“Yep, 664 percent is definitely a big number!”
That’s Jason Crowe. He is the business manager of Wellington-based brewers, Garage Project, who at just four years old is the fastest growing company in New Zealand.
The 2015 Deloitte’s Fast 50 list released late last year revealed the small-time brewers have had a growth rate of 664.29 percent during the last three years, beating Farrell Group and Mad Group by at least 35 percent to the top spot.
“It was fantastic. It came as quite a surprise to be honest, but I guess the overriding feeling was one of validation that what we’re doing is what the market is asking for,” says Jason.
Garage Project was set up by brothers, Pete and Ian Gillespie, and friend, Jos Ruffell, just over four years ago in an old Shell garage on Aro Street with a 50 litre brew kit. Things have grown at quite a pace since then, but they still call the garage home and continue to brew and bottle all of their beer in it.
Popularity and demand began shortly after starting up when they sold different brews at a local cult beer bar, Hashigo Zake, as part of their 24/24 programme. It involved the team producing 24 different beers over 24 weeks and as time went on the following got bigger and bigger until kegs were selling out within an hour of being tapped.
After witnessing the popularity of their beers during those 24 weeks, the team realised how much potential their brews had, so decided to take the plunge and upgrade to a 1,200 litre brew kit to ramp production.
Since the 24/24 days (or weeks rather), innovation and change has been engrained in Garage Project’s DNA.
“For us it’s all about innovation; all about new flavours; all about blurring new beer styles and trying new things… constant innovation is a big part of what we do. Some of our customers find that frustrating that they find a beer that they like and they want to keep it on their list. Our beers come and go, but we really try and avoid as much as we can getting stuck in what a lot of people call a ‘core range’.”
Garage Project’s ever-changing nature keeps things interesting for both the team and their enthusiasts. That may be partly why they have experienced such success since they started up.
Head brewer, Pete, has been brewing professionally for over 15 years now, while Jos the “visionary and development guy” spends around 100 days a year travelling the world to explore all things craft beer.
Inspiration for brews come mainly from the two and Jason points out that the whole process of coming up with new flavours and techniques is actually quite structured. It may come from developing something they’ve already done and twisting it into something new, or it may come from something completely different. Who knows.
At this point the brewery has created over 160 different kinds of beer which seems to be the beauty of their spontaneity – being free to try new things while also having a customer base that are willing to follow.
“We’ve never really chased volume. We never will. You know, we know we’re gonna have a very, very large business in a number of countries over the next 10 or 20 years, but we will take whatever growth the market gives us and we will grow in a way that we’re happy to grow in,” explains Jason.
His confidence about Garage Project’s identity, capability and future is quite enviable. They seem completely in control and at ease for what may come, and yes they’re clearly doing well but I get the sense it’s their willingness to adapt that is pushing them along.
Their own success may be down to the excellent beer they brew, but without the custom it wouldn’t go far. It’s pretty fortunate then that the industry they’re in seems to be going places.
Craft beer sales in New Zealand have increased 42 percent in the past 12 months according to the ANZ New Zealand Craft Beer Industry Insights 2015 report. The report states these numbers reflect “an increasing preference for big flavour beer over quantity”.
The report also mentions that the Asian market is around 750 times the size of New Zealand’s, while beer exports to Asia have doubled in the past two years. Exporting might be a good idea then, but Garage Project has been doing that for a few years now anyway.
Their beer can be bought in most towns across New Zealand but they also export to Australia, Norway, Sweden, Hong Kong, and soon to be the US. Volumes of export may be small, but they’re learning to find the balance.
“We understand that we need to try and grow the business in these export markets and keep those markets moving, but we have to manage that with the increasing, or ever-increasing, domestic demand.”
It sounds like a nice position to be in. The pressure may be there but it doesn’t seem like too much phases the brewery, well not Jason anyway. They have just hit 30 staff and after the Deloitte’s report, the future is looking bright – but taking a step back could be next on the cards.