Creating a Cocktail Culture

One important thing that Nitesh Prakash, who went on to establish a start-up in the cocktail space named O’ Be Cocktails, realised early on is that making cocktails at house parties is one of the most challenging tasks given that most hosts are not particularly knowledgeable about the ingredients and proportions. And while cocktails can give an extra ‘fun’ element to a party, they are often shunned because of the complexities involved in their preparation. This was the gap that Nitesh decided to plug and so was born a brand that now caters to this segment in a big way through ready-to-drink cocktails.

Making and drinking cocktails is a growing culture among the Indian consumers. And that is precisely what attracted Nitesh Prakash of O’Be Cocktails to venture in this relatively uncharted territory in 2019. “We started working on the ready to drink cocktail brand since mid-2019, building conviction and confidence on cocktails for house parties and social gatherings at home,” he informs. What inspired and encouraged him was the vision to build a premium cocktail culture in the Indian market, replicating the scale of the western countries for ready-to-drink cocktail brands. Coming as he did from a completely different background, the obstacles posed by the alcohol beverage industry were quite unknown to Nitesh at the beginning. But he did overcome them eventually, peeling them off one by one.

“To begin with, there is no playbook and therefore no guideline for fresh entrants in India’s alco-beverages industry. Secondly, as far as alcobev industry in India is concerned, every state or Union Territory operates like a country within a country with its own rules. And here too, the rules are not the same for brands and companies. At its core, it is a high-volume-driven business model and to top it, it is not an investor-friendly industry as far as venture capitalists are concerned,” he points out.

The Vision

Nitesh is the kind of person who thrives amidst challenges. And though helming a start-up, he already has inked out a short-term goal of achieving Rs 100 crore in revenue over the next 18 months by building a strong cocktail community across the Indian subcontinent.

“The cocktail segment is a growing culture and still evolving among the Indian consumers,” he affirms. They are tapping into this growing opportunity and create a premium category by catering to house parties and social gatherings at home. Nitesh is capitalising on the fact that making cocktails at home is not a fun activity since it calls for some expertise in knowing the ingredients and proportions. Therefore, ready-to-drink cocktails are expected to be a hit.

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