Founded by three hospitality mates on the Gold Coast, Mr Consistent is a take-home cocktail company. The idea emerged from a bar-restaurant in Palm Beach Qld, when co-founder Jeremy Davidson had the idea of speeding up the cocktail-making process in the bar while maintaining standards of cocktails.
After developing great cocktail recipes using the freshest ingredients, Mr Consistent went live in April 2020 – just as lockdowns hit Sydney and Melbourne. The founders swiftly pivoted to focus on the take-home market instead of other venues, deciding to go direct-to-consumer.
The decision not to put alcohol into the pre-mixes also made it easier to sell anywhere; it was a unique selling point and consumers could add their own favourite spirits.
With home food and drink delivery soaring in the pandemic, Mr Consistent needed to scale fast. People were stuck at home, bars and restaurants were closed, and the business enjoyed accelerated demand. The staff headcount surged from 45 to 110 in just five weeks and the business was ready to go to the next level.
While the company achieved a line of credit to fund most of the production facility, no bank was willing to talk to it about growth. This meant that if Mr Consistent wanted to ramp up marketing activity and develop its new product for the festival market, it would have to seek external investment. However, the owners were not prepared to give up equity in a business they knew was changing the market and poised for exponential growth.
Fortunately, Mr Consistent found out about Clearco via an Instagram ad when talking about different options going into a slower winter period. Clearco offers revenue-based funding and is a much faster and more flexible way of getting funding. Founders don’t need to give up equity, and repay the finance from revenues. It’s ideal for seasonal businesses like Mr Consistent, as repayments are correspondingly lower in quieter periods.
“For smaller retailers, picking a financial partner can be quite challenging, but with Clearco the whole process was easy and clear. It was such a simple process and made us feel much more confident about taking the next step,” says Jeremy Davidson, MD & co-founder of Mr Consistent.
Clearco’s innovative model also strips out human bias from funding applications, by using AI and proprietary algorithms. Businesses simply connect their revenue and marketing accounts with Clearco’s API, which then shows them investment offers ranging from $10,000 to $20 million. With startups founded by women and minority groups tending to attract far less funding, Clearco offers an even playing field.
Thanks to Clearco, Mr Consistent has been able to develop a new canned product for the festival market and has secured a supplier contract for F1 as well as the Groovin’ the Moo festival tour. The funding is being used to pay for all of its performance marketing. It is also accessing Clearco inventory to fund direct-from-supplier accessories to build out its cocktails lifestyle range including things like shakers, glassware and clothing merchandise.
“We’ve loved working with Clearco. They took the time to understand our goals (big ones) and backed us”, said Jarrad Bell, brand director and co-founder of Mr Consistent.
As lockdowns lifted, the on-premise side of the drinks retail business ramped back up again. While the direct to consumer business is booming, it is important for at-home product credibility to have the product sold in premium hospitality venues. Mr Consistent drinks have also been picked up by BWS, Dan Murphys, Vintage Cellars and Myer as well as smaller retailers – more than 2200 outlets.
Mr Consistent’s five-year plan is to continue to grow internationally and become a lifestyle brand that’s associated with great times and good vibes, enabling people to shake cocktails in their own homes all around the world.
It anticipates that Clearco will be a key enabler of this journey. To find out why more than 500 Australian small businesses have turned to Clearco visit Clearco Australia