“In Australia we are obsessed with coffee,” Tom Baker, co-founder of Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur, told Entrepreneur. “It’s like a religion. It’s a point of national identity.”
Image credit: Courtesy of Mr. Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur. Tom Baker.
After World War II, Italians immigrated to this country, bringing with them espresso machines and European cafe culture. Australia’s coffee scene is thriving, and Baker says he even had a barista at his high school.
Baker says Australians also like to drink.
Baker wanted to start a business that would combine the country’s passion for coffee and spirits, so he asked distiller Philip Moore to join him. The co-founders launched a campaign on the Australian crowdfunding site Pozible in 2013, deciding that once they sold 200 units of the coffee liqueur, they would take it seriously, which they did.
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“This is a coffee liqueur that actually tastes like coffee, not some sickly sweet fake one.”
Mr. Baker said Mr. Black’s quality taste is what sets it apart from its competitors in the market. “This is a coffee liqueur that actually tastes like coffee,” he explains. “It’s not the sickly sweet fake stuff you probably think of when you think of Kahlua, Tia Maria, or other brands.”
Baker acknowledges that these big brands are very popular, but they don’t do what Black does, which is to say, “you pay $8 for a cup of coffee at a coffee shop.” He says he’s not there.
To achieve that flavor profile, Mr. Black sources special grades of single-origin coffee, two-thirds of which come from Colombia. The company sources the rest from Ethiopia and Kenya. Baker said Black’s Australian facility roasts 1,000 pounds of coffee every day.
Image credit: Courtesy of Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur
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In 2015, Diageo Investment Corporation became a minority investor in Mr. Black through its accelerator program, Distill Ventures. That and subsequent investments allowed Mr. Black to build a roastery and brewery and enter the U.S. market.
Diageo acquired Mr. Black in September 2022 for an undisclosed sum. By that time, the brand had become one of the top premium-priced coffee liqueurs in the United States by volume and was sold in 22 countries.
“Americans love cold brew. (So) this was a good sign for American drinkers.”
Naturally, Black’s path to success hasn’t always been smooth. The pandemic has proven to be one of the most significant challenges, Baker said. The New York Times published an article about the brand on March 19, 2020, but said, “As you can probably imagine, that’s not what people were talking about on March 19, 2020.”
Mr. Black has also spent considerable time and money establishing itself in the bar scene, one of the busiest in 2019. So the brand needed to change direction. The company used social media to connect with cocktail and coffee lovers and encourage them to enjoy its products from the comfort of their own homes.
The rewards were great and continue to be. It’s been seven years since Mr. Black was launched in the US, and the multi-million dollar brand, which is sold in all 50 states, has doubled its business here in the past year, selling just over 100,000 I just sold my second 9 liter case.
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Baker believes part of Black’s popularity in the U.S. is due to his try-and-learn approach. The entrepreneur said Australians drink hot coffee no matter how warm the weather is, while Americans often drink their caffeinated coffee cold.
“Americans love cold beer,” Baker explains. “That was a good signal to American drinkers to say, ‘Oh, great. You’re a new product. You’re not your father’s coffee liqueur.'”
“People love to go out and have parties and drink espresso martinis.”
Americans also love espresso martinis. The drink was developed in London in the 1980s by bartender Dick Bradsell, rose to fame in the 1990s, and peaked in popularity at the end of the decade. Last year, the espresso martini moved up five spots in the top U.S. cocktail rankings, according to NielsenIQ cocktail sales tracker CGA.
Baker said Black was the “driving force” behind the espresso martini resurgence, adding that the brand has taught tens of thousands of bartenders how to make the drink and that he and his team were “probably the driving force behind the espresso martini revival. “I probably drink more espresso martinis in the United States than most other people.” ”
Mr. Black has been bringing Espresso Martini Fest, which was first held in Australia in 2017, to the United States for the past three years. This year’s festival will see 250 bars across the country collaborate to “unleash their creativity through different espresso martini variations” and will run from September 19th to September 29th. “It’s amazing,” Baker said. “People love to go out and have parties and drink espresso martinis.”
Image credit: Courtesy of Mr Black Cold Brew Coffee Liqueur
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But while Baker appreciates Black’s mutually beneficial relationship with the espresso martini, caffeinated cocktails have left his brand with just the same number of fans. I refute the assumption that there are. “It’s easy to attribute our success to this drink,” Baker says. “But it’s more interesting to ask, ‘Why are we winning?'”
According to Baker, the answer to that question is simple and goes back to the beginning of Black’s story. That means quality remains the differentiator for his coffee liqueurs.
“If we had thought about it for three more months, we probably could have saved millions of dollars.”
And while Baker is elated with the brand’s success so far, Black says he’s only scratched the surface. “I’m not shy in terms of my brand ambitions,” he says. “I want to be the best in the world.”
For other cocktail enthusiasts looking to start their own spirits brand, Baker has some advice that could save you a lot of time and money.
First, realize that strategies have changed these days. So if you go through the steps and try to replicate another brand’s success on a T-shirt, Baker says you won’t get the results you want. He suggests digging into who your customers are and how you can keep them coming back.
“We wish we had spent a little more time thinking up front about how we were actually going to recruit drinkers to our brand,” Baker said. “What makes us better than other brewers? How do we get into[customers’]repertoire? If we had thought about that for three more months, we would probably have spent millions of dollars and a few years. I think I saved up a lot of money before I started Mr. Black. ”
