$250,000 secured from the bank. A 2,000m2 venue locked in. Stu had the ambition. He had the product. What he didn't have was a clear picture of how to fund the leap and without losing his home.
Stu MacKenzie started his organic gin distillery in his double garage in Adelaide in 2019.
The business has won many national and international awards. Little Juniper has
expanded to produce and sell liqueurs and limoncello, with new products being added
very soon.
The Little Juniper Growth journey.
In 2026, the distilling business will move into a 2,000m2 production and cellar door venue
15 minutes out of the CBD, in the Adelaide Hills. Once the business moves to its new
home, Stu is excited to add gin-making classes so customers can experience for
themselves the craft of making a flavoursome organic gin.
Key growth points:
Sales: in FY25 were almost three times FY24
Retail site locked in: after almost signing a lease for 4 other sites, in late 2024, Stu
settled on a top spot in the Adelaide Hills
FTE: once the new venue is open, the team will grow from 2 FTE now, to 10+ in 2026.
With a lot of interest and buzz from locals in the Adelaide Hills, Stu is excited for the move
and to build out the team, so his wonderful spirits get into the mouths of more people.
#1 Growth Challenge: funding to grow.
Stu has always had the ambition to move the business out of his double garage, but didn't really have a handle on what funding would be needed to make that happen. Add to that, every potential site he looked at to lease had different costs and potential sales, which therefore affected how much funding he would need to open and grow the new location.
It was all very complicated and a little overwhelming. After we had finalised the 10 year
financial model, whenever Stu found a new site to consider, he would change the rent,
opening hours and estimated sales for that location.
He could then see in the cash flow, if any years or months he went into the negative.If he
did, and it wasn't too much, he would be happy to raise funds to cover it. The final site Stu
considered was the largest of them all, and being a 15 minute drive out of the CBD, meant he would have less customers in his bar and cellar door, and would probably need to spend more in marketing.
But, the lower rents offset this risk and Stu decided to go for it.
Using the 10 year financial model, and a pitch deck (built from examples and tips in our
Strategy Program), in mid-2024 Stu secured a $250,000 loan from his bank, and over a
very long term.
As the landlord started works on the old building in early 2025, he offered Stu even more
floor space, taking the production and retail site to a massive 2,000m2.
This will future-proof his business.
With that extra floor space, Stu decided to add some more equipment, a gin school and a grander fit-out. Using the financial model, Stu approached investors and while he got
initial interest, in parallel he threw extra effort into sales for FY25.
He was so successful with that, he will probably not need to raise investment, as he has
confidence his cash balance won't go negative with the increased sales, as long as he hits his numbers - the strategic plan he has laid out in the 10 year financial model.
How else the Grow A Small Business Strategy Program helped Stu.
Within the 10 year financial model, the Human Resources tab helped Stu think through
the people side of his business, including:
What roles he needed to add to the business over the years
What he'd need to pay each (which then automatically updated the wage and salary expense on the Profit & Loss), and
Which roles or hats he'd take over, and when, and hand to new team members.
As we put this HR plan together, Troy was able to guide Stu to think differently about
resourcing the business as it grew, especially when the new production site, cellar door
and bar opens.
Website: www.littlejuniper.com.au
Core business: Organic gin distillery
Team: 2 full-time equivalent
Industry: Distilling
Location: Adelaide, Australia
#1 Growth Pillar Focus: Funding - to grow with less stress
“I love watching the moment when the small business owner gets the power of the Human Resources tab in the 10 year financial model. It clicks, they realise if they want to work 40 hours a week or less, and have decent holidays, they need to take hats off and build the team. As the HR tab feeds into the Profit & Loss automatically, they can see the impact of a growing team on the profit and cash balance.”
Troy Trewin, Founder, Grow A Small Business
Other benefits that came from Stu completing the Grow A Small Business Strategy
Program, were:
Having a sales plan to work: Stu has set the number of bottles he aims to sell in each channel, as he has several outside his impending new retail location. By researching what similar bars trade near his new site, he has also estimated how many cocktails they may sell each week, the highest margin product he has
Sharper focus: using the Simple Quarterly Strategic Plan from our Program, Stu
sharpened his and his small teams’ focus, so he was not distracted by shiny new things that will delay his new site opening or not really add much value to the business
A growing marketing budget: as Stu increased sales in the Sales Plan, the marketing budget automatically increased. We set a decent percentage of gross profit to be reinvested into marketing, as without decent marketing, he cannot hit the sales plans he has.
“There comes a time in your business planning and scaling that you reach a point where lots of decisions could be make or break for the business. Having a clear roadmap for the future and a visual guide for how to achieve your plan, which also keeps you agile, is key, as things will change, and it offers the only safe way to stay sane, and not lose your house in the process!”
Stu MacKenzie, Founder, Little Juniper
Do you need help to grow your small business?
Book in a 20 minute Growth Chat with Troy, our Founder.
He will listen, ask a heap of questions and afterwards, email you a bunch of resources to
help with your #1 growth challenge.
Our Strategy Program is not a fit for everyone, if it is, he can explain how it works further.
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