The Vendor is a PocketApp series that features creators and professionals who sell on PocketApp. They’ll share why they started their business, how they’ve evolved and what they’ve learnt along the way.
You may recognise the Quacktails’ soon-to-be-iconic duck logo. Or you may have beheld their hip packaging. Or you may be one of the many thousands who have had a taste of their acclaimed cocktails. For The Vendor, Dare Aderinokun, the company’s co-founder, talks about running his modern drinks company.
How did the idea for Quacktails come to life?
Before the pandemic, I started building my own bar at home because, as an introvert, I became interested in making drinks for myself without going out. During the lockdown, people who knew we made drinks in-house reached out to ask if we could send drinks to them. We had these small pouches that came in handy, so we charged them for it, and sent their orders over.
Interesting stuff.
I think we sold some drinks to a couple we knew, and they put it on Twitter. From there, people started requesting. That’s where the delivery business started. During the lockdown, there was a time we were home because our employers were trying to watch how bad the spread of COVID was going to be. At that point, we were getting maybe 10 orders a day. When I was going back to work in September 2020, we were getting 200 to 250 orders a day, and it became difficult to focus on my job. That’s when I realised that maybe this is where my interest is.
When did you finally make the move?
It was in March 2021, and that was a weird leap because I am from a family of bankers. We didn’t have any bartenders in the family that I could ask for advice. I had been making drinks for two years before the demand spiked and it became a business. That felt like a validation of all of my YouTube research.
Tell me about the process from order to delivery.
We have three divisions. The kitchen, the bar and logistics. We have three people handling our social media. Whoever picks it first sends it. We have WhatsApp groups for each division. The guys in the kitchen let the guys in the bar know an order has come in. The guys at the bar prepare it and pass it to the guys in the kitchen, who then hand it over to logistics partners to deliver. The kitchen then tracks the delivery guys.
What happens in this kitchen?
It’s the most important part of our business. We are not a bar or a restaurant. We call it a kitchen because we cook. If we are making you a mango margarita, we are juicing the mangoes in there. We are making a syrup from the mangoes. It may seem easy to juice but we have to find out where the flavour resides in the fruit. The way you eat a fruit may not be the way you drink a fruit.
When did Quacktails decide to run its own delivery?
During the lockdown, we had an incident where the guy who picked up the drinks caused a scene when a customer asked him to drop a package by her door. She sent us a message that made it clear she was upset. We decided we needed to control the entire experience.
What’s a bad and good monthly revenue?
About ₦9,000,000 and ₦13,000,000. That’s for one kitchen. We now have a second kitchen that will cater to the night orders because we open around 10 AM and close at 4 PM, which is around the time people probably start craving drinks.
What are the challenges so far?
Our currency has lost value and we import some alcohol, so that has forced price fluctuations on us. The local governments, too, are always bringing out new documents for bike registrations.
Any advice for entrepreneurs?
As my sister says, you need to develop whatever you have the passion for and let some ignorance lead the way.
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