Succeeding in a Highly Competitive Market

The Situation

After establishing itself four years earlier in the highly competitive drink mixers market, Nantucket Off-Shore decided to introduce a new high-quality brand, called Stirrings. Based in Fall River, Mass., the company had a solid management team and an aggressive growth plan. What it needed was additional funding to enhance working capital.

About the Opportunity

Creating success in the rapidly growing drink mixers market depends on reaching end customers when they're ready to buy. Often that means being on shelves in liquor and spirit stores. It also means reaching them through mass retailers.

Nantucket Off-Shore, building on its long standing relationship with Williams Sonoma and other premium retailers, was able to enter the all-important liquor distribution channel.

Agreements with Whole Foods, Dean and Deluca, Bloomingdales, and Target also positioned Nantucket Off-Shore for growth as the demographics of those retailers coincide with Nantucket Off-Shore's key markets.

Why the BDCRI Got Involved

We decided to provide a five-year $500,000 term loan to Nantucket Off-Shore, because:

1. Its senior management team was seasoned and able. Paul Nardone, the company's first full-time CEO, had grown annual sales at Annie's Homegrown, an organic food company, from $1 million to $30 million.
2. Larry Freedman, VP of Operations and R&D, was working with Paul to strengthen margins and improve the company's supply chain, in part, by outsourcing production.
3. New products and new distribution channels held the promise of significant sales gains.