no shortage of fresh opportunities.
What are the key strengths of the Hi-Spirits business?
We are big enough to compete, but small enough to stay flexible, which is essential in the spirits sector. We have no set blueprint for success, but have the expertise and experience to approach each brand individually, working in partnership with the brand owner to develop a bespoke distribution and marketing strategy. For example, a brand such as Fireball, which has strong links with live music, needs a very different approach to a classic gin such as Broker’s. Most of our sales team are ex-bartenders – this gives us a unique perspective and deep level of understanding of different customers’ needs. Almost uniquely for a company our size, we also have our own in-house design studio, working alongside our sales and marketing team. This means that we are able to develop bespoke support on a customer-by-customer basis.
What is happening the on-trade spirits market currently?
The market is booming, with huge customer interest in spirits and cocktails. Some of that is linked to interest in brands with genuine heritage and provenance, such as Fernet-Branca, but there’s equally demand for ‘party’ serves which is driving continued growth for Antica Sambuca, among other brands. The increasing popularity of flavoured dark spirits amongst millennials is bringing new drinkers into the category via bar staples like Southern Comfort and spiced rum – we distribute RedLeg Spiced Rum, which is our fastest growing brand. The breadth of outlets which now serve long mixed drinks and cocktails also continues to expand. Mainstream pubs which might have struggled to serve a gin & tonic well five years ago are now looking to capitalise on the growing popularity of cocktails with innovative, high quality pre-batched solutions like Tails. The growth of the casual dining market has also created new opportunities, with many operators offering a wide drinks list as part of their offer.
How do operators go about selecting a spirits range or building a cocktail list?
It is a challenge, particularly as the market continues to expand in terms of the sheer number of brands available. Our role as a supplier is to do as much of the legwork as we can in terms of helping operators to understand what’s available and how it fits their overall customer proposition.
Gin is a good example. With the recent addition of the Sloane’s Gin brand as part of our distribution partnership with Toorank, we now have seven fantastic gins in our range, and can offer a global perspective with Scottish, Dutch and American brands alongside both classic and modern English gins. Using data drawn from a number of industry sources, we’ve identified key types of consumer occasions for on trade drinks, and matched our gins to each accordingly. These include the ‘Big Night Out’ high tempo occasions where brands such as Langley’s and King of Soho are enjoyed and the increasingly popular ‘Cocktails with Friends’ occasion, which often falls before dinner, where consumers are likely to trade up to cocktails made with brands such as No.209 and Brooklyn Gin.
How do you see the market developing?
It’s getting more interesting all the time. Craft spirits seem set to follow the same trajectory as craft beer, with new brands emerging all the time, while consumers are, in the nicest possible way, more promiscuous than ever, always interested in new drink ideas and different serves. That’s a challenge operators and spirits suppliers need to work together to meet. We have a market-leading portfolio, enthusiastic and experienced sales and marketing teams, and the drive to support our customers, which means we’re rising to that challenge every day.
For more information contact Hi-Spirits on 01932 252 100
Email us info@hi-spirits.com
Visit our website here
For Hi-Spirits’ Portfolio click here