From happy accident to global ambition: Kristy Bloomfield

It was a business born by happy accident, rather than design. Simply a 60-bottle run of whisky commissioned by television presenter Larry Emdur for his 60th birthday – a unique gift for 60 of his closest friends to mark a momentous occasion.

Yet, as it turned out, the whisky in question wasn’t half bad. In fact, it was exceptionally delicious.

"The original 60 bottles were never supposed to become a business, let alone the beginning of a global brand," admits Kristy Bloomfield, CEO and Co-Founder of The Ben Buckler.

"There was no grand business plan sitting behind it; people simply loved the whisky and loved the idea. The brand platform is something deeply personal and authentic to Larry and the greater team, so nothing is manufactured.

"You can spend millions of dollars trying to manufacture that kind of authenticity and still not achieve it. It was all there, I just needed to put the pieces together."

Emulating its namesake in a multitude of ways, The Ben Buckler refers to the Northernmost point of Bondi Beach: the three streets, rock pools and sparkling emerald sea where Emdur spent his childhood, surrounded by salty air, sunshine, ineffable natural beauty and the laissez-faire attitude of the locals.

In a category that has traditionally relied on traditional codes: heritage, barrels, age statements, distilleries and a certain seriousness around expertise and connoisseurship, The Ben Buckler intends to broaden those parameters, positioning itself instead, as a modern lifestyle brand rooted in contemporary Australia.

"There is absolutely a place for that and this appeals to the whisky adorer, but there is a generation of consumers who want premium brands to reflect who they are and how they live," Bloomfield says.

"I didn’t look at it and think, ‘We could build another Australian whisky brand.’ I thought, ‘We will build Australia’s most aspirational spirit brand.’

"My immediate thought was: if we can put sophisticated brand building and serious commercial capability around this, this could become something really significant."

Premium opportunity

Bloomfield – who holds both an MBA and Bachelor of Laws – has a background spanning senior leadership roles across global consumer giants including Coca-Cola, Lion, NRMA and Acer, as well as new-category fast-growth businesses including as CMO at Sullivans Cove Whisky and Global CMO at Lyre’s Non-Alcoholic Spirit Company. She saw the immense potential Emdur’s whisky held from the moment the pair met.

"I’ve been incredibly fortunate throughout my career to experience both ends of the spectrum; large, sophisticated global organizations and entrepreneurial businesses where you are genuinely building the plane while you’re flying it," she says.

"The large organizations taught me enormous discipline, the importance of consumer insight, commercial rigor, great strategy and how world-class brands are built and protected over time.

"The entrepreneurial businesses taught me how to move at pace with skill, a deep commercial focus and acumen, instinct and absolute clarity around what will move the dial."

She is also a staunch believer in the power of Australian brands – as well as the farmers, innovators, producers and distillers behind them – and is passionate about representing them on the world stage.

"I feel there is a tremendous opportunity to showcase the pedigree; we have the most outstanding talent and innovators in food and beverage, and it’s a privilege to champion not only our modern disruptive whisky but also the Australian whisky category as a whole," she enthuses.

Balancing act

However, a key lesson Bloomfield has learned throughout her career, and at Lyre’s in particular, has been appreciating when to "slow down to go faster".

"Saying no is probably one of the hardest disciplines in a growth business, but it’s the most important skill to master," she says.

"Sustainable growth is the real superpower of any entrepreneur and CEO in a startup environment. When a business starts gaining momentum, opportunities appear everywhere. Because so many of them sound exciting, the danger is that you start confusing opportunity with strategy.

"Constraints can actually be incredibly useful because they force clarity. In an entrepreneurial business, you simply don’t have that luxury. Every dollar and every hour has to work incredibly hard. Team members become generalists and master cross functional leadership."

Already, avenues are opening up across retail, hospitality, travel retail, direct-to-consumer, international markets, innovation, partnerships and events, yet Bloomfield is ensuring The Ben Buckler doesn’t lean into the temptation and pursue everything without scaling sufficiently.

"My responsibility as CEO is to make sure that our capital, supply chain, systems, governance and people are evolving at the right pace," she emphasizes.

"But there’s another challenge that I probably think about just as much, which is protecting the magic, the energy and the core culture of the business and brand, and that’s where our guiding principles will be our one source of truth, to keep our team focused.

"For me, the goal is to professionalize the business without corporatizing the brand. Building a whisky brand that doesn’t act like a whisky brand."

An ideal partnership

Like Emdur himself, Bloomfield wants The Ben Buckler to represent the best qualities of contemporary Australia – confident, optimistic, relaxed and creative – while also delivering a premium and globally relevant product.

A perfect business pairing in many ways, as Co-Founders, Bloomfield and Emdur bring diverse skill sets and different, yet complementary strengths to the company. Yet both share the same drive.

"Larry has this extraordinary instinct for people, storytelling and culture," she says with a smile.

"He understands audiences and how to connect with people in a way that you simply cannot manufacture. He’s also incredibly entrepreneurial and, importantly, he has a genuine emotional connection with The Ben Buckler because the whole thing started with him.

"My background is much more about taking that energy and building the architecture around it, the brand strategy, commercial model, distribution, international expansion, team and ultimately the enterprise value of the business."

For the next five years, the aim is meaningful scale, international recognition and a portfolio capable of introducing new consumers to whisky. Bloomfield reveals that the goal will always be to walk into an excellent bar in London, New York or Singapore, see the bottle across the room and know immediately that it’s The Ben Buckler.

As Emdur and Bloomfield continue building their team and evolving the brand together, the culture and philosophy at the heart of the brand will need to be a guiding star ensuring they don’t lose sight of why they’re doing this. The key to this, of course, is a first-rate team.

"I want people who are ambitious but low ego, commercially sharp but still entrepreneurial, and who genuinely want to build something, they have that hunger to be part of something special  – and fun," Bloomfield says.

"The bigger opportunity now is to build an Australian whisky brand with genuine cultural relevance, that can last and endure the decades and have a platform to continue to build relevance in any market now or in many years’ time."