Being in the domestic imported liquor business is really a huge challenge for new players. It is a very oligopolistic market where there are just a handful of huge importers that dominate the importation of wines, beers, and spirits presently sold in the country. So, when a new company joins the competition, the new company needs to create its own niche to survive.
Like any good businessman this was what JoJo Vega and his partners at Don Revy did.
THE BACK STORY
Don Revy Philippines, Inc. is a collaboration between partners Jojo Vega, Piers Kinloch, the late Robbie Ferguson. The three partners met at a Singapore Telecom (Singtel)-sponsored Global System for Mobile Communications Conference, way back in 2003.
Jojo Vega is the only Filipino among the three, while both Piers and Robbie are Brisbane, Australia-based since the late 1990s but were both originally from Scotland. Jojo, who started his career in San Miguel Corp. (SMC) as a truck salesman fresh out of college, had just left SMC after 15 long years during which time he rose through the ranks to become its Assistant Vice-President of Sales at the time of his departure. Jojo then worked for Globe Telecom. Globe is partly owned by Singtel, while both Piers and Robbie had business interest with Optus, one of the biggest telecom companies in Australia, and also a wholly owned subsidiary of Singtel.
Robbie back then was married to a Filipina from Bacolod, so when he would come visit the Philippines, he would hang out with Jojo for a few days first in Manila. That was how the friendship was cemented, and by the late 2000s, the trio already spoke about doing business together in the Philippines, and since all of them enjoy drinking alcohol (we know the Scottish do), and with Jojo’s background in SMC, the decision to import and distribute liquor came to fruition. Thus, the birth of Don Revy.
As Jojo pointed out to me, the Don Revy logo has three bottles which symbolize each of the three partners.
THE WHITE WINE OPPORTUNITY
The company started with wines — as we know the spirits market is very brand-driven and had a more difficult level of entry. In Jojo’s research of the wine industry, he realized that white wines are not that big, and most importers compete in the red wine category. Based on import numbers, white wines are just around 25% of the total wine market, so Jojo saw this number as an opportunity to introduce better white wines into the market.
And where else to go for internationally renowned whites than to go bring in the Sauvignon Blancs from New Zealand’s Marlborough region?
While Marlborough and NZ whites have been around for ages, NZ wines were never priorities here in our market, because NZ is better known for white wines, for Sauvignon Blanc, than reds, and Philippines is a majority red-wine drinking country like most of our Asian counterparts.
So not only was it the whites that Don Revy was looking at, but wines from NZ as a country in general as their niche to enter this competitive industry.
Their first wine imports came in 2013, and all were from NZ. They covered three wine regions of New Zealand — Marlborough, Gisborne, and Hawkes Bay — under three different brands: Pebble Lane (a proprietary label), Jules Taylor, and Mills Reef.
BUSINESS INTEGRATION
Like every new importer, the first order of business was to get distribution, so Don Revy did that immediately. The targets primarily were on-premises establishments — restaurants, bars, cafes and hotels.
Retail has always been challenging because of the expensive listing fees that are involved. During the early stages of Don Revy, among the three partners, Robbie Ferguson, who had moved to Manila by then, was the most involved, as Piers was still Brisbane-based, and Jojo was employed as a high-ranking executive in MNCs Samsung, and then Huawei. But in 2017 Jojo left his corporate life to become a full-fledged partner at Don Revy and teamed-up with Robbie to further cement the foundation of the company.
Unfortunately, in 2018 tragedy struck Don Revy when one of the founding partners, Robbie, passed away untimely. Jojo then took over the entire day-to-day operations of the company, while Piers remained a loyal supporter remotely from Australia.
Soon, following the vision of the three partners, Don Revy embarked on their “brick and mortar” strategy. First, they wanted a place of their own to showcase their products. This was when Bevvy came to existence. Bevvy, which is a colloquial term for booze or alcoholic beverages in Australia, seemed like a perfect name. Don Revy had an office and depot in Pasong Tamo in Makati City, and the partners thought it would be cool to forward-integrate and have their own restaurant-bar. After all, they were growing, and more principals were visiting Manila than ever, so, a place of their own seemed ideal — even economical — to not only host their foreign visitors but also do events.
To their credit, Bevvy grew to be more than a Don Revy extension. With its good food and cozy ambience, Bevvy became a secret resto-bar for appreciative customers who needed a place to unwind and recharge.
Aside from Bevvy, Jojo saw an opportunity to go into retail, and joined the bidding process to be the liquor concessionaire of the Mitsukoshi department store in BGC. Don Revy won this bidding fair and square. With Mitsukoshi, Don Revy now has another outlet to showcase their products. Over the course of time, Don Revy added beers (Jojo Vega’s expertise from his SMC background) to their portfolio, with four brand imports from three countries, including the world’s first and original pilsner, Pilsner Urquell from the Czech Republic. They also tried their hands with spirits — scotch whiskies in particular, since both Piers and Robbie were originally from Scotland.
BEVVY
Bevvy is literally a hole in the wall as this resto-bar is as inconspicuous as they come. There is no sign, nor indication of where it is located. And even if you get the address from Google and use Waze, you still need a bit of help from the security guard in the compound to locate this place. But once you overcome that obstacle, believe me, this resto-bar is worth going to.
I recently visited Bevvy and met up with Jojo Vega and chef Bheng Velarde, Bevvy’s consultant. The menu is not only wine-friendly, but reasonably priced. And the liquor selection is priced at retail prices, which makes it like Terry’s Selection, Barcino, and other importer-cum-restaurateurs that deal directly with end-consumers.
A good dinner for two can be only P3,000++ and this already comes with a decent bottle of wine — this is hard to beat.
Bevvy top-sellers tasted:
• Lemongrass Calamari — deep fried to a crisp perfection and served with ranch dressing. Menu price: P425
• Fish & Chips — thankfully NOT made from brittle, structure-less dory but made with cod, it comes with homemade potato wedges, and is served with ranch dressing. Menu price: P550
• Barbequed Glazed Beef Ribs — a five-hour oven-baked chuck ribs glazed with homemade BBQ sauce. Menu price: P1,180
• Herb Roasted Chicken — a five-hour oven-roasted half-size chicken seasoned with special herbs and spices. Menu price: P680
TASTING NOTES OF WINES TASTED AT BEVVY
• Pebble Lane Sauvignon Blanc 2021, Marlborough, NZ: “I have tried several vintages of this wine and it has always been consistent, lovely notes of quince, lychee, though more subtle nose than most Marlborough Sauvies, this wine is clean, crisp, delectable and super quaffable even on its own.” Bevvy price: P910.
• Jules Taylor Chardonnay 2022, Marlborough, NZ: “a more sophisticated Chardonnay with nice balance of cream, oak, and acidity, the wine has notes apricot and walnuts and has enough weight and acid backbone to go with a lot of dishes, nice long lime rind finish.” Bevvy price: P1,270.
• Domaine la Font de Notre Dame Lirac 2019, Southern Rhone, France: “I rarely had a chance to taste Lirac as its not a normal Rhone Valley go-to wine, but this one made with usual Southern Rhone varietal-mix dominated by Grenache is very decent, with red cherry flavors, noticeable acids, friendly tannins, mineral and herbaceous notes, and juicy all the way.” Bevvy price: P1,090.
• Elderton Shiraz 2019, Barossa, South Australia: “This wine captures the typicity of the Barossan Shiraz, fruit forward, alluring aromatics, flavors of ripe sweet berries, peppercorn and cassis, and ends with lingering bitter-sweet finish.” Bevvy price: P1,630.
Don Revy just reached their milestone 10th anniversary and already passed the prescription period of a newbie in this industry. They are no longer the new kids on the block and are here to stay and contribute to this industry.
Don Revy products can be purchased online, at on-premises establishments, and retailers which range from Rustans to 7-Eleven, and in Mitsukoshi, and, of course, in Bevvy.
For more information, including reservations at Bevvy, contact them at 8556-3312, or e-mail drink@donrevy.com.
The author is the first Filipino wine writer member of both the Bordeaux-based Federation Internationale des Journalists et Ecrivains du Vin et des Spiritueux (FIJEV) and the UK-based Circle of Wine Writers (CWW). For comments, inquiries, wine event coverage, wine consultancy and other wine related concerns, e-mail the author at wineprotege@gmail.com, or check his wine training website https://thewinetrainingcamp.wordpress.com/services
