Real brands.
Real work.

The brief

Doña Fuego is a Cape Town distillery that makes a really good drink: real Mexican tequila and real juice in a 250ml can. Margarita, Spicy Margarita, Paloma and a non-alcoholic Margarita. When we started working together, the range had just cleared Checkers' tasting panels for a national launch.

The founder had the product sorted. She wanted help with the rest: who it's for, how to launch it, how to talk to investors, and how to keep track of what's selling once it's in stores.

What we built

We started with when people actually drink it. About 95% of South African spirit coolers are vodka-based, so a tequila one had room to stand out. We settled on the cooler box: the braai, the boat, the weekend away. The drink you bring when everyone else brings wine.

I've put brands on South African shelves before. Brannas Draught taught me how the trade really works, the pricing and the fight for the shelf, and Cape Spritz showed me a premium ready-to-drink can earn its place next to the big names. So we planned the launch around what matters with a national retailer: a partnership with a cooler brand, cooler boxes dropped at the right gatherings, a photo competition, a plan for the first 1,000 loyal customers, and trade effort focused on the stores most likely to sell.

For content, we chose real over polished. We hosted a braai, handed the guests disposable cameras and let the afternoon happen. What came back was months of social content that looks like people enjoying the drink, because they were.

Raising money for The Duchess and for DOPE Drinks taught me what investors actually ask. We used that to shape Doña Fuego's investor story and the financial model behind it, so the founder can answer the hard questions with confidence.

The big risk with a national retailer is not knowing what's selling until it's too late to act. So we set up a weekly view of sales and stock from Checkers' own reports. The founder can see which stores are moving and where to put her energy.

Where it landed

Doña Fuego launched nationally in August 2026, exclusive to Checkers in 360 stores and on Sixty60, with 12 months of exclusivity.

The founder went into launch with a clear position, a launch plan, investor material she's comfortable sending and a clear view of how the cans are selling. And the brand has a library of real photos from real people to post from for months.

The brief

Van Hunks makes Cap Classique in Cape Town, using the same traditional method as Champagne. There are 6 wines, from a non-alcoholic sparkling white and rosé to a hand-painted Prestige Cuvée. The name comes from the Cape legend of Jan van Hunks, whose smoking contest with the devil is said to cause the tablecloth cloud on Table Mountain.

The founders want to grow in America and asked for help telling that story to US investors. They already had a great brand, beautiful photography and the wine. The job was to bring it together in a way an American reader could follow, with numbers that stand up to questions.

What we built

Taking a non-alcoholic drink from Cape Town to the world is close to home for me. With The Duchess, we built the world's first non-alcoholic gin and tonic here and shipped it to more than 10 countries, with over half the revenue from export. With DOPE Drinks, I built a brand for the US market, raised money there and launched at BevNET in New York. Van Hunks gets both of those experiences.

We worked on what an American investor needs to hear: why non-alcoholic, why now, why this brand, and how they'll grow in the US. The non-alcoholic sparkling white and rosé lead the story, with the traditional Cap Classique range behind them.

Then the deck itself. We rewrote it so it sounds like the two founders talking to someone who might back them, with every number coming straight from their books.

Where it landed

Van Hunks has a US growth story that sounds like its founders and stands on real numbers.

We're still working together, so there's more to this one that I can't share yet.