Our Top 5 Tips for Starting a Distillery.

OK, let’s go through our top 5 tips:

1. Get the numbers right BEFORE starting your distillery.

Just like any business, getting the finances and the business plan right are critical. 

We know it sounds a bit unsexy but as Benjamin Franklin said “You fail to plan, you plan to fail!”

Realistically, you need to consider the cost of setting up and running the distillery, and the cost of funding your vision - do you need investment, bank or asset finance and / or government grants and loans? 

This is the tip of the iceberg but we unpack this a bit more in the course.

And, our 5 year Advanced Financial Business Model sheet can guide you to deciding if the return you may get from the new business is worth all the hard work and investment.

Included in our free eBook is our Basic Financial Business Model which you can download a copy of, plug in some numbers and see what potential return there could be from your distilling business. 

Did you know the Australian Federal government provides support to the distilling industry through its $350,000 annual excise rebate, for every licenced distillery?

Our free eBook explains this some more but basically there is $30 excise in every 700ml 40% bottle of spirit in Australia.

And if you have a licence from the ATO, you don’t pay that $30 until after you have sold more than ~12,000 bottles in a financial year.

That means a lot more profit per bottle for you (wait until you read in the eBook how much it costs per bottle to make the spirit and package it).

2. Compliance isn’t boring when starting a distilling business.

When it leads to you getting your license to distil, or the stamp of approval from the council, making sure you’re meeting the legal requirements in your business, particularly in this type of business is important. 

So what’s ahead? 

We unpack licences, approvals, worker protections and other things to think about in the course.

3. Marketing and selling are key to success.

Can you imagine a group of your friends, sitting at your cellar door drinking your spirit? 

Great, then you are thinking about sales and marketing.

There’s a fair bit more to it than that, like brand, labels, bottles and how you get your spirit to consumers, but we explain all this in the course.

4. Skills.

Yes, you will need to understand what is involved in making spirit. 

We go into more detail about how to gain the technical skills needed for distilling, and who to go to for help. 

We also recommend great reference materials, hold monthly Masterclasses and explain just what sort of training you’ll need in your business.

5. Be realistic.

This is super important. 

It will take a while to get your business up-and-running, and this is the crux of the course. 

It provides a complete roadmap for what’s ahead, and all the things you need to do to bring it to life.

Want to find out more, download our ebook and see if the ‘Planning your Successful Distillery’ course is right for you.

Grab your copy now and discover more about this very collaborative industry, and whether it’s for you or not. 

From a financial perspective, the Basic Financial Business Model in our eBook is a great start to help you decide if this idea is worth pursuing a little further.