Inside Track Q & A

Paul Maher, managing director, Fourcorners

What is the most unique thing about your business?

We import, market and distribute craft and speciality beers including pale and amber ales, stout, black lagers, Belgian blondes, triples and quadruples.

We buy directly from craft breweries and we limit the number of breweries we represent so we are saying to them, “We can concentrate on your brand.” Currently we carry 50 beers from eight breweries in Brooklyn, Vermont, Scotland, Bruges, Denmark, Norway, Bavaria and the Black Forest.

What was the best piece of business advice you ever got? Be honest, pay your bills and pay them on time.

My father ran his own farm supply business in Co Kerry for years and that would have come from him. He’d spot errors suppliers made under-invoicing him. He’d go to them and they’d appreciate it. It’s a respect thing.

What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made in business?

I have on occasion employed the wrong people – people who are not passionate about the product cannot sell the product. That extends to more than just the people on the road. Everybody is part of the sales team. Everyone has to keep the customer in focus.

What has been your major success to date?

We’ve tried to identify the most exciting brewers internationally and convinced quite a few of them of the merits of supplying the Irish market. To us, that’s been a big success.

Sometimes we’ve won exclusive distribution ahead of larger companies. We’ve seen the top 15 customers of some of our brewers and we’re well in there. Our market is punching well above its weight.

Who would you admire most in business and why?

I would have to say my father because he ran a small sole trader-type business for years against a very large competitor and he always managed to succeed.

I’d also have had a lot of time for Barry Maloney. He inspired people to work hard for the company and to be proud of it. What they did in the first five years was incredible.

Based on your experience in the downturn, are the banks open for lending to SMEs?

My bank has been very supportive throughout the downturn. When we saw our sales nosedive, we never had any issues with the bank. When we started our recovery, the bank could see that and they proactively offered credit facilities that we didn’t have before.

What piece of advice would you give to the Government to stimulate the economy?

It would be to promote the positives to the people of Ireland. We need to lift up our heads and regain confidence, feel proud and look forward. The Opposition parties have a responsibility to contribute, too. Not everything is broken in this country. You’ve got to help people get confident again.

What would you say has been your biggest challenge?

When we started in 2004, Fourcorners imported the first ever shipment of Polish beer into Ireland and we had a good run at the market, almost on our own. The biggest challenge was the loss of the brands that contributed to the majority of our turnover, just as the recession hit.

It was tough – we watched sales plummeting.

But looking back, it was a blessing in disguise. We decided to focus the business on craft beer. We revitalised ourselves and got our heads together, and then we just went for it. It was a small niche, but we knew it was going to get bigger.

How do you see the short-term future of your business?

We’ve seen over 20 per cent growth in volumes in the first quarter this year, that’s following 15 per cent growth last year. The demand for brands we carry like BrewDog is just flying ahead. We’ve issues trying to keep some of our beers in stock, a waiting list of pubs looking for draft installations and a waiting list of off-licences waiting for the seasonal beers we import.

We’d like to do more with restaurants this year. There is a big trend now for matching food with beer.

What’s your business worth and would you sell it?

I’ve no idea what it’s worth to a buyer, but I would not sell it. There are sleepless nights at times, but I get such great satisfaction out of our success, out of seeing a customer in an off-licence choosing a beer that I might have personally selected, that’s a great buzz.