In 2005 Kyla Kirkpatrick left Australia and a successful career in finance to move to France and live and study the history of Champagne. She has since built a career as an independent ambassador to the region with over ten years experience as The Champagne Dame, educating and presenting to over 10,000 people, including Kerry Packer and Elle Macpherson.
With more than 8 million bottles of champagne sold in 2015 and Australia being the largest growing market for the beverage, Kyla’s recommendations for Champagnes to collect and enjoy has been in great demand since 2008 when she first launched The Champagne Dame. Looking to build on her niche, in late 2017 Kyla’s second business was launched: Emperor Champagne. Named for Napoleon Bonaparte, the Frenchman who inadvertently started Kyla on her journey, Emperor is Australia’s largest online retailer for Champagne, with its own custom built, climate controlled warehouse, specialising in boutique growers and exclusive brands all hand selected by Kyla and her team.
The first funding round in late 2017 raised $1 million including $250,000 of Kyla’s own money. After launching in November 2017 Emperor took close to $200,000 in sales in its first eight weeks. It was also listed in the top 8% of businesses that launched on Shopify in 2017.
Having successfully navigated the initial capital raise on her own, Kyla is currently working to close a Series A capital raise of $2million, which will support the growth of the brand in Australia and internationally, including the purchase of a chateau in France to provide unique experiences for Emperor club members.
We chat with Kyla about her businesses, inspiration and why four hour work weeks just won’t cut it...
Tell us about The Champagne Dame and Emperor Champagne, and what inspired you to start them.
After completing my degree in commerce and Mandarin Chinese, I spent some time working in London at the NASDAQ before returning to Australia to continue my career in finance. In 2005, I came across an article on Napoleon Bonaparte and his friendship with a young Jean Remy Moët, which captured my imagination and after an initial enquiry to Dan Ginsubrg, the author of The Art and Business of Champagne, I had an invitation to go and study with him in France and so I did.
I started The Champagne Dame business in 2008 and host over 100 Champagne masterclasses and events every year where I get the opportunity to speak with thousands of Champagne lovers all over Australia. Over the years I kept hearing the same thing with regards to the lack of range and quality service available in Australia. Knowing the size of the market and how passionate Australians are about Champagne, I saw the opportunity to create Emperor.
Utilising our valued database of The Champagne Dame customers we were able to access a targeted audience and base our business decisions for Emperor on valid research findings rather than just a hunch. There were some surprising learnings which have really shaped the way we are doing business.
Emperor is the largest online retailer of Champagne in Australia and we think of ourselves as ‘Australia’s Home of Champagne’.
I have been in the Champagne industry since 2005 as an educator, presenter and independent ambassador to Champagne, so I am not only passionate about the industry but also understand the size of the Australian market and its importance to Australian consumers.
With more than 8 million bottles of Champagne sold in Australia in 2015 and Australia being the largest growing market for Champagne in the world, there is a great opportunity for a dedicated, online Champagne retailer servicing this market. Based on our research and feedback, consumers not only enjoy Champagne but they are hungry for more diversity in their champagne choices rather than just always-consuming big brand, entry level cuvees.
Emperor is the ‘Net-a-Porter’ of Champagne with luxury packaging, a big focus on education and an even larger focus on customer service. We established a custom built, temperature controlled warehouse in Victoria, which ensures all of our products are correctly stored and shipped safely in our designer packaging.
We source some of the most interesting and high quality champagnes with each the 120 plus champagnes on our site being vetted by our sommelier panel before being listed.
Champagne has a rich history and there is so much variety so as part of Emperor we specialise in helping consumers go on a journey that educates them and helps them identify the Champagnes that are best for them.
Tell us about your career and background.
After completing my degree in commerce and Mandarin Chinese, I spent some time working in London at the NASDAQ before returning to Australia to continue my career in finance. I was working in the special projects team at ANZ and had just finished working on the launch of the first smart credit card. I resigned from my job, bought a one-way ticket to France and here I am today celebrating thirteen years in the Champagne industry.
Describe a typical work day for you
My typical day is non-stop and varied. I often get told that it looks like I have one of the most glamorous jobs in the world, wearing beautiful gowns and fancy heels, mixing with clients and working with Champagne all day. I absolutely love what I do but my role as CEO of a number of businesses means that I am in the office a lot, constantly across the numbers, the strategy and the vision. The behind the scenes doesn’t usually make for great photos but every day in the business I dedicate a certain number of hours to planning, marketing, controlling finances, writing new content for my masterclasses and conducting all the other functions of a medium sized company.
The launch of my latest business Emperor was over two years in the making and included managing my own capital raise so many days last year were spent working on financial models and refining my pitch deck to present to a range of potential investors.
Depending on whether I am on camera, on stage or in meetings will determine how much effort goes into pre-event preparation and what outfit I wear. My glamour ranges from low to high on different days of the week. For many years I ran my business from home so my staff would arrive around 8.30am and we worked from there. As the business has grown we have expanded to our own office and a climate controlled, custom built warehouse for Emperor, which is ten minutes from my house. I hate traffic and I think it is such a waste of the day, so I purposely expanded the office and warehouse to a location close to home. I leave home between 7 and 8am each day, grab a coffee and don’t stop until 630-7pm.
My hours are long and often you will find me presenting a masterclass, attending an event or taking part in a launch, at night or on weekends.
I have mastered the art of ‘getting glam fast’ as I am constantly moving between the office, airports, events and the stage. I have learnt to do my make up in the car (while someone else is driving) and my turn around time is super quick for a woman! My days are long and on average I work six days a week. Owning multiple businesses within the champagne industry now means time off is rare but I remind myself of the career I have created in an industry I love and it is definitely worth it.
What advice do you have for those wanting to start a business?
Think about your end goal and dream big. Do not let anyone rain on your parade – especially your partner or people really close to you who can sometimes be critical. Get the big vision in your mind first, then behave and believe like you’re already there; you can figure out how to get there later. You have to believe in yourself – this is crucial. Do whatever is in your arsenal to believe that you are going to make your big dream a reality then let nothing or know one stand in your way.
Anything is possible with hard work and determination, and just in case you were wondering, the four-hour work week is a myth. You need to work hard, and just when you think you can’t push any harder, push some more. Do not see failures as a road sign that you are heading in the wrong direction, this is just a learning you needed to have, embrace it and keep going – you will get there!
What’s next?
I absolutely love the industry I am in and with The Champagne Dame I am constantly writing new classes and taking my clients on private tours to Champagne, France.
We have lofty goals for what we want to achieve with Emperor and having been in this industry for thirteen years I know the hard work that is involved to achieve them. Financially we are looking to break $1million in revenue and we are on track for that. Other goals include completing our current raise which is imminent. We are about half way through that and then we are going focus on marketing for the Emperor Champagne Club and growing our profile as a champagne retailer in the Australian market.
To find out more about Kyla’s businesses, please visit: www.thechampagnedame.com and www.emperorchampagne.com.au.
