‘Viiking Beverages leads the Indian beverage industry with our alcoholic and non-alcoholic brands’
Viiking Ventures Pvt. Ltd., incorporated in 2008, is a major conglomerate with business verticals ranging in FMCG products, hospitality, beverages, realty & infrastructure, fitness, entertainment, etc. Viiking Beverages, the company’s beverage arm, established in 2009 by actor Sachiin Joshi, Chairman of Viiking Venture Pvt. Ltd., has a distinctive range of both non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages. The brands under Viiking Beverages are quite popular in India and are well received overseas too. Joshi conversed with Akshay Nayak in detail about Viiking Ventures’ and its beverage arm’s expansion plans in India and abroad.
Q. Being an actor by profession, what inspired you to enter into the hospitality industry?
Acting has always been my passion, since I was a kid. However, business comes naturally to me. From the very beginning of my career, I had a keen eye on different aspects of a business like marketing, sales & distribution, company management, etc. I love to travel and see new places and stay at different types of properties. Hence, I decided that Viiking Ventures should also get into the hospitality segment of India.
Viiking Ventures’ hospitality vertical – Viiking Hospitality has some of the renowned brands such The Beatle Hotel– A 4-Star Business Hotel in Powai and also has successfully been able to get some of the international brands to India such as Playboy Lifestyle Ltd. and Planet Hollywood resorts.
Playboy Lifestyle Ltd. is Playboy’s sole license holder for all Playboy locations and formats in India. Planet Hollywood Resort, Goa is the second Planet Hollywood Resort in the World and is the first franchise to Goa.
Q. With setting the bar high for millennials by bringing Playboy Lifestyle & Planet Hollywood resorts in India, who are your target audience for your future expansion plans? What similar developments are you planning in the coming years?
We had signed a franchise agreement with Wyndham Hotel Group, which has a license agreement to franchise the Planet Hollywood brand in India. We also have an unconditional license to launch Playboy-branded clubs, cafes, lounges, pubs, beer gardens, hotels, signature events and merchandise in the country. For Playboy, we are targeting the urban metro audience whereas; the USP of Planet Hollywood is the ambience that we have created to attract national as well as international travellers. Going forward, we are looking at in process to open four more Plant Hollywood properties in India in the next one year.
We are delighted to have partnered with Dream Hotel Group and its dynamic team as this is another milestone to get an international brand in India. With Dream Hotel Group’s unprecedented growth and high-velocity expansion we are looking to introduce new hotels and resorts to our existing portfolio in the coming years. India is among the fastest growing economies and we are excited to take the hospitality industry in this country to new heights.
Q. Being so young and having entered the Alcobev industry early, what initial challenges & support did you come across to acquire and introduce various alcobev brands in India?
Viiking Beverages is one of the leading beverage companies in India with a varied portfolio of alcoholic and non-alcoholic brands. Alcoholic brands that include Goa Kings Pilsner Beer, Goa Premium Beer, Go Kings Maxx – a lager strong beer, Royal Oak Premium Whiskey, SJJ XXX Vodka and XXX Vodka Mix whereas our non-alcoholic brands include XXX Energy Drink, Paani – Natural Mineral Water and Life – Packaged Drinking Water. The liquor industry has been facing a huge amount of challenges because of the varied regulations and restrictions posed by the different states of the country.Another challenge that the industry faces is that of marketing the brand and products. There are steep regulations and restrictions when it comes to promoting alcoholic brands in India. When it comes to manufacturing of beer, the biggest challenge and an important factor to keep in mind is the quality of water available. Our beers are glycerin and gluten-free and are made using the highest quality of imported Hops. As for the other challenges involved is setting up a brewery as it includes government permissions, licenses and capital investment. The regulatory processes and policies also play an important role in setting up a new brewery, which vary from state-to-state in India. All these take up a lot of time, manpower, energy and investment, before the business becomes operational.
Q. How flexible is the Indian Alcobev industry in India according to you? How are you looking to expand in this vertical in India?
Rapid increase in urban population is one of the key factors that is boosting and making the India alcohol market flexible. Traditionally, brown spirits have been targeted at the urban consumer. As such, increasing urban population coupled with factors such as increasing disposable income and growing preference for whiskies is expected to create avenues for growth of the alcohol market in India. As a result, the industry, I believe, will sharpen its focus on the premium part of the portfolio as they chase value rather than volume growth.
We already have a massive presence in India across more than 14 states currently and in the next few months we will be present pan India. For the next phase of expansion in India, we are looking at spreading our wings across the North Eastern Belt of India. We are also exporting our brands to the international markets of UAE, UK, Australia, Ivory Coast, Timor Leste and Nepal and are looking to expand our markets to the rest of the world as well.
Q. Which are the key markets & how are Tier-II & III cities serving as a market for Viiking Beverages? Which products are you trying to introduce in these regions?
The key markets vary from product to product. For example the demand for our beers if high in Goa, Maharashtra and Delhi whereas with the launch of the new brandy we are looking to tap the southern parts of India as brandy is more favored in that region. From an export point of view we have been receiving very good response from Dubai, UK, USA and Australia.