Master of Malt founder buys business back from AB InBev

The founder of booze distributor, DTC retailer and spirits brand owner Atom Group has bought the business back from AB InBev.

Justin Petszaft has acquired the business he sold to AB InBev in 2018 in its entirety. It includes the Master of Malt e-commerce platform, wholesale and distribution business Maverick Drinks, and brands such as Bathtub Gin, Rumbullion and That Boutique-y Whisky Company.

The deal, struck for an undisclosed sum, would enable Atom Group to move forward as a “customer-centric business” that acted “like the back-end for the whole spirits industry”, Petszaft said.

The newly independent Atom would be “laser-focused on the customer” across its wholesale and DTC operations, while also seeking to grow its owned and distributed brands, he claimed.

“It’s about being true to our founding vision,” he said. “Our purpose is to create unexpected customer delight. That’s what the business is about. And we want to do that while building a business that we want to be customers of and that we’re proud of.”

Atom would utilise its Master of Malt e-commerce site and trade businesses to test new products from its brands, and provide a platform for other spirits brand owners to grow, Petszaft said.

“We want to open up our infrastructure so people can use us to bootstrap their businesses and outsource work to us,” he said. “We want to be like the back end for the whole spirits industry. So everything from marketing partnerships to stockholding, fulfilment, customer service.”

Atom had been acquired by ABInBev’s ZX Ventures incubation arm “too early in its lifecycle” to take advantage of the synergies of being owned by a multinational company, Petszaft said.

“We weren’t mature enough to really make the best of the resource available,” he said. “We were just much more like a startup than an established mature business with stable processes that could be easily scaled.”

Petszaft, who remained employed by the company throughout AB InBev’s stewardship, said he had “never considered the possibility” of being able to buy back the business he first started in 1999.

After ABInBev approached him earlier this year, he said he had worked “night and day” to put together a transition plan in place, culminating in the outright purchase of the business.

“They could see that Atom had a hugely exciting future as a founder-owned business, so huge props to them for recognising and acting on that,” he said.

“I don’t think many large corporates would act with that kind of integrity,” he added.

AB InBev has been approached for comment.