Blog #2 Meet: Paul Legaz
6 questions to meet PAUL LEGAZ (VinZero Drinks)
The 'Brand' New Distributor of VINADA® in Australia!
The Brand, Alcohol Free Market, Family & Business, Dreams and More about Paul...
1. Hi Paul, would you please introduce yourself to the VINADA® fans?
I live in the beautiful suburb of Manly, in Sydney, Australia. I feel blessed to be able to call this our home town. I am married to my beautiful wife Amanda with 3 children. Two teenagers and a 4 year old. Trust me, I am kept very busy! We are a very sports focused family. My eldest two, Saxon and Sienna, play football at a high level, and I get a lot of pleasure watching them play. We are huge Barcelona FC fans. My background is Spanish, although all my Spanish family in Spain support Real Madrid! Living close to the beach, I am well into surfing, and enjoy doing this with Saxon and Sienna too. I have taken Xavier (my 4 year old) on a surfboard once. Once! It didn't end up well
2. What is your passion?
Well I think I have a few passions. This new business Vinzero has become a very big passion. Amanda will tell you, more like an "obsession"! VinZero is fast becoming one of the leading pioneers in this category of drinks in Australia, something we are very proud of. It's a job, however, one that is for the greater good, so there is a sense of accomplishment that we are educating people on health and wellbeing. Other passions are waking up at 4.30am Sydney local time, to watch Barcelona play. Maybe not so much the last two seasons though! We love travelling, and generally in heat. Summer holidays on a beach, with a surfboard and family around, there's nothing better!
3. Why did you start VinZero Drinks?
I started drinking Zero alcohol beers a few years ago, and fell in love with them. I quickly realised that I could enjoy the full flavour of beer, and still be able to do whatever I wanted to do. For years I used to think "if only someone could create non alcoholic wines". When I was in Spain in 2018, sitting at an outdoor restaurant with family and friends, whilst enjoying a paella, one of my fathers friends was drinking a de-alcoholised red wine. I couldn't believe it. I never at the time thought that this would potentially be a business for me, until mid 2020, when I started reading articles about how popular these wines were becoming in Europe, the UK and USA. I realised that my fathers friend in Spain wasn't the only person drinking these. I got extremely excited, from there I began my journey, to find only the best alcohol free products from around the globe. As mentioned previously, I love this movement of health and wellbeing, and feel very proud to be a big part of the education to Australians about all the benefits that come with these products. Some people say, "why wouldn't you drink alcohol, you're missing out on so much". My answer to them is, no, my world and life is so much bigger without alcohol. I can still drink, but I can always drive home and get up for that early morning surf!
4. Why did you choose VINADA®?
VINADA really stood out to me when I began researching products from around the world. I could tell from the very beginning that VINADA was next level, purely from their marketing, creative assets and branding. As soon as I sampled the products, seriously, I almost fell off my chair! I could not believe how good they were. Poor Chris must have received 1000 emails from me to get the rights to sell VINADA in Australia. I had to have them as a brand! I have no doubt, they will be the biggest in their category in Australia. Don't worry, I will make sure of that!
5. What do you expect from the Australian Alcohol-Free market?
The movement of non alcoholic beverages in Australia, started a long time after Europe and The United States. However, the exponential growth over the last 6 months in particular, has been quite unbelievable. It is so on trend here, with NA bars and bottle shops opening everywhere. I have people reaching out to me all the time wanting to get their hands on VINADA and other products on my portfolio. Soon, if you are a restaurant owner, and do not stock NA products, well, I truly believe that would stop people from going to that restaurant. I want to make a big push in the corporate hospitality industry too. I see this as an opportunity to educate business people that there are full flavoured alternatives, to still be able to enjoy functions, and maybe get a little more work done..... haha. I am working on big tenders in industries that historically are based on people getting drunk. It is rapidly changing here, and for the better.
6. What is your dream?
My dream for VinZero, is not only to have a successful business, but to have an impact on society, for the better. With two teenage children, I would love them to see that this is the way of the future. I am 47 years of age. My eldest son Saxon is 17, and let me tell you, that when I was 17, things were very different. What is encouraging, is that it is the younger generation leading the way. I am ok with Saxon having a beer at home, and he always wants one with no alcohol. I cannot tell you how happy that makes me. My dream is that this movement continues to grow exponentially. It is not about telling people never to drink, but allowing people to have options. VinZero is here, for those who cannot drink, shouldn't drink, want to drink less, for a variety of reasons, and hopefully this leads to a better standard of life. My motto is "follow the sun"! The best part of the day for me is as the sun rises. Hopefully with VinZero and others in this industry, we will see more people waking to enjoy the sunrise and a full day, rather than still being awake drunk, then waking as the sun sets.....
We wish you all the best, for you, your family, Barcelona and " your obsession" ;)
Cheers,
Roos