Fratelli, which means brothers in Italian, is one of the leading wine companies in India, having achieved various milestones since its inception in 2007, having achieved various milestones since its inception in 2007. During the pandemic last year, it launched TiLT wine in a can. Recently, the company also redesigned the labels on its single varietal range. In an interview with Gaurav Sekhri, Partner Director of Fratelli Wines, speaks about the impact of the pandemic, wine in a can, the redesigned labels and future plans. The alco-bev industry is directly aligned with the hospitality industry and discretionary spending. When the lockdowns were announced, it impacted us deeply. With restricted travel and people not going out to restaurants, our business was severely affected. What we also noticed was that there was a lot of pent-up demand and that came back with a vengeance. Once alcohol shops were opened, the institutional sales jumped up and almost made up for what one lost in retail sales.
In FY 21, which felt a major brunt of lockdowns, etc. sales still higher than FY 2019 - 2020. When things opened this time last year, sales were very robust. That resulted in us having higher sales than the previous year. In this year as well, sales were down in April and May. But as markets opened up, pent-up demand resulted in people buying with a vengeance that really pushed sales. I am very optimistic that by the time we finish FY 22 we should have seen about 25 - 30 per cent growth compared to FY 21 in spite of having two wash-out months.
Institutional sales have also picked up. Of course, we still don't have institutional tourists coming in, we don't have large scale conferences or gatherings, but in spite of that, international sales have picked up. Last financial year, between our bottles and cans business, we produced 3,00, 000 cases. This financial year, all going well, we should be closer to the 4,00, 000 number.
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What is the reasoning behind launching wine in a can? It's a very clear trend globally, how people don't really like formality around things anymore, especially the younger consumers. It's reflected in the way they consume products. It provides a very good beverage without formality around it. There is still some element of nervousness amongst people when they consume wine - is the glass right, have I opened it long enough, etc. But to enjoy a good beverage you don't need all the fuss.
Also, it is about the setting. If you are in a nice restaurant for dinner you will like your wine served in a nice glass. But if I am at a concert or a sports event, I would like to open the can and drink. It is the setting that determines how the beverage is consumed.
We are extremely bullish on the can segment. We are now available in 15 states. We have set up a second canning line in our facility.
You have recently launched your new single varietal wines with a new label. When we started the business, these were some of the first wines we launched. We have almost 30 different labels across price points and categories of wine. But these single varietals were the first ones to roll out in 2010. After that, we spent a decade just trying to build our range.
For the past two years, we were thinking that we should relook at our single varietal labels since they form a large part of our business and our consumers recognise them. We also got feedback from people that while the wines were amazing, the labels did not reflect that. So, we decided to go for a new look. After discussing with design houses, we thought that the best way to reflect the brand is through the silhouette of the seven founding brothers of the Fratelli family.
Hospitality is a natural extension of the wine business, and it is something we have thought of on and off. We have always deferred it as we wanted to get our wine business right. We have done our research and in the near future you can expect something from us.
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