Two KEDGE Alumni have opened their own craft brewery right in the heart of Bordeaux!

Nicolas: I learned about Kedge when it was still called Bordeaux Ecole de Management, right before it turned in to BEM, while I was still completing my first degree at EBP International. So, I attended nearly three schools on the same campus. Actually, I could even say five, if you count the exchanges I did with partner schools in England and Spain... Before Kedge, I obtained my SSI BAC and then did a trial year in a PCSI prep school, before I decided to leave the scientific route I had initially planned on and go to business school instead. In short, I would say that at KEDGE I had my first real experience of higher education, met students and friends that I still see today even 10 years later (a bunch of friends we met at that time have actually started getting married recently, so we have had a series of weddings!). Then I joined the MVS programme, a specialised work-study Master's programme that enabled me to finish my studies and specialise in a specific field: Wine & Spirits, while gaining work experience with a Wine Negotiator: the Groupe Castel.

 

Paul: After obtaining a BTS in international business in Nîmes, I took several different entrave examens in order to get into a business school. I was lucky enough to have my pick, and very naturally chose Euromed Marseille. For personal reasons: I have a lot of family in the South-East and the region remains close to my heart, even today (I got married in the region last year). But, also because of the school's general approach, especially the importance it places on personal development and being open to the world. After a gap year in Paris and an exchange programme in Tel-Aviv, I went back to Paris for a year and then decided, in 2013, to join the Wine & Spirits - a subject I was passionate about - cursus in the MVS programme. I am in a certain way "doubly attached" to KEDGE, since I studied for two years on the Marseille campus and then in Bordeaux. Kedge left an important mark on my life, not only because of what I learned there, and its openness to personal and professional development, but also because of the people I met there: close friends, my wife, and last but not least, my business partner. 

 

Nico: before returning to KEDGE for the MVS, I lived for a short while in Paris, and worked in La Défense, in the Financial Directorate at the Société Générale. It was a great experience in a major groupe, where I also got to discover the capital, its daily life and a sector of activity, which sees a lot of current and former business school students. But a year later, the desire to move back to Bordeaux, my home town, was too strong. I moved back full on enthusiasm and motivation, but was quickly confronted with a less than flourishing job market. After a nine month short-term contact for the Interprofessional Council for Bordeaux Wines, I decided to pursue a career in the field and met Jacques Olivier Pesme (who was the director of my programme for a number of years) who told me about the MVS programme. Six months later, I started the work-study programme with the groupe Castel, where I ended up working for three years as Social Media Manager.

 

Paul: After leaving ESC, I spent a year in Paris where I worked on marketing studies for the mass retail industry. But, I wasn't really interested in the subject and didn't really enjoy life in Paris, so I decided not to leave. I then started to look for Master's degree programmes specialised in wine, something I was really passionate about. The MVS came at the perfect time, because it would enable me to pursue a career in a field I was passionate about and also allow me to discover Bordeaux, I city I now really love. While completing the MVS, I had a work-study contract as a sales rep for the company Mavil France, which makes stainless steel vats for wine and beer. I was notably in charge of prospection and client relations. There, I discovered, in addition to beautiful wine regions in France and Europe, the requirements and obligations inherent to selling wine and spirits. I stayed for two and a half years before leaving to focus on the Bordeaux Beer Factory.

 

 

This month, we are celebrating the second anniversary of the Bordeaux Beer Factory Brewery, an idea that started in 2013/2014 while we were both doing the MVS, where we met. We had participated in a lot of wine tastings, and started to become interested in beer, first as amateurs/tasters. Then one thing led to another, and we started brewing our own beer at home, and perfecting our recipes... We both had the desire to create our own business, to change our professional and personal environment, so we decided to focus our Master's thesis on creating a local brewery. In October 2015, eight months after we graduated, we created the company and started distribution, while we still had our other jobs. As you can imagine, our evenings and weekends were pretty busy! Business started to take off, and in 2017, we left our jobs to focus on the company. Things have been accelerating ever since: we have around 50 clients in the region, have sold more than 20,000 bottles, created five different beers, have a new location in the center of Chartrons (64 rue Borie), une crowdfunding campaign on Ulule that has reached more than 100% of its objective, and tons of project! 

 

 

 

It's simple: finish the construction work so that we can move our brewery to our new workshop downtown before the end of 2017. Launch our brewing workshops to teach the public how to brew their own beers, open a space like a Brewpub to enable those who are interested to discover our tap beers, right there in the brewery, visit the vats, and discover the secrets of brewing. In short, we want to be fully integrated into the neighbourhood, and in the Bordeaux landscape. Of course, we want to increase our visibility by expanding our distribution network with new partners and start selling kegs as well as bottles in November 2017. We have plans to create recipes at the crossroads of wine production in partnership with winemakers, so that we can integrate their knowhow into how we make our beers: from grapes to barrels that have already had a long life, the overall objectif is to age our beers like you do a good wine. Bordeaux exports its wines all over the world, why not its beer! But, one step at a time. 

 

 

Nearly seven years in school, you can't say that doesn't leave a mark! Clearly, first it gave us the desire to create such a project, there is no guarantee that if we had chosen a different path we would have wanted to embark on such a journey. It also clearly gave us the knowledge we needed in different areas that are essential to starting a business, since you need to be able to do everything today: supply/production, sales, and of course accounting and communication. We could make a list, but globally speaking all of the teachings combined with our company experiences show up in our daily lives, even though we aren't always aware of it. 

 

We are hesitating between "do it and then think about it" or "think (but not too much) and then do it!" Of course, it is a different life choice than what you may have imagined when you joined the school, but the diversity of issues, the hard times and the moments of satisfaction and joy are multiplied when you start your own company. We also discover the importance of having a strong support system in your close, and not so close, circles, that you can lean on if needed. 

 

To communicate about our move to downtown Bordeaux at 64 rue Borie, as well our rebranding, and the launch of a new beer (white with lemon verbena) we launched a crowdfunding campaign on Ulule on October 2. Today, we have reached more than 100% of our 10,000€ objective. So, we want to tell you to go discover our project, share it with your friends, and if you want to support us, contribute to the campaign before November 17, 2017!