Cafe Society: Tasmania’s spirit is just the tonic for budding entrepreneurs

Tasmania is a great place for entrepreneurs willing to do business differently, say the couple behind a successful new drink.

Dina and Andrew Gregson, owners of Tasmanian Tonic Company. Picture: LUKE BOWDEN

DINA Gregson beams like a proud mother when we meet at Oddfellows Bar & Eatery in Victoria St.

The tonic maker has just seen the first bottles of little gin co’s premium ready-made G&T and she is stoked.

“It’s a variation on one of our tonics, made exclusively for little gin co,” says the co-founder of the Tasmanian Tonic Company, which itself is less than a year old.

“It’s a beautiful pepperberry tonic in a spectacular Tasmanian gin in the most delightful bottle, so we are like new parents at the moment. It’s a beautiful partnership.”

When Dina and Andrew Gregson returned to live in Tasmania in January after 12 years away in Sydney, Moscow and Amsterdam, they discovered a growing entrepreneurial spirit in the state.

“It’s a terrific spot to incubate a new idea because you have a market that is willing to try different things and a set of businesses that are prepared to assist,” says Andrew.

“There’s a real spirit of being in it together because it is more difficult to get things done here.

“To an extent, though, that makes it easier to get things done, because nobody immediately views you with suspicion as a competitor. They view you as a co-contributor.”

Or a fool with a dream, I joke. Possibly, he laughs.

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Last January, the couple attended the annual Hobart gin festival, Gin-uary, as punters. Next month they will return as vendors with four quintessentially Tasmanian tonic syrups. Already they boast a healthy stockists list that includes Hill St Grocers statewide, online customers worldwide, regular market stalls at Hobart’s Farm Gate and Salamanca, and a presence at some of the city’s coolest bars, including this one.

Dina says tonic made sense to develop, as they were keen to create a product that complemented something already happening.

“We thought everyone in Tasmania is doing gin, so it was a natural fit.”

What they didn’t expect was the level of enthusiasm they found from other businesses.

“The degree of encouragement we’ve had in developing a new product has been wildly beyond what we ever could have imagined,” says Andrew. “We knew our tonic had to complement specifically Tasmanian gin, so we approached [more than 20] gin distillers and we did that with trepidation, thinking they’d say ‘we’ve got this covered’.

“Instead, what we got was encouragement, support and advice about what they would require in a tonic.”

Dina says bars and venues were just as enthusiastic, with younger hospitality operators and professionals especially interested.

“These are shining examples of younger adults who you might think would be off making lots more money elsewhere, but they are not — they are digging into their back pockets and investing in venues such as this one [Oddfellows],” she says.

“Unlike in Andrew’s generation peer group growing up here, this generation of twenty-somethings are making a life for themselves here, finding a way to carve out not only an existence but a really exciting existence that’s different to what young people used to run away to the mainland for.”

And they are often creating their own jobs to be here, rather than waiting for a job offer, says Andrew. “That’s how the spirit of entrepreneurship is growing.”

On their return, Andrew was employed as chief executive of the Tasmanian Salmon Growers Association, but left the role a few months ago. He now works full-time in the tonic business with Dina.

He is also a former chief of staff and state director of the Tasmanian Liberal Party, and worked as chief executive of the NSW Irrigators Council, Imperial Tobacco and Fontem Ventures, an e-vapour producer. Dina, originally from Canada, comes from a public administration background.

Both say the biggest business challenge, for them and other operators their size, is getting more product off the island.

“Distribution is the least sexy part of any business, and it’s always the biggest challenge for small to medium sized enterprises, which is where Tasmania’s niche is,” says Andrew.

“Despite everything else that’s changed in the state, it’s not solved yet.”

One initiative they would like to see is joint government/airline promotions that enable visitors to fly home with 3kg of additional cabin luggage, hopefully full of Tassie-made goodies.