Issue link: http://digital.copcomm.com/i/288975
april 2014 / the tasting panel / 123 L ike musketeers, the trio behind Panache Beverage Inc., a boutique-size spirits company with big plans, is upending the ultra-premium end of the table. "People appreciate true value and we have something that people really want," explains James Dale, Panache's Chief Executive and head of the team behind Wódka, the Polish vodka that touts the same 90+ ratings as Belvedere, but sells for half the price. Asked how he was able to deliver the same quality at that price point, Dale, 43, says, "Essentially, we made less money per bottle. That's all. We didn't put any fat in the margins to hurt the consumer. We're all about the consumer." That pricing, combined with provocative publicity, has propelled annual case sales to the six-figure level since Panache brought the brand to the United States five years ago. The company's Vice President of Sales, Shu de Jong, 37, was born in Holland and spent his teenage years in Vermont. He says there is "no bull," about Wódka. "It's an $8 bottle, a liter bottle. There's no gimmicks, no price breaks. Instead of $16 or $17 a bottle with a three- or four-case minimum, it's $8 a bottle. Period. And it gives the bar owner a chance to offer a well cocktail with a premium product." "We are all about delivering a premium spirit for a value price," says Dale, a New Zealand native with more than 20 years in the spirits business. He's the hands-on type of CEO who was sporting a trimmed, three-day old beard and red-rimmed eyes after a multi-time zone sales trip. "At the end of the day," he confesses, "I'm a salesman. I love to sell my brands." From Poland with Love Formerly the Austral-Asia representative for Brown- Forman he was selling 42Below, a New Zealand vodka, and convinced the company to let him try his hand at selling the brand in the United States. Once here, he met de Jong, who before turning to sales took his 6-foot-5 frame back to Europe to play professional basketball for a few years. It wasn't too long before they had built the cult brand into a blockbuster and it sold to Bacardi for $91 million. "Well, then we said to ourselves, 'Now what?' And we realized that we had developed brands for others, so why not develop one that we own," Dale said. His wife, Agata Podedowmy, who now serves as COO of Panache, is Polish and on a trip to visit her family, Dale came across a rundown distillery. It had been owned and used by the Polish government to produce vodka. Telling the story, Dale pulls down a small bottle from the top shelf behind his desk. On the worn label is the word Wódka (Polish for vodka) and the date, 1950. Panache took over the distillery and amped up marketing Wódka as a brand. Being a small company—six years on, it has 15 employ- ees—the marketing budget was limited. "What we spend on marketing, they [the major brands] spend on on-premise sampling in one account," said Brian Gordon, 40, whose involvement in through his The team: James Dale, Shu de Jong and Brian Gordon outside the Panache Beverage offices in Midtown Manhattan. TP0414_102-132.indd 123 3/21/14 6:04 PM