There’s nothing quite like a refreshing, cold slushy on a warm day. And Daiquiri Isle Pty Ltd/Ice House Beverages knows it. The company has been serving up kids’ slushies and alcoholic fruit daiquiris for festivals and parties in Tasmania since 2007.
The company has worked hard to build a business that serves a unique need.
“We are the only fully licensed company to provide alcohol party hire to private users
across all of Tasmania,” says the company’s co-founder, Gabrielle Lucas. It’s also the only company approved by the Tasmanian School Canteen Association (TSCA), which is designed to promote healthy eating in schools.
The TSCA ranks food and drink items based on certain criteria, and Daiquiri Isles is rated such that they are allowed as special treats for children. Daiquiri Isle provides low GI slushies and fruit juices for kids. “As we are the only approved business offering this,” Gabrielle says, “we’ve been able to significantly grow this part of our business.”
Evolving tastes
As customer demands evolved, Daiquiri Isle was attentive, adding gourmet food catering as a fresh service. Then the company started selling a new product called D’Yavol, a fortified wine mixer for cocktails.
But it wasn’t just service offerings that allowed Daiquiri Isle to grow. Taking the company’s marketing efforts to the next level was essential.
Building an online presence
“We’ve seen so much value added to our business since moving online.” ~ Gabrielle Lucas, Daiquiri Isle
To increase awareness, promote their products and services, and keep customers informed about upcoming events, Gabrielle and her team decided they needed to build two websites.
“We currently manage two different websites — Ice House Beverages and Daiquiri Isle,” she explains. “Daiquiri Isle is our primary website that hosts all the products services we offer. Through Ice House Beverages, we predominantly promote wines, gourmet foods and fortified fruit wines that we manufacture.”
Because of GoDaddy’s reputation in the marketplace, Daiquiri Isle turned to GoDaddy to register the business’s domain name —www.daiquiriisle.com.au/ — and web hosting. The company also uses GoDaddy’s Search Engine Visibility solution to help drive traffic to the Daiquiri Isle website, and an Office 365 email account to send business-class correspondence.
“I have found dealing with GoDaddy a prompt and pleasurable experience, with knowledgeable and personable customer service,” Gabrielle notes. “They are always able to answer my queries and resolve any issues I have — so I don’t feel helpless!”
Onward and upward
Daiquiri Isle’s return on investment has proven that the website venture was a smart move. As Gabrielle explains:
“Since creating our websites, combined with other online marketing activities, our business has grown by approximately 20 percent. The schools element of our business has also grown by over 20 percent since we uploaded our School Canteen page, and we have seen a steady growth in the Party Hire side of our business.”
The next step online for Daiquiri Isle? Adding an e-commerce solution to website to allow customers to purchase products directly. “Adding the Online Store product from GoDaddy to our website,” Gabrielle says, “will be an essential step in growing our business even further!”
