Great times for new age brands

When Mihir Vyas, the Founder of Arko Craft Beers, decided to get into the craft beer category, he did not allow any preconceived notions or prejudices to affect his vision of launching a brand that people across all ages and demographic profiles would enjoy. He did not want the beer to be just a party product either. Instead, he wanted it to become as commonplace as having coffee, which is how the beer culture in many other countries is. And so, Mihir has been working in this direction and fortunately, the results have been impressive.

Mihir Vyas thinks his biggest motivation behind entering the liquor business is increasing market size for aspirational products. The country, he says, is experiencing this shift where this whole generation is moving towards more aspirational products as compared to the old traditional ones. “There has been a significant increase in demand for locally sourced products across all sectors, providing new entrepreneurs with opportunities to showcase their skills and products,” Mihir elaborates. According to him, this is the main reason why in the Indian alcobev space we are seeing so many new gins, craft beer brands, RTDs, and mixer brands coming up suddenly in the last few years.

Developing Beer Culture

It was purely out of love for beers that Mihir chose this category. Spending a lot of time outside India, he realised that beer is just another go-to drink for them just like coffee or juice. “It can be had any time of the day, at any time of the week. It is supposed to be an easy-going drink. Beer is part of their culture,” he asserts. “And so, I wanted to develop this culture in India by making beers more flavourful and more approachable. It is a drink for anyone and everyone. Something that can be your go-to drink any time of the day; a drink that can be had in office lunch breaks and also on a Saturday night,” Mihir explains the vision behind the launch of his brand. Fortunately, there is a lot of awareness of new-age brands and on how beers are different from hard spirits. The whole craft beer community is also working hard to spread awareness and knowledge about craft beers which he believes will eventually grow acceptance in consumers’ minds and increase the market size for the segment in the country.

Creating a Niche

Mihir wants to establish Arko as one of the best or probably the best craft beer brand in the country, having a presence across all the states. Last year, the company pivoted its model and started its taproom in Mumbai and are getting a great response from there. “We are now planning to open a chain of taprooms to make our beers more approachable and bridge the gap between a coffee shop and a bar,” Mihir explains. He believes this will help the brand to showcase its products directly to its customers rather than being dependent on retailers. Also, it will help a lot in creating awareness about the brand and growing consumer loyalty towards it.

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