Kaddy reborn under new ownership

Just weeks after collapsing into administration, B2B liquor distributor Kaddy Group has been snapped up by Singaporean investment company Lecca and given a refresh.

Dubbed “Kaddy Reborn”, the overhaul by food and beverage focused investment company Lecca has reworked Kaddy Marketplace to implement a simpler business model under a new management team. Under the Kaddy Reborn moniker, the company will offer a wider range of products and deliver improved application features to ensure seamless delivery for both suppliers and customers.

Steve Voorma, CEO of Kaddy Marketplace, said, ‘Our partnership with Lecca to relaunch Kaddy Marketplace fills us with both confidence and excitement. We have actively listened to the market and implemented a range of initiatives to enhance our offerings. With Lecca’s expertise, support and funding, we have significantly strengthened our market position. This collaboration, coupled with our new simplified yet enhanced business model, will enable us to deliver an unparalleled market offering, setting the industry standard for both suppliers and buyers.’

Kaddy was founded with the aim of ‘simplifying the ordering and payment process for buyers and sellers in the local booze world’.

The Kaddy Marketplace platform enabled suppliers to list their products on a marketplace for buyers from venues such as Crown Casino, bottle shops, and everyday consumers to easily purchase. Breweries could also create profiles for their reps in each part of the country. The platform also featured extensive filters to ensure buyers can find what they are looking for among the 400 plus suppliers, as well as a ‘Kaddy Community’ where industry trends were regularly discussed. A large part of the Kaddy business was its warehouse and logistics arm, operating six warehouses across the country to supply its buyers – four of which have had to close following its collapse.

The company halted trading in feb, indicating that the company was in trouble. On the same week that BoozeBud announced its collapse, Kaddy Group announced the appointment of voluntary administration on May 5 after it failed to secure funding from investors who were, according to AFR: ‘discouraged by the low-margin, loss-making alcohol warehouse and logistics company that has suffered a revolving door of executive exits in the past 12 months.’

Lecca is a Singaporean investment company with a focus on F&B, distribution, logistics, reimagined retail & ecommerce, energy, and green industries. It owns Cellarbration which is a popular online alcohol delivery business in Singapore with multiple outlets.

“Kaddy Marketplace will actively draw upon Lecca’s strengths in food and beverage to continue with its ambition of disrupting Australia’s alcohol wholesale and distribution market,” read a press release by Kaddy. “A new business model, where customers can access a broader range of high-volume products at more competitive pricing, will lead this evolution. As a result, what is already an unrivalled product range will now include market-best deals on globally recognised brands like Corona, Budweiser, Peroni, Smirnoff, Absolut, Hendrick’s, Grey Goose, Gordon’s, Bombay Sapphire, Jim Beam and Jameson whisky.

“With these enhancements, Kaddy Marketplace will offer a more complete suite of craft and fast-moving beverages and be a truly one-stop replenishment and shopping destination for its customers.”

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