Navigating Covid-19: A DIY Cocktail Idea - Federation of Hong ...
←
→
Page content transcription
If your browser does not render page correctly, please read the page content below
Analysis and News - Case Studies
Navigating Covid-19: A DIY Cocktail Idea
Interview with Jacky Chan & Benny Yau, Founders at Homeshake
28 Dec 2020
Charlotte Man
Since the start of the coronavirus pandemic early this year, unprecedented measures including mandatory quarantine, travel restrictions and
‑
dine in bans have been implemented in many countries across the world in an attempt to contain the spread of the virus. Restaurants and bars
‑
are seen as a focal point for clusters of Covid 19 infections, and have been badly hit as a result by mandatory lockdowns. Facing steep nancial
decline, many have closed down.
‑
Homeshake – a new at home cocktail brand formed by a trio of friends from nance, marketing and bartending backgrounds – has however
been faring well during the pandemic, by providing the whole cocktail experience for customers unable to go out to bars. The founders are also
expanding their reach into the customised gifting business, with their DIY cocktails becoming popular with corporate clients who are using them
for online ceremonies, festive celebrations and marketing events.
Although they were only launched in late May 2020, Homeshake’s DIY cocktail kits have already gone viral, with thousands of comments, shares
and likes from younger users on social media channels. To understand how they spotted and grasped this business opportunity amid the
‑ ‑
Covid 19 crisis, HKTDC Research talked to Jacky Chan and Benny Yau, founders of the at home cocktail idea.
The Best of Times, The Worst of Times
‑
The Covid 19 crisis has proved to be both the best of times and the worst of times for Chan and
Yau, two drinking buddies who used to visit every quirky restaurant and bar in town. The dine in and ‑
‑
drink in bans imposed in early April in a bid to restrict the spread of the virus basically grounded
‑
them and their fellow cocktail lovers and bar goers.
Doing their own bartending at home remained an option in theory. However, Chan explained that in
practice it was beyond the average drinker, saying: “Usually, it requires at least three or four types of
‑
base liquors to make a cocktail. That makes at home bartending a big headache for drinkers living
‑
in densely populated cities like Hong Kong. And that’s not to mention the need for the right recipes,
tools and bartending techniques.”
‑
This motivated Chan and Yau to develop the city’s rst ever DIY cocktail set for beginners. The idea
grew into a business as they realised the potential of the underserved market at private and Homeshake DIY Cocktail Kit: Targetted at
‑ ‑ ‑
corporate gatherings amid the coronavirus fuelled rise of the stay at home economy. ‑ ‑
the booming stay at home economy.
Pointing to the gap that opened up in the market, Chan said: “Since the outbreak of the virus
outbreak in late February, the beleaguered food and beverage (F&B) industry has tried to
transformed itself to accommodate the new eating and drinking behaviour by offering takeaways
‑
and home delivered meal kits. However, little was done to salvage the bar industry.”
Cocktail Culture
As well as making money, the two cocktail enthusiasts want to promote the cocktail culture in Hong
Kong. They hope their DIY cocktail kits can help begin to arouse the city’s awareness of not just the
taste of cocktails but their beauty too.
With this in mind, Chan and Yau were looking to create cocktail drinks that appealed to locals in
Hong Kong, especially the younger generation. Using the professional bartending knowledge and
experience of their other partner, Dave Tse, they developed four different DIY cocktail kits. From the
Step by step instructions for crafting moment the kits went on the market in late May 2020, they attracted lots of attention from the
‑
at home cocktails. younger generation, and got extensive media coverage from popular local lifestyle magazines.
‑
Yau believes that one of the main reasons for Homeshake’s success is that consumers now put more value on hands on experience. For
‑
example, at home meal kits became more popular during lockdowns because people wanted to share simple, pleasant cooking experiences with
‑ ‑ ‑
their loved ones, rather than just heating up pre cooked food to ll their stomachs. The same applies to cocktails. Stuck at home drinkers nd it
‑
much more fun to prepare their own drinks than just knocking back a pre mixed cocktail.
Meanwhile, Chan highlighted the photogenic appeal of the cocktails, saying: “The DIY experience of making a beautiful beverage gives
consumers a strong sense of ful llment and in turn creates a burning desire to share it on social media. Thanks to social or behavioural
‑
contagion, widespread social media sharing coupled with e commerce can be a match made in heaven, quickly driving not only tra c, but
transactions too.”
DIY and photogenic appeal: A winning formula for the DIY cocktail brand.
‑ ‑ ‑
Realising how important the photogenic factor was proving to be, Homeshake began to employ some out of the box thinking to try to enhance
the visual appeal of its DIY cocktails. The brand included a decorative garnish in each DIY kit to add character to the drinks, for example, and
showed customers clever tricks to make their cocktails look more impressive – such as putting the Aurora cocktail on top of the ashlight of a
smartphone to create an aurora effect at home.
The Aurora Cocktail.
Local Market
While the DIY nature of the kits and the visual appeal of the drinks themselves have helped to
maximise the buzz potential of its products, Homeshake decided that the best way to grow the local
market was to adopt a localisation approach. Explaining how they have taken the preferences of
local residents into consideration to create the brand’s unique cocktail recipes, Chan said: “In order
to accommodate the low alcohol tolerance of the local community, we have toned down the alcohol
level of our products to around 10%, compared to the 20% in an average cocktail. We recently
launched a cocktail called ‘Tipsy Lemon Tea’ as a tribute to iced lemon tea, a popular local
beverage.”
‑ ‑
Homeshake’s clear vision and unique product features aimed at tapping the growing stuck at home
drinking community have allowed its DIY cocktail kits to stand out from the crowd and attract the
‑
attention of popular local lifestyle magazines and platforms an attribute which has meant the
brand has received a lot of complimentary media coverage, both online and o ine.
The brand views this media exposure as a welcome shot in the arm. Chan said he was delighted to
see Homeshake cocktail kits winning media coverage ahead of many other competing lifestyle
products, adding: “We are very much motivated by the recognition, not to mention the massive
media exposure we have gained in the early stage of our brand.”
Source of Inspiration
However, the company’s founders are fully aware that media fame comes and goes very quickly in
‑
this digital age. Because of this, they are thinking long term and trying to nd ways to maintain
Homeshake’s Tipsy Lemon Tea Cocktail: Homeshake’s attraction for its customers. To achieve this, the brand has made customers its
‑
A tribute to Hong Kong style iced lemon primary source of inspiration, in everything from its o ine distribution network to its product
tea. development process and customisation services.
‑
Describing how this works in more detail, Yau said: “In the “new normal”, where customer feedback can be captured and analysed real time, the
‑ ‑
whole value chain from product development, manufacturing and marketing has to catch up with the shorter time to market. To do this, we
carefully analyse every piece of information we gather from different channels, online and o ine, to steer the brand in the right direction.
“For example, we found that more than 70% of our customers were buying our cocktail kits as gifts for friends, for occasions such as birthdays,
‑
anniversary celebrations and house warming parties. Because people in a hurry often need to nd cool and unique gift ideas at a moment’s
‑ ‑
notice, we’ve worked with bars and pubs in commercial districts such as Central and Jordan to offer an in store pick up service catering for
urgent orders from impulse buyers.
‑
Staycation friendly: Homeshake’s DIY cocktail kit.
“Also, to our surprise, many customers consider our cocktail kits a great “staycation” companion. To save them the hassle of having to take the
essential bar tools, spirits and ingredients to their hotel, we’re exploring partnerships with hotel chains who want to enhance the experience they
offer their guests by providing our DIY cocktail kits as part of their guest room minibars.”
‑
As well as dreaming up new methods of distributing its products, Homeshake is also expanding its cocktail collection through in house efforts
‑
and crossovers with its peers in the bar industry. By co creating a broad range of new signature cocktails with top mixologists, sommeliers and
some of the winners in the Asia’s Top 50 Bars awards in town, the brand aims to build a platform where bars can interact more with local drinkers,
especially with relative newcomers, in order to showcase the appeal of cocktails and promote the local cocktail culture.
‑ ‑
The rise of the new work from home economy also means that Homeshake is becoming increasingly seen as a perfect giveaway at virtual
‑
corporate events. Yau explained that companies have had to adapt to the circumstances dictated by coronavirus related restrictions, saying:
“We’re seeing increasing volumes of orders and enquiries from companies that are thinking beyond the technical issues of moving face to face‑ ‑
corporate activities online. Some, for instance, are trying to keep their business partners and staff engaged by sending them our DIY cocktail kits
to use in toasting during online celebrations or networking functions, while others use them as icebreakers, part of their team building
programmes or as energisers in virtual activities.
‑
A customised corporate gift giveaway for the new work from home economy. ‑
‑
“To add extra value, we’re now offering customisation services to accommodate these corporate orders, from tailor made packaging to
‑
customised recipes. For instance, a company can place an order for a custom designed cocktail to match its corporate colours.”
Related Topics
Food & Beverages Gifts & Premiums Hong Kong COVID-19 ALCOHOL BAN
STAY-AT-HOME ECONOMY WORK-FROM-HOME ECONOMY HOME ENTERTAINMENT HOME BARTENDING
COCKTAIL DIY CORPORATE GIFT CUSTOMISATION
Free Business Information Subscribe to keep pace with global developments Sign Up >
HKTDC.com About HKTDC Contact HKTDC HKTDC Mobile Apps Hong Kong Means Business eNewsletter E-Subscription Preferences
Čeština Deutsch Español Français Italiano Polski Português Pусский ﻋﺮﺑﻰ 한국어 日本語
Terms of Use Privacy Statement Hyperlink Policy Site Map 京ICP备09059244号 京公网安备 11010102002019号
Follow HKTDC
Copyright © 2021 Hong Kong Trade Development Council. All rights reserved.
You can also read
