OKSEN Artisanal Spiced Rum

Idea

Introduction

Over 150 million bottles of spiced rum are sold annually around the world. Following the success enjoyed by boutique gins and vodkas, the opportunity to provide consumers with our spiced rum crafted to an ancestral French recipe is ready for taking.

Our family have been preparing infused rums in the purest artisanal ways from our home near Bordeaux since 1973. We now want to share the taste experience of our handcrafted range of infused rums, building local awareness and also awareness beyond the shores of France.

Your investment in Famille Oksen should help us scale-up our production so we can then expand the local market as well as exporting to the UK, other parts of Europe, and North America. Even with increased production, we intend to hold true to the traditions of handmade spirits meaning quality will never be compromised. Our aim is to have our rums always presented from the Top Shelf, appealing to those who value and appreciate something a bit special and unique.

Intended impact

Our ambition is to be recognised as the producers of the best artisan spiced rum available across the globe. We believe that the experience enjoyed by other boutique spirits indicates there is a significant gap in the market for artisanal products catering to lifestyle-conscious consumers.

We feel that mass-market spiced rums fail to deliver on the implied taste promise, are often laden with additives and rely on mixers to deliver an acceptable drink experience. We want to shake things up by showing consumers that they can enjoy a full-flavoured rum, infused with real spices, and that they don’t have to suffer bland and additive-heavy mass produced spirits.

Spiced rum is not well known in France and consumption of spirits locally is behind the consumption of wine and beer. We intend to change that. Our rums can already be found in local retailers such as Metro Cash & Carry and later this year we intend to expand nationally across France as our new French distribution relationship comes into effect.

Substantial accomplishments to date

• Famille Oksen started small-scale making handcrafted spice-farm 1973.
• Incorporated in order to commercialise 2011.
• First test production 2012.
• Our rums featured at the World Best Sommelier Tasting chaired by Paolo Basso 2013.
• Franck left his then employer to work full time in the Oksen Famille business 2013.
• First relationship with French distributor 2013.
• Won Gold Medal for Cinnamon Spiced Rum at International Rum Conference, Madrid, 2014.
• Won Silver Medal for Vanilla Spiced Rum at International Rum Conference, Madrid, 2014.
• First investment round, €40,000 raised through 4 private investors 2015.
• Introduced new labelling 2015.
• Signed with second French distributor 2015.
• Agreement reached to stock at Metro Cash and Carry 2016.
• Agreement reached to stock with www.vente-prive.com 2017.
• Signed with third French distributor, Unchained Wines and Spirits, 2017.

Monetisation strategy

We craft our rums from base spirit, produced by a local independent distillery. The spirit is then infused with spices according to our own, secret, handmade recipes. Currently we sell our rums across France via distributors and direct to cellars and retail outlets.

Reflecting the nature of our premium product, we make a typical margin of 45% above cost of manufacture. In the first instance our ambition is to increase sales volume by improved penetration in the local market.

We believe significant growth opportunity is presented by expansion into offshore markets, especially the UK which is enjoying a creative explosion of boutique spirits. We also plan to move into other European markets as well as the USA, the latter being the second largest market for spirits. In due course we will consider pursuing China, the largest international spirits market.

Increased production offers economy of scale benefits which we expect to reflect in improved sales margins arising from cost base improvement.

Use of proceeds

Brand and market development will be our major focus. Activities should include:

• scaling up our local French sales and marketing capability.
• building local teams in the UK, Germany, and USA.
• refreshing labelling and other brand iconography.
• design and development of point of sale, display, and packaging options.
• development and delivery of a comprehensive marketing strategy including multi-channel advertising.

This class of spirit is relatively unknown in France and we believe this provides us with a pioneering opportunity and while we do not underestimate the scale of this challenge we are confident the the growing demand for ultra-premium spirits will successfully underpin our ambitions.

We also intend to address plant and equipment requirements to support increased demand.

• Staffing 15 %
• Marketing, packaging and advertising 7 %
• Point of sale and trade fair 17 %
• Plant, equipment, logistics 13 %
• Stock 48 %

The company currently has a €22,000 shareholder loan outstanding. Funds raised will not be used to repay the loan.