Mahiki is one of London's most iconic nightlife venues, with a brand identity rooted in Polynesian escapism and the golden era of London club culture. The opportunity was to translate that heritage into something tangible on the back bar — creating two rum products that would fit the Mahiki world, plug genuine gaps in the market, and stand up to scrutiny in a credibility-conscious London on-trade.
This wasn't a distribution brief. It was a full product creation mandate: concept, liquid development, brand identity, packaging, team build, and market launch — all from scratch.
| 100 | Products created and taken to market |
| 100 | London venues at launch |
| 18 | Months from concept to market |
Perfect Serve identified two distinct white spaces in the rum category. The first was a Mahiki White Spiced Rum — a clear spiced rum designed to bridge the gap between white rum and the fast-growing spiced category. The positioning targeted health-conscious and calorie-aware consumers: lower sugar, cocktail-versatile, and built to recruit gin and vodka drinkers into rum. The second was a Pineapple & Coconut Rum Liqueur — designed for shots, cocktails, and entry-level rum consumers, with a particular focus on younger audiences and female drinkers.
From those concepts, Perfect Serve co-founded the project with one other partner, growing the team to 14 people globally across channels before exit. The process involved sourcing and working with distillers, going through multiple rounds of liquid development and trial, designing the bottle and brand identity, and building the commercial infrastructure needed to take both products to market.
The launch was marked by a 200-person industry event at Stoke Park — a deliberate statement of intent, putting both products in front of the right trade audience from day one. Within 18 months of the project starting, both rums were listed in 100 London venues and had established genuine credibility in the on-trade.
This wasn't a distribution brief. It was a full product creation mandate: concept, liquid development, brand identity, packaging, team build, and market launch — all from scratch.
Both products launched successfully into the London on-trade, earning recognition for their quality and positioning in a competitive category. The white spiced rum opened up a new consumer segment for the Mahiki brand, while the pineapple and coconut liqueur delivered strong velocity in the shot and cocktail occasion — together extending the Mahiki name well beyond the walls of the original venue.