Central Group met with one of its customers, Matt Stevens from Parrotdog Brewery, this week to exchange stories, over a couple of beers (Central Group) and a pot of Earl Grey (Matt). Parrotdog is a boutique brewery operating from Wellington - the little capital city which in addition to movies and an excess of politicians, is now vying for the badge of “home of boutique breweries”.
While I rate the pale ale, and my friend’s hazy, it is the Parrotdog story which is fascinating.
Starting back in 2011 as three Uni boys Matt, Matt (Warner) and Matt (Kristofski) commenced operations primarily as home brewing, and some contract brewing at a brewery in Taranaki. The business has grown from its small Te Aro Flat, trendy premises in Vivian street, to its current location on the shores of Wellington South Coast in Lyall Bay. Parrotdog moved to these premises in 2017. The business has added another shareholder Paul Watson to now be three Matts and a Watty….
After completing two successful public crowdfunding equity raises in 2016 and 2017, Parrotdog has really won the hearts of Wellington and New Zealand.
From the Lyall Bay premises, the Brewery’s customers can fully experience the Parrotdog experience, with a cellar door, branded “Nice. Takeaway”, its restaurant and bar, where you can sample the brews and have a bite to eat, and tours of the brewery. This is a very trendy and cool place, which makes carpet on the walls something I want to do at home.
The business has come a long way from winning its first award (Bitterbitch in 2012) to the operations in Lyall Bay.
From the operation side, the business runs its brewing, storage, and distribution services from its premises. A key part to the business’ success has been its ability to scale up its production and distribution services. This has meant the Parrotdog is able to compete with some of the bigger corporate beer suppliers. To be successful in the supermarket game, the ability to supply, deliver and price to this market is essential. Parrotdog has invested to ensure it ticks all these requirements while still offering all the aspects of a specialist brewery.
I am told their facilities are set to expand further.
Central Group has been working with Parrotdog since 2012. We have enjoyed working with the team at Parrotdog to provide all their forklift, servicing, and training requirements.
Speaking to Matt, he compliments “Central’s ability to understand the requirements of our business and offer a flexible solution”. Due to the recent growth, the business was using its only forklift more and more. This was causing frustrations and the business was looking for a different solution for its logistics and stock areas. “Central Group was able to see what we needed and helped us with the next phase as our business.”
Recently Parrotdog, invested in a new Heli Forklift for their operations.
Central Group holds the sole distribution rights for this world ranking forklift from China.
The 4-wheel, electric model offers a great option for tight spaces and ease of moveability. The older model is now used for moving stock to transport vehicles. Production does not need to stop while the Brewery waits for the only forklift to become available.
Electric was the best option for the business, for food standard reasons but also for its sustainability story. With recent solar panels added to its premises and the shipping of its waste product to pig farmers up the line, this business cares about its impact on the environment. Central’s Heli forklift product adds to that story, by being electric and fully rechargeable (overnight). Watch this space, as production increases at Parrotdog, I am predicting they will be looking for the newer quick charging lithium Heli model soon, I am sure.
We also met with Ben, the Operations Manager at Parrotdog, I am going to leave the last words to him - he has been using Heli Forklifts for over 7 years, “they are great and really reliable”.
