Premium spirits and a plan for growth

Passion and product were the genesis of Australian Distilling, but as the business grew, James Young knew he had to make big changes to his process. Reaching out for support has helped shape his business skills and grow Australian Distilling into a commercial success.?

Perth-based distiller James Young started out in 2016 making craft gins and vodka as a solo operator. He was working 100 hours a week on every part of the operation – distilling, bottling, marketing and selling.?

Fast forward to 2022, and Australian Distilling now employs 27 full-time staff. The business has grown more than 100% a year to reach this milestone, expanding its range of Old Young’s and Gingin Gin (you read that right) brands and increasing production with 2 distilleries.??

But James says ambition and the willingness to work hard were not enough to ensure the success of his award-winning premium spirits.??

“You cannot do everything yourself forever. You don’t necessarily have all the skills you need going forward. That’s where reaching out to AusIndustry proved a game-changer for Australian Distilling.”?

In 2018, James won the Australian Champion Distiller award, just 12 months after launching his leading Old Young’s spirits.?

The award drew major retailers – Woolworths, Coles and independents – to his door. While the success was exhilarating, it also caused challenges. “I had to manage national distribution deals from an operation based out of a 36 square metre shed,” he says.?

As a result, the business began growing rapidly, and that’s when he joined AusIndustry’s Entrepreneurs’ Programme. The program helped James start a business evaluation and planning process. Importantly, he says, the program allowed him to switch focus from day-to-day operations to planning for the future.??

“The program got me to a place where I could see clearly the business’s strengths and weaknesses,”??

“Next, we fed those insights into creating a roadmap geared to overcome the key challenges and obstacles to expanding the business. That included identifying growth areas that were important to me. I then rolled out projects that proved highly effective at enhancing business operations.”?

AusIndustry provided additional financial support during the rollout process. James received a $22,000 Growth Grant in September 2019 to help restructure his business. This was followed by a $110,000 Manufacturing Modernisation Grant in March 2020. The grants, supplemented with investment by James, were used for production upgrades, including a new still, bottling line and an expanded production facility.?

Besides the need to restructure the business, James gleaned an important additional key insight from the Entrepreneurs’ Programme.??

“I learnt that I needed to put effort towards developing myself as a business person rather than just me developing the business.”??

Key to that personal growth was obtaining mentoring through AusIndustry. The relationship he formed with his facilitator and mentor grew over the years and it remains in place today, with the pair continuing to catch up twice a week.?

“I’m a risk-taker and I will dive in and have a crack when I see an opportunity,” James says. “But that means learning on the go. Through the mentoring program I’ve realised you shouldn’t conquer all the learning curves on your own. Reaching out for help and support proved essential to move the business forward.”?

In 2022, James is in a position where – for the first time – supply outstrips demand. That means he can now explore untapped national and export markets.?

Additionally, James launched a High Growth Accelerator project through the Entrepreneurs’ Programme. This is aimed at developing an online subscription business called Old Young’s Juniper Society.?

“That’s an exciting part of our business with enormous potential,” James says. “I’m really excited to see where that takes us in 12 months’ time.”?

James has achieved this rapid growth without compromising his vision of producing spirits that stand out from the brands produced by large international companies.?

“We like to think we make thoughtful gins that are suited to different occasions: a hot summer’s day gin; a dinner time gin with big savoury, earthy tones incorporating native Australian botanicals; even a ‘solve the problems of the world late at night’ gin,” James says.?

“Every gin is thought out in terms of who is going to drink it, why, and how they are feeling when they drink it.”?

Being able to meet the customers and tell these stories is also essential to James. So, the growth process also led to the expansion of his tasting room at Old Young’s, the addition of a restaurant and the upcoming opening of a cellar door and tasting room at the Gingin still.?

This expansion is vital because, ultimately, growth for James means allowing his gin and vodka to tell their stories to ever more people.??