Kaddy goes nationwide

September 15, 2021 by Media Release

Following a successful launch in Queensland last month, wholesale beverages platform Kaddy has announced it is now expanding to service the entirety of Australia with a national rollout. The alcohol ordering platform built for liquor retailers and hospitality venues is already used by over 1,500 customers on the East Coast, and will now also be available to all licenced venues in South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory, enabling them to discover, connect and trade with hundreds of beverages suppliers in seconds.

“Tasmanian distillers, South Australian wineries and craft brewers from WA – suppliers from across the country already use Kaddy to access and trade with venues on the East Coast,” says Kaddy’s co-founder Rich Coombes. “We’re thrilled to now facilitate national use of the platform and offer the same simple online trade experience to the industry Australia-wide.”

Kaddy’s ease of use has long been proven popular with some of Australia’s most successful beverages brands. Early adopters of the platform like Archie Rose Distilling Co, BentSpoke Brewing, Heaps Normal, Beerfarm and Bridge Road Brewers are just a handful of the 400+ suppliers that now use the platform to trade with wholesale customers – a number that should only continue to grow if Kaddy’s August launch into Queensland is anything to go by. The new ability to service their local customers saw many Queensland producers, including Range Brewing, Noosa Gin and Black Hops Brewing all join Kaddy as part of the recent Queensland launch.

And in the wake of last week’s surprise announcement that independent icon Stone & Wood were being sold to Lion, Coombes said the timing for going national couldn’t be better for both suppliers and trade customers alike.

“With the spotlight focused on independent beer at the moment, many venues and retailers will be looking at available options and wanting to access products to delight their indie beer loving customers. There is so much opportunity for the nation’s other 650 brewers, but gaining equal access to all suppliers can be tricky. That’s where Kaddy fits in – for indie beer to thrive, easy access and simplicity is absolutely necessary”.

The Kaddy team including its software engineers are all based locally, meaning the ability to move quickly and build the required functionality to support a national presence has been a lot of work but was always the ambition.

“Our overarching goal is to level the playing field and give every licenced venue in the country equal access to all our amazing producers across beverages – this is just a natural step in that direction. We’re excited by the future, in particular, supporting the continued rise of Australian craft producers.”

Kaddy launches cold chain programme

August 3, 2021 by Clare Burnett

Wholesale ordering platform Kaddy has launched guidelines for online buyers to ensure cold chain storage for beer.

The Keep it Cool programme will provide information and guidelines to venues and retailers stocking beer, through storage, transport and in-store. Brisbane’s Range Brewing has recently signed onto Kaddy and will be the pilot supplier utilising the Keep It Cool guidelines for suppliers.

“We get that operators and their staff don’t have time or patience to go through a manual or anything so we kept the simplicity of the program in the name – Keep It Cool,” said Kaddy marketing manager Patrick Feary.

The guidelines provide recommended temperature, storage and handling procedures, as well as outlining some of the reasons and benefits to venues for doing this.

Feary explained that it was a learning process for customers who are dipping their toe into new categories.

“As we have grown our customer reach, Kaddy is now used by a wide range of venues, including licenced cafes, supermarkets and even florists, many of whom might be stepping into the world of premiumisation and craft beer for the first time,” he said.

“We’re in the perfect position to help educate these trade customers on the best possible way to handle and store these time and temperature-sensitive products to make sure consumers get the best product possible and as intended by the supplier.”

Rather than enforcing or policing the guidelines, Feary explained it was a chance to educate venues and suppliers on why cold chain storage was important to the quality of the product.

“When a customer first connects with a supplier on Kaddy that has opted into the Keep It Cool program, we make them aware of the guidelines and they confirm that they understand and can comply with them,” Feary explained.

“So the expectation is set from the start of the trading relationship. We’re not here to police it – we want to help customers understand why the guidelines are in place, and outline the benefits to them and their customers.

“At the end of the day, the guidelines are there to keep the beer fresh and the consumer happy. For venues and retailers that pride themselves on their product, this is incentive enough.”

To develop the guidelines, Kaddy teamed up with Gerard Martin and Matt McIver, co-founders of Brisbane’s Range, which also has a Melbourne taproom.

“Our partnership with Range was well timed to formalise this as Gerard and Matt already have these sorts of agreements in place with venues pouring their beers,” Feary said.

“When we were talking with the guys from Range, it was very important that the same quality control they had in their offline wholesale was maintained when they moved those trade customers onto Kaddy.”

Suppliers can request the guidelines be observed by Kaddy customers.

“There’s an increasing number of players in the industry doing this by default – from venues, to cold-chain logistics partners, to suppliers, like Range Brewing. Part of this is awareness – helping customers identify the suppliers that have these specific requests, and making them easy to comply with.” Feary explained.

Cold chain logistics and storage have been at the forefront of the minds of many brewers who are expanding their distribution into new markets.

Last year for instance, Mighty Craft signed a cold store national distribution agreement with alcohol supply chain company Bevchain to ensure cold store warehousing and distribution for its portfolio of breweries.