Gin maker eyes more spirits

For this, Rahul Mehra, one of the company’s cofounders said it has recently built an umbrella domestic business, Short Story Spirits, which makes white rum, grain vodka and dry gin and expects to sell about 1 lakh cases by the end of this fiscal. This project cost the company about ₹16 crore, said Mehra.

It also began an imports division last year through which it is now importing a French-owned rum ‘Plantation; bottled in the Caribbean. It is now in the early stages of evaluating two more businesses to grow its portfolio. The company was founded by Mehra, Sakshi Saigal, & Vidur Gupta in 2018 and now has a global footprint in UK, Singapore, Thailand, Taiwan, Mauritius, New Zealand, Italy, US and UAE for its gin. Stranger & Sons expects to be EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) positive in 2023 and profitable by 2025.

The company’s marquee investors are Priya Sharma Ranjan, an angel investor, Anuj Ranjan, president of Brookfield private equity, Ashish Hemrajani, founder & chief executive of BookMyShow and others. Stranger & Sons competes with brands like Greater Than, Jaisalmer Indian Craft Gin, Pumori and Tamras.

Its Svami portfolio—in which it acquired a majority stake of 51% for ₹100 crore —is now looking to expand its global presence. It has launched the brand in Singapore, and Thailand and is looking to go into UAE next. “Owing to strategic nature of the transaction with Foxtrot Beverages Private Ltd, which owned Svami, we expect the mixer business to grow at 2.5x this year because of the synergies between it and our primary business. It is estimated it will grow to 2 lakh cases and give a revenue of ₹45 crore,” he said.

According to international research firm, IWSR Drinks Market Analysis, total gin volume, by consumption, in India grew by almost 47% in 2021 after a decline of 54% in 2020.

It forecasts the category will grow at 10% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2021 and 2026. However, it added that premium gins segment was far outpacing growth of regular gins in India.