Democratized equity and a brand built for the people
Healthy benefits from what the consume is a young-adult demand, and Crafty Elk is ready to meet it
A Canadian upstart in the functional adult beverage sector is creating its own niche, which they are calling “hard juice.” Hard juice not only tastes great, it has trailblazed onto the Canadian scene as the first ‘organic, non-GMO and gluten free’, ready-to-drink vodka-based beverage. A craft cocktail formulated with super foods such as: turmeric, ginger, goji-berries and prickly pear. Crafty Elk is made to a higher standard without preservatives or artificial sweeteners but a stand-alone nutritional panel arms customers with knowledge of what’s in their beverages.
Founded by pharmaceutical scientist and health advocate Greg Gilliland, Crafty Elk has made an impressive debut, similar to other young companies like Brew Dog and Dave & Buster’s Raging Berry Bull. All these companies are laser-focused on the Millennial crowd, who are, according to one FONA International report, the consumer group with the highest consumption of functional beverages, and who are looking to their beverages to pack health-andwellness ingredients at an increasing rate.
MILLENNIALS DRIVING DEVELOPMENT
Millennials are demanding healthy benefits — from weight loss to post-workout recovery and immune system support — from the food they eat and the beverages they consume — and that now includes alcoholic beverages. Gilliland says that he and his team are committed to the cause and created the brand out of their own interest in not having to choose between “healthy” and “alcohol.”
And it appears that Millennials in Canada, the initial test market, have proven that Gilliland and crew are not the only ones wanting alcohol that’s decidedly better for you than traditional beverage recipes.
In their test launch program from April to August of this year, they racked up some pretty impressive sales. In fact, Mark Potgieter, Crafty Elk board advisor and former senior vice-president at PepsiCo, says that as a result the company has already been profitable in its first year.
“What we’ve achieved is something rare in the entrepreneurial world: an actual profit in our first year of operation,” Potgieter adds. “We’re very happy to have been successful with the test market in the Liquor Control Board of Ontario [LCBO] stores, and more recently in Western Canada.” Crafty Elk is off to an impressive debut in Western Canada having won best ready-to-drink’, ‘Gold and Silver’ at the Alberta beverage awards. Crafty Elk hard juice beverages are available at Sobeys, Safeway and Liquor Depot stores in both British Columbia and Alberta.
In its first four launch months, Crafty Elk sold an impressive 7,220 cases of Mango Honey and Tri-Berry to LCBO stores and across Western Canada, resulting in nearly $300,000 in gross sales. An early summer dip in sales occurred because stores did not anticipate the demand and sold out before reordering, thus leaving empty shelves for a period of time.
A BRAND BUILT ON BEST PRACTICES
Gilliland says Crafty Elk’s business development strategy has been to focus first on making a great product, protecting the brand, building the supply chain and producing evidence of sales — all things that investors look for when determining the risk of committing resources to a new company.
“Our goal is to let investors know we’re serious,” Gilliland says. “For example, we have had a co-packaging deal that has worked well for regional distribution in Canada, but to expand into the U.S. we need volumes we can’t do without control over our own manufacturing and canning. So we’re reaching out for support to build a distillery and a manufacturing plant that can handle both bottles and cans.”
Currently, Crafty Elk Distilling Co. is setting up its own co-packing facility where loyal fans, investors and allround craft-spirit connoisseurs can go. Gilliland is already in early discussion with alcohol manufacturers in Florida and California.
Taking more control of production, having the ability to produce limited-edition runs and marketing the brand will cost in the neighbourhood of $3 million, but will have great advantages, Gilliland says.
A CULTURE OF TRUE-BELIEVER CUSTOMERINVESTORS
Like Brew Dog, Crafty Elk is committed to developing its own unique culture of inclusion. They describe it as part responsible social philosophy and part savvy business strategy. To drive this, Gilliland says, they’ve developed an equity crowdfunding campaign called Equity for the People, which fits snugly into their marketing and branding concept of Millennial customers buying in to the brands they know, trust and love. In its very early stages, it has already raised more than $500,000.
“Our customers completely buy into the spirit of community, healthier living and having fun. It’s a recipe that is irresistible to the Millennial mindset,” Gilliland says. “We want our customers to be more than just people who purchase our products: we want to involve them as owners, product developers, and as day-to-day spokespeople for our communityowned brand.”
The Crafty Elk gang’s winning recipe includes social events that bring customers together to meet one another and share in the bond of community ownership. Gilliland says there will continually be ingredients added to that recipe—hopefully with ideas coming from the community itself.
People with interest in the Crafty Elk community should check out the campaign on their website, or email invest@craftyelk.com
OUR CUSTOMERS COMPLETELY BUY INTO THE SPIRIT OF COMMUNITY, HEALTHIER LIVING AND HAVING FUN. IT’S A RECIPE THAT IS IRRESISTIBLE