“I believe in truth and sincerity, there is no other way; and that you only get out of life what you put in, I am a non-believer in luck or fate, business and success is 0% luck and 100% determination and grit.”
This is an interview of Monaco resident Bradley Mitton – a serial entrepreneur with over 30 years of global experience in the luxury gastronomy sector, owner of Mitton International Wines and founder of one of Monte Carlo’s most dynamic business networking gourmet clubs, Club Vivanova.
Could you tell us a little bit about yourself, your background, and your business?
Bradley Mitton: With pleasure! I left the UK at the age of 20 (that’s now 33 years ago) to travel and experience Australia and Asia and through various job opportunities, I developed my career in the food and beverage industry and worked for 11 years amongst a number of reputable fine dining restaurants in Australia’s Gold Coast, Cairns, Hong Kong, Manila, Subic Bay and Seoul.
The affinity of food and wine played an important role in my career and when I moved to Seoul in 2000, I managed an international business that focused on gastronomy, Australian wine distribution and cigar shops and I developed the ability to successfully market and promote fine wines and gourmet events.
It was when I moved to Berlin in 2002 that I started working primarily in wines and I decided that it was time to set-up my own company. And so, with my two year old son and wife in tow and on a shoe-string budget, I established Mitton International Wines in March 2002 – a fledgling wine distribution business. People thought I was crazy, importing Australian wines into East Berlin! I think I was.
Nevertheless, after many trials and tribulations, the company is still running successfully 22 years later (even through the Covid epidemic) and the outlet office is based at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin.
We import a selection of exclusive and boutique Argentinean, Australian, New Zealand and South African wines and Scottish gin to Central Europe and we sell to leading hotels, private clubs and clients, villas, yachts and international restaurants across the Continent. We’re now distributing across 7 countries.
Club Vivanova has an incredibly strong reputation as a business networking platform – please tell us more about the club.
Bradley Mitton: As the wine distribution business developed, I pioneered Club Vivanova to run events in parallel with the wine business in locations that listed our products – as a service to build relationships with our gastronomy partners.
Both Club Vivanova and the wine business work together, hand-in-hand to develop relationships between our wines and our clients and both of the businesses have grown dynamically in the seven European countries that we work in. We basically list a wine, then develop promotions and events around that wine, to help with sales and brand activation.
I currently travel throughout Europe training and educating hotel and restaurant employees in the diversity and regionality of New World wines and hosting our wine events that build great business and social connections between our wine company and my gastronomy partners. We host around 60 events per year, nearly all sold-out, the attendees love the events and the locations love receiving new clients, it’s completely win-win for everyone involved.
Club Vivanova has developed well in the Monaco region (French Riviera) and so in 2017, we opened an office in the Principality and I am now a Monaco resident. It’s a great region for wine, gastronomy and business dynamics and so it’s perfect for what we are trying to achieve, which is to develop networks around our gourmet events.
What are the most important elements of a good event?
Bradley Mitton: It’s all about relationships and efficiency. One of my regular attendees recently sent me a testimonial, it said “Bradley is the soul of Club Vivanova, the brains and the heart behind it, and that is a guarantee in itself for us that he will continue to attract new and interesting people.”
My club members and my clients follow what we do, they see how we operate and they trust my judgment and they expect and receive excellence, and I cannot give anything else, no excuses – just solutions – we have to perform at the absolute top level as reputations are always at stake and so we have to put on a good show. If we have partners involved in the events, they have to fit the profile, they have to be leaders in their sector, we have to perform in an impeccable fashion.
The other important elements for a successful event are good communication, promotion and advertising of the date, an excellent and tested menu with specialist wines that match, a unique venue that is managed well so there are no disappointments and then of course we run each event like our own open pop-up restaurant.
We manage the door, the aperitif, the service, the menu, wines, presentations then the finale of the event with appreciations, after-service images posted online and so on. We have to have a well-run, professionally executed package so people arrive, and they know that we are taking care of business until the end of the night.
It is tough work as we’re dealing with temperamental human beings, alcohol and food. It can get complicated, but it is inspirational and challenging and I love it, because we always do it the right way, the hard way and so we always succeed.
Why did you decide to switch gears from being a chef to wine importing/distribution and event management?
Bradley Mitton: It wasn’t something that I planned as I loved running and working in restaurants but as my career progressed, I started moving more towards sales, marketing and events and in 2002, I was flown to Berlin from Seoul and employed by a German wine importing company to channel their portfolio towards the New World and so I went from running restaurants to selling into them and the move was seamless.
Having a good understanding of your clientele is important and I understand the gastronomy business well, so I was naturally able to build a good rapport with sommeliers, chefs and restaurant managers and owners. Looking back, I am happy I made the move.
The restaurant industry is a killer; long hours, heavy pressure and it’s tough to make money in this sector, there’s just so many flaws in the industry that cause financial loss. The social life is great but the financial benefits just didn’t weigh up for me, so I think simplifying to a trading operation made business life somewhat less stressful for me, and more clarity in an operational point of view. It also meant that I could spend more time with my family.
You’ve been running your company now for 22 years. How long did it take for it to become successful?
Bradley Mitton: I’m still working on that. The first five years were just building, setting-up clientele, establishing a database, selecting portfolios, learning from mistakes, losing money left right and centre, and basically trying to get a start-up business on the road.
It was very tough, long hours but it was inspirational and a great learning curve. I divorced when my son was four, so I had the extra pressure of being a single father, but that just made me stronger, and more challenged and focused on survival.
I see my business as a train, with an engine and carriages and you have to continuously fine tune the engine to keep it moving ahead but also make sure the carriages (employees, administration and back-office) are keeping up. In business, it’s the weakest link that is the threat.
The wolf is only as strong as the pack and the pack is only as strong as the wolf; so, you have to have the whole package running like clockwork from purchasing to pricing and stocking, communication then delivery and of course, the after-sales.
We run a slick and specialist operation, I refuse to accept mediocrity and I’m always challenging my team internally to do better and be better and grow, but carefully and in a planned and selective manner.
It’s all about constant brand-growth and being in the right places. We’re now like an oak tree, with deep roots that have been carefully nurtured.
You mentioned that the first few years were tough. How did you keep yourself motivated?
Bradley Mitton: I used to take each day as it came, there are always fires to put out with the business and issues to deal with and you’re going to have battles – and you win some and lose some but you’ve just got the make sure that you win the big war, that’s the main objective and you’ve got to always be trying to streamline the way the company runs.
The motivation comes from within, you need to be hungry, you have to want to survive and succeed and if you are not driven, you just won’t make it and if you’re not strong, it’s no use even starting out.
There are employees and there are entrepreneurs and we all have our place in life and I think I was just born ready; I motivate myself and focus on my targets, taking very little notice of distractions and negative people / influences, I take most of my business decisions myself and I am driven to be the best that I can be in every way, and I think even though that can sometimes be a dangerously pressuring, that is the key to success – if it is controlled and not erratic.
Never take no for an answer and if you fall down failing, just get up, and start again, keep going. Winston Churchill once said that when you’re going through hell, keep going!
You’re originally from England but have lived in Australia, Hong Kong, the Philippines, South Korea, Germany, France, Italy and now Monaco. Which place has been your favourite so far and why?
Bradley Mitton: I’ve enjoyed everywhere that I’ve lived for different reasons and at different times, they showed me many different facets of life; but my favourite part of the world is the Riviera.
I studied French at school for eight years and I fell in love with the language, the literature, the culture, the food, the art, the women, the fashion, just everything, it was all so elegant and so when I moved back to Europe after Asia, I decided after some years in Berlin and in the South of France, to develop my business in Monaco and I enjoy the lifestyle.
The food is wonderful as are the wines, you can be in many of Europe’s business cities quickly and the pace of life is slow so I can balance that with my frantic, travelling and pressured life running events and wine sales.
One thing I have always respected though is my work ethic; it’s a relaxing and ambient place to live but you’ve always got to make money, if you start to get too comfortable in these amazing regions of wealth and luxury, then you can easily end up on the slippery slope of just having fun and then waking up one day wondering where did it all go wrong. You can’t let it all go to your head.
So, I still work as hard here as I have ever done, but I just enjoy life in this region so much more than anywhere else I have lived and there are great ways to relax. And I think that if you’re willing to give and commit in business in this part of the world, there are amazing rewards. But there has to be balance, always.
Have you ever experienced any major culture shocks?
Bradley Mitton: Yes, plenty and especially in Asia; it’s an amazing place and just has so much to offer and the diversity of cultures is quite astonishing. I’ve lived in mud-huts and tree-houses and travelled extensively through East Timor, Komodo, Lombok, Bali and other parts of Indonesia in the 1990s, there was in fact a civil war going on when I was in East Timor.
I spent a few months in the north of the Philippines living amongst the rice paddies in native villages, run by head-hunting tribes and I set-up a restaurant in Boracay (Philippines) before it had any power and the restaurant and kitchens were run off generators.
I have many wonderful, humorous, humbling, sad and also inspirational stories from my experiences and the most important thing is that they all built me to be the person I am today. If I get the chance, I’m going to write a book.
What are your future plans for your businesses and your “brand”?
Bradley Mitton: I just keep my head down, keep pushing for better and more exclusive events, inspirational event partners, out-of-the-box and creative thinking in regards to the concepts but all the time, remembering that it’s the clients who have to enjoy themselves so we have to feature projects that will impress or interest them.
We’re just going to keep pushing to be better, fine-tuning all the time, listening to our clients, re-focusing and using all of the criticism we get positively to drive the brand forward in a step-by-step fashion that builds better roots.
The brand has grown extensively in Monaco, though it is always important to be grounded in this part of the world and stick to the basic guidelines of running a successful business.
Success goes to people’s heads, not mine – we’re still the same, caring, small company we were ten years ago, straight, true, honest and hard-working and I’ll never lose that special sincere touch that we give to everything that we do.
Are there any rules or principles that you live by? What keeps you grounded?
Bradley Mitton: I wear a bracelet that my father wore, it is engraved with his signature and this quotation from Hamlet – “To Thine Own’s Self be True”, this is a very important life statement for me.
Principally, I try to be a gentleman in every way, every day, but of course I do fail and it’s all about trying to do your best in life. I believe in truth and sincerity, there is no other way; and that you only get out of life what you put in, I am a non-believer in luck or fate, business and success is 0% luck and 100% determination and grit.
I always learned that there are two ways of doing things in life, the right way and the wrong way and the right way is always the hard way but it’s always the right way and so getting to the top is tough, with sacrifices and it’s painful and sometimes lonely but when we strive for that and drive ourselves to do things correctly, no short-cuts, no excuses, then we normally get to where we want to be.
And then it’s all worth it, as we grow from this learning experience, and we become tougher and better, and more knowledgeable and better at decision-making. And then when we get there, we need to aim for the next plateau and so on.
Driven people are never satisfied, they just want to keep achieving and doing better and better and so I stick to my principles and strive for greatness in work and in life. I’m grounded because I’m a father, my son is 23, he works with me and I was a single father since he was 4 – and so I have a wonderful home life, full of love and happiness.
I cook a lot at home, I entertain and run my home like an extension of my old restaurants and that is what gives me the grounding that I need. I love nature and so spend lots of time in my garden as we often do in Italy, where we have some land and I run most mornings, it clears my mind, focuses and channels my thoughts and once I arrive at my desk, I’m ready to challenge anything that comes my way.
What’s one piece of advice you would give to aspiring entrepreneurs?
Bradley Mitton: Do it the true and hard way, that’s the only way you will succeed – build as if you’re tuning a racing car, keep all the cogs of the business oiled, feelings and personalities have to be left behind – decisions have to be made clinically and with a view to being the best.
Develop your business with only your clients in mind. We have to be ready to challenge, to accept some pain and sleepless nights and to drive ourselves to perfection in our trade – total sacrifice. Nothing in this life is easy, there is no free lunch, so be prepared to do it the right way, the hard way and always surround yourself with smart, sharp and successful people who will help you grow and always be true!
Once you succeed, there’s plenty of time for fun. “If you can keep your wits about you while all others are losing theirs, and blaming you. The world will be yours and everything in it, and what’s more, you’ll be a man, my son.”
This interview was originally published on ValiantCEO.
