April 2023

Bass and Flinders Distillery is a family-owned business that produces premium Australian craft spirits, including gins, brandies, and liqueurs. Established in 2009 on the Mornington Peninsula, the distillery draws inspiration from the region's coastal and wine-growing landscape. The founders' love of classic brandies produced in France prompted them to create a premium aged spirit, the Ochre brandy, using traditional production techniques. The distillery prides itself on sourcing fresh, local ingredients and distilling in small batches to ensure high-quality products.

In 2016, Holly, took over as the Head Distiller and Managing Director, becoming one of the few second-generation distillers in Australia. As the business grew, Holly faced a few challenges including updating the revenue forecasting and product pricing in response to market conditions and expanding the team to meet demand.

The Ready for Growth program helped Holly to achieve her growth goals by providing her with the right tools to undertakea data-informed financial modelling, establish updated roles and responsibilities, and implement a customer analysis and matrix system to improve customer value. Working with her growth facilitator helped Holly to gain a balanced view of all areas of the business, allowing her to now be more diligent in where she spends her time. She also successfully accessed support from EMDG and Distillery Support grants.

Since graduating from the program, Holly has been able to focus her attention on the most vital parts of the business, strengthen her executive leadership skills, and implement the updated financial strategy. These improvements have enabled Bass and Flinders Distillery to continue to bring their high-quality craft spirits to a growing market, domestically and internationally.

“Working with my business mentor Koraly has been absolutely invaluable both from a business management perspective and also from a personal growth perspective. Undertaking the Ready for Growth program gave me the space and time to periodically step out from the day to day of running a business, and take a helicopter view of the key strategic areas I needed to focus more time and energy on, and talking through these with Koraly gave me more clarity on how I could further prepare my business for it’s next phase of growth”

Ready for Growth assists Victorian businesses to grown and succeed. Visit https://business.vic.gov.au/grants-and-programs/ready-for-growth to find out more.

WEBSITE https://www.bassandflindersdistillery.com/