Business studies students net a £10K prize with a keg home-delivery service, reports Geoff Maslen.
Two enterprising Melbourne students who love a good party have won a $25,000 (£10,115) business plan competition run by their university with their Kegs on Legs home-delivery beverage service.
Campbell King and Valjean Boynton, students on the bachelor of business in entrepreneurship, devised the idea after studying business ventures in the first year of their degree at RMIT University in 2004.
Their thirst for business knowledge (and beer) led to a university project that could soon become a national operation. After devising the business plan, the students put the scheme into operation. They set up the business and now run it out of an inner-city warehouse delivering pub-quality kegs of beer to people's doorsteps with little fuss and no waste.
Word spread around the university about their easy-to-pour cold pots on tap, with the kegs installed and picked up at no extra charge.
Their website generated interest from other parts of the country, and the pair are now undertaking a feasibility study into franchising the business nationwide.
"The idea took off after we started receiving a huge demand from our families and friends and then from people we didn't even know," Mr King said. "We realised that Melbourne lacked an easy, hassle-free way of enjoying the benefits of draught beer wherever, whenever."
Their original plan was one of more than 100 entries to the RMIT competition. It involved three rounds, beginning with an initial submission, followed by a fully operational business plan and finally a presentation before a judging panel.
Mr Boynton said that although Kegs on Legs was making a profit, the $25,000 would be used as a cash injection. "It will be very helpful," he said.
Mr King said that running the business had taught them far more than they might have learnt sitting in a lecture theatre. It had shown them how to apply theory to the practical world of business.
"We've learnt how to avoid mistakes the second time, to adapt and be flexible," he said.
The students said their mission with Kegs on Legs was to "promote and inspire celebration, to bring people together and to create great friendships".
"Through our products and services, we aim to give our mates the tools to create rich social environments so that they can enjoy fantastic times... and take pleasure in one another's company."