Tired of begonias, tulips and daffs? Reckon that it's time to get honest and admit that what we really want when a delivery van pulls up outside is a great big magnum of champagne? Well, cheers! This reporter - and her host of willing co-researchers - can declare themselves pretty satisfied with Ireland's new home-delivery drinks delivery service, Drinklink, which has been running for two weeks.
Pricey perhaps, but a lot more fun than a whole bunch of flower-delivery vans, Drinklink is the brain-child of one bon viveur, Co Wexford man Brendan Keilthy (34). If you fancy sending anything from a bottle of Dom Perignon vintage champagne to a carafe of the finest vino collapso to a loved-one/friend/person-you-want-to-impress/yourself, get on the Drinklink line. With a swish of fingers over the phone, alighting in sequence on 1890-220000, you will be through to the call centre in Wicklow town.
Having given your credit card details, followed by the name and address of the person to whom you wish to send the drink and your message, you will be offered a choice of four champagnes, two sparkling wines, 12 whiskeys and pretty much any spirit you might care to quaff. There is also a range of wines.
"As long as you get your order into us by 1.30 p.m.," explains Kielthy, "we will contact one of 2,130 off-licences around the country and UK, and get it to anywhere in the Republic of Ireland, England, Scotland or Wales, by 6 p.m. that day." Drinklink is having difficulties extending the service into Northern Ireland, though Kielthy hopes to overcome these by the end of the year.
The Irish Times placed two orders with Drinklink last weekend. One bottle of wine was ordered for delivery in Cork and another order, for a bottle of sparkling wine, was placed for delivery in Dublin. Each arrived as promised, the same day, in a funky, silver bubble-wrap packaging with a gift card with "It's a message in a bottle" on it and a handwritten rendition of the message dictated over the phone. Each cost £25, which most in the office felt was a bit over-priced since it constituted a £15 to £17 charge for delivery. Other possibilities from the list include: delivery of a bottle of Moet & Chandon non-vintage champagne, selling for at £25.99 in Tesco, for £41.99; Bollinger non-vintage champagne, £31.99 in Tesco, for £48.99; Dom Perignon 1990 vintage champagne, £74.99 in Tesco, for £90. Sending a bottle of Jameson whiskey, available for £14.49 in Tesco, will cost you £29.99 with Drinklink. However, if you are prepared to order more than one bottle of anything to be delivered to the same address, there is only one delivery charge.
Kielthy explains the service charge is put at £15, to pay for the protective packaging, the cost of the incoming call (1890 numbers are charged at local rates), the outbound call to the distributors, advertising, the cut to the distributor, wages for staff at the call centre, as well as VAT and insurance for the distribution of glass bottles.
And of course, an order of four bottles of Dom Perignon for one address, would be a snip at just under £315. Compare that with getting them at Tesco. There they would cost you £299.96, and the stress of having to lug them home. So . . . order lots and it's better value per slurp.
The Drinklink idea came to Kielthy some four years ago, while sitting in an airport waiting for a flight to Copenhagen. "It was my sister Trish's birthday, and I wanted to send her a litre of her favourite whiskey - Black Bush. I rang a few off-licences who basically laughed at me," he says. "I thought `It has to be possible to do this'." And so an idea was born.
Putting the idea into action entailed Brendan embarking - on his own - on a mammoth trek about the vintners and licensed premises of Ireland, a pub crawl of 2,000 stops, and friendly chats with about 850 members of the public. A pilot of the service was launched in early 1997.
Despite its success and the fact that it won the New Business of the Year Award, by AIB and the Gay Byrne Show, no venture capital came Brendan's way, and he was forced to put the whole project on ice in 1998.
"I got a job as a management consultant and as soon as I had done that I was offered capital from German, Italian and Swedish investors." Kielthy sees Drinklink as a gift service - "it's not a take-away service" - and hopes to expand its range of goods beyond alcohol before the end of the year. "There will definitely be chocolates and premium cigars, and we are looking at a number of branded products."
A similar service is available in Australia, called Bar Fly, as well as a four-day drink delivery service in the United States. There is also a drink-by-post service in the Netherlands. Drinklink, says Kielthy, is the only same-day delivery drinks delivery service in Britain and possibly Europe. It's an idea whose time has come he believes, and where better to launch it?