CCBR Business Review

5 CO V E R S T O R Y family and these standout young gentle- men are allowing me to be creative,” said Gavin, whose passion is to come up with new ideas. They are currently manufactur- ing about 6000 bottles a week, despite working reduced hours, and selling about 30,000 bottles a month while still in lock- down. “They’re guns on social media too, especially Instagram, which is where my market is. It’s such an important space for creating brand advocates and helping our clients, something nobody else is doing because it’s a lazy industry run by the giants. We’re creating bartending kits that provide everything needed to create the trending cocktails while showing them how to generate solid margins. It’s all about put- Gavin Yates across the nation. The additional 900 stores increased the availability of Steinbok to over 1200 stores nationally. Steinbok also supplies around 150 BWS stores nationally. “Growing our presence with Woolworths is my next target,” he said. Like any business that services the hos- pitality sector, Steinbok was hit hard by the global pandemic. “We lost on-premise customers (bars) immediately when the pandemic first hit as it was national.” Before Covid, the split in business was fairly even between on and off-premise customers, however now it’s 95:5. Quick to pivot, they began manufacturing hand sanitiser, giving most of it away to the local police. Ever the innovator and astute businessperson, Gavin has also used the past eighteen months to create new product varieties that have been pulled off the market by the major players but are still desired by consumers and plan new innovations for the future. As for the third generation, Gavin, who has no children, is creating a strong, youth- ful and energetic team of local talent, which currently stands at eight, to help him lead the charge forward. His second-in-charge, Nick, is a director of the company at the age of just 24, Brodyn, who is also 24, is Gavin’s licensee, and Bodee, a 27-year-old former local bartender, now works on the production line and has a RAV4 waiting for him to hit the road and start selling once the bars open up again. “My team is like ting the right tools in bartenders’ hands and exploring fun and creativity in the world of cocktail creations.” Feeling optimistic and excited about the future, Gavin referred to his business as, “an impressive young adult” with many new ideas and plans for the growth of the team, letting his staff select the next team mem- bers to come on board, as well as further expansion of the factory, which currently stands at 600sqm. As passionate about the business today as he was at the start, he offered the following advice for start-up business owners who feel as though they have a mountain to climb to break through: “The day that seems too hard is the day you need to keep going”. “The day that seems too hard is the day you need to keep going” CENTRAL COAST BUSINESS REVIEW OCTOBER 2021