An Interview With Martita Mestey
Focus & Passion. These are two core cultural attributes that I see in all great brands in this space, where the people are passionate about the products and focused ruthlessly on the Brand.
As a part of our series called “5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Charles Gibb, CEO, Fever-Tree.
Charles has spent the past 30 plus years in the international beverage industry, working for Bacardi-Martini, Diageo, and Moet Hennessy, before joining Fever-Tree in 2017 to establish and lead their operations in the USA. This is the first international office for Fever-Tree, now employing over 40 people across the country, covering import, sales, and marketing. Fever-Tree is leading the premiumization of all mixed drinks in the USA, elevating every drinking experience thanks to their naturally sourced ingredients.
Throughout his career, he’s been globally mobile, living across Europe and Australia prior to relocating to New York 10 years ago. Prior to leading the Fever-Tree USA start-up, he has kickstarted 3 new companies in Poland and Australia as well as worked on establishing Moet Hennessy’s joint venture in Russia.
In 2009 he was appointed as President of Belvedere Vodka (part of LVMH Group) and over 8 years expanded the brand into over 120 countries, developed international partnerships with Bono’s (RED) organization as well as becoming the preferred vodka of James Bond. Before joining the drinks industry Charles was an officer in the British Army (Royal Scots), serving in Germany, UK and Northern Ireland. He speaks French, German, and some Polish. He is a keen golfer, a member of the Honourable Company of the Edinburgh Golfers Muirfield, Scotland and recently joined The Whippoorwill Club in Westchester. He is married to an Australian, has two young children and lives in Westchester, New York.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dive in, our readers would love to learn a bit more about you. Can you tell us a bit about your “childhood backstory”?
I grew up all over the world, thanks to my Father having a long and distinguished military career, and this very much instilled a sense of adventure in me at an early age. I lived in Singapore, Germany, Belgium, Georgia (USA) as well as various places in England and Scotland, whilst my own travels have seen me living in Switzerland, Poland, Australia and now New York! My childhood was also marked by being at Boarding school from the age of 7, which instilled a sense of self reliance and independence in me.
Can you share with us the story of the “ah ha” moment that led to the creation of the food or beverage brand you are leading?
The big “aha” moment came for our founders, Tim Warrillow and Charles Rolls, when they came to the realization that “surely your Mixer should be of the same quality as that of your spirit” and thus “if ¾ of your drink is the mixer”, then this deserves to compliment, not destroy, the spirit. Sadly mixers had been neglected for many years whilst the quality of the spirits was only being enhanced!
What are the most common mistakes you have seen people make when they start a food or beverage line? What can be done to avoid those errors?
The most common mistakes that I have seen is from those who don’t appreciate that it takes a total business approach to succeed, from ensuring that you have the right product against the right opportunity, with the right distribution network, and supported by clear messaging. Only ticking 1–2 of these boxes means that many great ideas and fantastic products are never seen by the consumer. Equally I see people losing focus, trying to operate in adjacent categories before they’ve cemented their primary product. Ruthess FOCUS is the key to ensuring you realize the potential you’ve developed.
Let’s imagine that someone reading this interview has an idea for a product that they would like to produce. What are the first few steps that you would recommend that they take?
Understand what role you play for the consumer, whether this is functional or emotional (or both), and thus what your competition is. Ensure that you have locked into a genuine consumer insight and consumer need, and how to convey this succinctly so that you know why you have a right to win in this space. Define the DNA of your Brand, and ensure that you stick to this in all you do. Critically, then move to understand how your product gets in front of the consumer, and therefore what route to market and value chain you need to create.
Many people have good ideas all the time. But some people seem to struggle in taking a good idea and translating it into an actual business. How would you encourage someone to overcome this hurdle?
Just do it. It sounds basic, but if you truly believe in your idea, do it, because this will give you the greatest amount of learning. If you struggle to do this, then ensure that you engage people who can bring the skills & experience to bear in your specific field. Never be afraid to engage experts.
There are many invention development consultants. Would you recommend that a person with a new idea hire such a consultant, or should they try to strike out on their own?
Having said the above, I’d always be wary of engaging consultants, unless they’ve got a proven track record of actually doing the work themselves. It’s much easier to describe what needs to be done vs actually having done it and gone through the experience yourself!!
Can you share thoughts from your experience about how to file a patent, how to source good raw ingredients, how to source a good manufacturer, and how to find a retailer or distributor?
Simply put, find the experts and leverage them to ensure you’ve optimized every aspect of the business. You can never hope to have all the answers yourself, but there are experts in all these fields who can coach and support you along the way. Above all listen and learn from them so that you can adapt their knowledge to your brand and business.
Here is the main question of our discussion. What are your “5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand” and why?
- Does it taste good (after all we are talking food and beverage!)? This may sound very obvious, but there are so many bad-tasting products out there or at least ones that are “one-off” tastes, so automatically become very niche. Once I’d tried Fever-Tree, I insisted that Belvedere only worked and mixed with Fever-Tree around the world, as I wanted every drink to taste the very best!
- What is consumer insight? Why should people buy this product vs what’s existing? Fever-Tree is a great example of finding a category that had not yet preimmunized (mixers), yet was intrinsically linked with a category that was undergoing massive premiumization (spirits)
- What is your elevator pitch / simple message? Fever Tree has a simple challenge…“If ¾ of your drink is the mixer, then mix with the best” is an excellent provocation as well as a clear message.
- How / where would people buy this Brand? Where is it best sold and who therefore what is the right route to market? You don’t need to be everywhere to succeed, but you need to be in the right places at the right time in front of the right consumers.
- Focus & Passion. These are two core cultural attributes that I see in all great brands in this space, where the people are passionate about the products and focused ruthlessly on the Brand.
Can you share your ideas about how to create a product that people really love and are ‘crazy about?
I believe the founders of Fever-Tree have done this, through creating a unique brand that leveraged a clear consumer insight, crafted a unique and delicious tasting product, and been able to extend and expand this whilst remaining true to the original DNA, something we all guard today within the business.
Ok. We are nearly done. Here are our final questions. How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Yes, I’d like to think so. I’m very proud that Fever Tree is now Carbon Neutral in the UK, and keen that we expand this into the USA over time. Equally during my time at Belvedere Vodka, very proud that through our Product (RED) association, we were able to help 42,000 HIV+ Mothers give birth to healthy babies, thanks to the antiretroviral pills that were able to be distributed in Africa. Equally, we reduced our CO2 emissions in Poland by -42% per case sold thanks to multiple initiatives we undertook over many years,
You are an inspiration to a great many people. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Magic happens when people come together. Good conversation leads to great ideas which brands can bring to life in new and unique ways. I always encourage my team to collaborate whether it is to work through an issue or to chat about the next great thing our brand will do and I implore business owners to do the same. These meetings of the minds always result in insightful thinking that elevate and even change the trajectory of a brand.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Charles Gibb of Fever-Tree On 5 Things You Need To Create a Successful Food or Beverage Brand was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.