Setting New Standards for New-age Dark Rum

Rum is rum, it is often said. And unlike whisky and other alcoholic beverages, the premium tag seems to have marched past the rum category in India. And this induced Karishma Chandy and Kalpesh Parekh to enter the fray with a start-up named Happenstance Beverages and the launch of Pitbull Rum, hoping to bring about a vast change in the way rum is being looked at, priced at and consumed across the country. Their initial efforts have begun to pay rich dividends.

When rich experience is what you have in your kitty, it is time to move on to the next step – a start-up. And that is precisely what Kalpesh Parekh and Karishma Chandy did by using their 40 years’ collective experience as premium mixers in the liquor industry. After a year of research and development, they realised that their expertise and heart were in alcohol.

“We were very cognisant of the fact that we had to carve out a niche in the existing landscape and deliver on our value proposition and that is what led to the setting up of Happenstance Beverages, known for its brand Pitbull Rum,” says Karishma.

Interestingly, the volatility and restrictions are something they learned to work with. “In my opinion, dealing with the ever-changing policies and restrictions while targeting the consumer directly can slow down the process of building a brand. Nevertheless, it is always a learning curve,” she adds. Having invested a major portion of their careers in the wine and spirits industry, the one thing the duo was firm about is that a new brand would be accepted only if it raised the bar. “The acceptance of our brand elevated our confidence in the market readiness for premium quality, across alcobev categories,” Karishma states.

Why Rum?

From the very first interaction Kalpesh and Karishma had about talked about on the possibility of partnering on their own venture, both felt very strongly about rum. As time went by and global alcobev trends also started to point towards the category, they realised being on the right track.

Rum already has a strong base of 40 million cases in India but before them no one in India’s alcobev industry had attempted to give it the premium status it deserves given the changing sensibilities and lifestyle of today’s consumers. “We are the first to build the premium segment for rum in India,” affirms Kalpesh.

Managing the Funding

So far, Kalpesh and Karishma have raised funds from friends and family. “The network and goodwill that we have accumulated over the years has helped with the technical support we have needed. I don’t think venture capitalists fully understand India’s liquor industry and its intricacies. Scaling up too fast and burning money to buy sales is not advisable here in the long run. For Pitbull Rum and for us, a shared vision and passion is the most important thing we look for in investors and partners,” Karishma states.

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