42 Below founder finds his next cash cow

One of the founders of 42 Below is using his contacts in the liquor industry to good effect, with his pre-mix cocktail product VnC soon to be sold in more than 10 countries.

Shane McKillen made millions when the energy company he part-owned, Empower, was sold in 2000.

And he cleaned up again when 42 Below, in which he was a shareholder and major player, was sold to Bacardi for $91 million in 2006.

VnC, Mr McKillen says, is his next big money-maker.

The line of seven pre-mixed cocktails, with flavours like pomegranate cosmopolitan and pacific maitai, retails for $19.95 each in New Zealand.

It has launched, or is about to launch, in China, Mexico, the US, Tesco’s supermarkets in the UK, Italy, India and Australia.

VnC is also soon to be available on Carnival Cruises ships.

Mr McKillen had a widely-publicised spat with the other 42 Below executives over offshore distribution rights when the vodka company was sold.

So it’s probably no coincidence that one of the VnC product flavours, vodka, feijoa and apple, mirrors a popular drink made with 42 Below’s feijoa vodka and fresh apple juice.

VnC general manager Chris Fairbairn says the company is on track to sell 500,000 cases of product in 2009.

The plan is to replicate 42 Below’s recipe for success – build the business until it is big enough to attract the interest of a major liquor brand.

Mr Fairbairn says VnC intends to have transformed into an attractive acquisition target, selling twice as much as 42 Below was when it was taken over, within three years.

VnC is manufactured in Taupo but Mr Fairbairn says it is rapidly outgrowing its facility and the manufacturing may be moved offshore.

Mr Fairbairn says the concept of VnC is “a bartender in a bottle” – a premium pre-mixed product that provides an alternative to a bottle of wine.

It comes in a plastic rather than glass bottle so that it’s lighter for female drinkers to lift, recyclable, and able to be taken to events where glass is banned.

The company is in talks with a “major international celebrity’ to promote the brand but was coy on who that would be.

42 Below was promoted by New Zealand-born supermodel Kylie Bax and San Antonio Spurs basketball player Sean Marks.

The product is 13.9% alc/vol.