Bondi Brewing Co got its humble beginnings in a Bondi Beach garage but today the manufacturer is on major retail shelves and across the hospitality industry. Adam McCleery writes.
When Bondi Brewing Co’s founder Paul Parks started brewing beer as a hobby, he never expected that within a handful of years, the company would be upscaling to meet consumer demand, let alone be selling his beer.
“We started in a garage, but we first approached local bars and restaurants and we really got that support behind us and without that, I think it would have been impossible because we are up against 400 other brands out there which makes it hard to get the volume up quickly and get those commercials in the right space to keep you going,” said Parks.
Parks had already made beer brewing a long-time hobby before the idea to go commercial every struck him.
“I’ve been brewing beer for quite some time for friends and family, it started as a hobby, but I teamed up with Brendan McKenna and he has a good business head on him,” he said.
“He encouraged me to make something more out of the hobby and he helped me structure it right, set up the company and get the license. From there we went out to market and started brewing beer commercially.”
Bondi Brewing Co beer can now be found in hospitality establishments and retail outlets but Parks said the growth happened organically and off the back of listening to his customers.
“I started with the kits from the supermarket when I started. I worked on one particular beer more than the others and that was just a pale ale which I kept tweaking based on feedback,” he said.
This philosophy remains at the heart of how Bondi Brewing Co decide what products to push, and which ones might not be doing so well, which in time has borne fruit for the company.
“We were messing around with ingredients and quantities until we came across a recipe that everyone said would be a success. It was called Beach Beer Bondi and that was our first product,” said Parks.
“It was a more hoppy beer but if you describe it to a non-beer drinker you would call it fruity flavoured. We released that beer in 2018.”
Recognising the growth of the craft beer market, and at the right time, was another pillar in Bondi Brewing Co’s early success.
“If we follow trends from over in the USA, over the last 15 to 20 years the consumer market has moved dramatically over to craft beer,” said Parks.
“Now you can feel fancy when talking about the latest craft beer that’s out there.”
Local support was also a critical part of keeping Bondi Brewing Co alive in the early days, and for its growth.
“We were also lucky to get in the Bondi BWS, and through investigation we found the right person to talk to and put our pitch together before speaking to the team leaders for the local beer department in Woolworths,” said Parks.
“They were great, they helped coach us along and helped us grow.
“All our products are approachable and easy to drink, our mantra is ‘the beer for drinking’ so we make beers we want to drink. With that in mind we developed a dryer and less sweet product.
“That was our angle and our point of difference and again that was well received.”
And it was this strong local support which also helped Parks maintain good cash flow while slowly expanding the business into what it’s becoming today.
“We are a local brand from the area so when we first started the business, we had a different name more synonymous with a specific area of Bondi, the first beer we brought out we designed the labelling ourselves and we gave them a simple design to look like a coffee cup,” he added.
“Then we stuck Bondi on the side and people started to refer to us as the ‘Bondi beer’, so we ran with that and decided to own it.”
“Listening to the consumer definitely plays a part with our growth and how successful it was around the Bondi area because people want to support local and that was part of our strategy.”
This perspective has also helped diversity the Bondi Brewing Co range, even into areas the team may have otherwise ignored.
“We did see a summer where there was a dip in beer sales, and it would likely have been because of seltzers which prompted us to jump on that quick and we were happy with the results,” said Parks.
“With the Seltzer we originally thought we would strictly be craft beer, but seltzers hit the market and grew in popularity. We have seen the increase in the Bondi market rather than anyone else and being our main market, we investigated the idea.”
That same 2018 summer was when Parks was first confident that they were onto a winning brand, especially after brokering deals with national companies.
“The summer of 2018, with the volume we sold and seeing our merchandise spreading, gave us confidence that we have a brand that will be around for a long time,” he said.
Then came the COVID-19 pandemic, at the worst time for a fledging brewery. More than half of Bondi Brewing Co’s revenue was coming from the hospitality sector which was shut down for long stretches.
“The spike in sales during COVID wasn’t enough to offset the loss of hospitality at the time,” said Parks.
“People were speaking about how well beer brands did out of COVID, but it wasn’t really the case.
“There was a spike in off premises sales it was taken away in the blink of an eye, until those pubs opened again.”
Parks said the company was lucky to survive based on the cash flow from direct sales to consumers.
Recently, as part of the company’s continued focus on connecting with the consumer base, Bondi Brewing Co and Jim’s Mowing have partnered for a special edition beer to be released over the summer. Further demonstrating the type of thinking that is bringing success to the brewery.
“It was one of those light bulb moments. We had been looking at doing more collaborations, they are fun and allow you to do something different and quirky and you can leverage off the brand’s consumer base and audience,” said Parks.
“We had the idea while chatting and we wanted something to be truly Australian and a Jim’s mowing van came along and we just knew that was the one.”
Parks took the initiative and reached out directly to the man himself.
“We contacted Jim himself and reached out on social media and we were put in touch with their team,” he said.
“They were really happy, supportive, and enthusiastic the whole way through the process, and we take our hats off to them.”
Collaboration has proven to be a great outlet for the brewery, allowing even more creativity, while also connecting with the market.
“We will always do limited runs and collaborations in the future. In the past we have done it with other brands,” said Parks.
“We have also done other limited beers where we give the profits to a charity, including the Shark Alarm and we gave the profits of that to Sea Shepherd.”
“We know it is important to connect with the community and doing things like collaborations is a great way to do that.”