BELFAST group Drinksology Kirker Greer has extended its presence across mainland Europe with a new distribution warehouse in the Netherlands.
The acquisition of the new Amsterdam facility comes after a 62 per cent increase in sales of Kirker Greer Spirits across the continent during lockdown.
The premium drinks company, set up ten years ago by Steven Pattison and Richard Ryan, said as well as a response to increased demand, the hub will help guarantee continuity of supply to key European markets during and after the completion of Brexit transition period later this year.
The Belfast-headquartered group has two divisions: Drinksology Creative, a design, branding and marketing company; and Kirker Greer Spirits, which owns, manages and distributes a range of premium spirit brands internationally.
It has reported an uptake in sales with online retailers such as Amazon Germany and Amazon France. The company said it hopes to replicate the European success of Jawbox gin, with other brands, including Kirker Irish Whiskey, Ginato Gin Classico from Italy, Bowsaw American Whiskey and Grand Kadoo Rum from Barbados.
"We are delighted to be expanding in Europe and continuing our work with reputable online and offline retailers," said chief executive Steven Pattison.
"We are committed to this project for the long term and are hugely excited with the expansion. Along with our new distribution hub in Amsterdam, we are also implementing a sales team on the ground in The Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium, Austria and Sweden to manage direct distribution to multiple retail channels and to also support our on-trade and HORECA distribution partners in the regions.
"It has been a challenging time for the hospitality sector and we feel it is important to support both our customers and distribution partners by heavily investing in resources on the ground starting in Q4.”
