How Tyson Branz Busted Into a Category Dominated by Big Players
And launched an export success
How do you break into a drinks category dominated by multinationals?
Ask Tyson Branz, who founded Destileria Barako in the Philippines in 2016. Among its many products is Ube Cream Liqueur:
The secret ingredient is ube, a purple yam native to the Philippines;
It gives the liqueur an attractive purple color that’s Instagrammable;
Ube is now an export success.
Tyson, an Australian who started his career in mining, told the Drinks Insider podcast how he did it.
Tyson Branz, founder, Destileria Barako
Here are 7 takeaways:
1. A market dominated by big players may be ripe for disruption
When Tyson first went to the Philippines, he saw only big brands on the shelves.
He took it as a sign that the market was ready for innovation — it pointed to a lack of home-grown distilleries and beverage enterprises.
He was right, but…
2. There may be a reason why some categories haven’t innovated
It turns out that it’s hard to create a cream liqueur:
You need to experiment with specialty cream;
Relevant dairies may be …