O'de Vie — Strategy and technology for the Indian alcohol industry

The Story

Built from inside the industry, not above it.

O’de Vie was founded in 2025 by Gaurav Sharma, who has spent fifteen years inside the Indian wine and spirit trade. His career began with an internship at Sula Vineyards — India’s largest premium wine producer — where he then trained on the production side as a winemaker, before moving into Sales and Marketing for the HoReCa segment in Pune, and on to State Head for Goa and neighbouring regions, where he ran the retail channel and managed those markets for the company.

Across that tenure, three patterns repeated themselves. Global and regional brands stalled in India not because their product was wrong, but because they misread state excise structures. Premium venues left meaningful revenue on the table because their inventory curation relied on the memory and mood of individual staff. And operators across the value chain were bottlenecked by legacy systems that no software vendor was bothering to fix.

Gaurav completed the Senior Management Programme at IIM Ahmedabad to formalise what a decade in the field had already taught him: this industry rewards systems, and the systems did not yet exist.

O’de Vie is the operating playbook he wished existed when he was running territory.

Book a strategy call See what we do →

Philosophy

The Indian alcohol industry rewards systems, not intuition.

It is one of the most regulated, fragmented, and opaque consumer markets in the world. State excise rules shift without notice. Margins leak across every layer of the value chain. Premium inventories sit unsold because no one is telling the customer what to drink, or why.

That is why O’de Vie was built as the regulatory and commercial bridge into India for global wine and spirit brands — and as the operating partner for Indian Alcobev brands, importers, and premium venues that are tired of leaving money on the table. We combine on-ground operating experience with enterprise technology so that brands, importers, and venues stop guessing and start compounding.

Foreign producers waste their first quarter in India navigating excise architecture they cannot read and importer relationships they cannot vet. We solve both before they cost you a year. For Indian operators, we deploy AI tools into premium HoReCa and retail, and run defined-scope commercial sprints that leave behind running systems — not slide decks.

We do not navigate the friction of the Indian alcohol supply chain. We turn it into a structural advantage for our clients.

Our vision is to build the operating infrastructure that takes regional Indian brands to national scale, helps global producers enter India without burning capital on regulatory missteps, and brings premium AI tools into the hands of the country’s best hospitality operators.

What We Do

Three services. One thesis.

Every engagement we take on sits at one of three choke points in the Indian alcohol value chain: regulatory friction, commercial inefficiency, or in-venue conversion. We work on these problems and only these problems.

AI Deployment for Premium HoReCa and Retail

We deploy AI-powered recommendation and inventory intelligence into restaurants, hotels, and fine-wine retail. Static wine lists become dynamic upsell engines. Inventory data becomes pricing intelligence. Staff training time falls, average bill size rises.

Built on European AI infrastructure, deployed and supported by our team in India, integrated with the POS and inventory systems you already use.

Built for

Premium independent restaurants and fine-dining groups
Hotel F&B operations and luxury hospitality chains
Fine-wine and premium spirit retail formats
Private clubs and members’ bars

What you get

System selection and contracting with our European technology partner
Full POS integration and inventory data mapping
Sommelier-grade taxonomy build, tailored to your list
Staff onboarding and live performance dashboards
Ongoing optimisation and quarterly business reviews

India Entry and Cross-Border Trade

We are the regulatory and commercial bridge between foreign wine and spirit producers and the Indian importer-distributor ecosystem — and the reverse trade route for Indian premium brands targeting global markets.

Most brands do not fail in India because of their product or their price. They fail because they underestimated the regulatory architecture or chose the wrong importer partner. We solve both problems before they cost you a quarter.

With the India–UK FTA signed and India–EU under negotiation, the next 24 months are the structural window for credible foreign producers to enter India before tier-1 importer portfolios close.

Built for

Foreign wine and spirit producers entering India
Indian craft and premium brands targeting EU, UK, US, and Southeast Asian markets
Existing importers expanding their portfolio with new principal brands

What you get

IEC and FSSAI Central Import Licence — strategy, coordination, and partner-CA execution
State excise registration strategy across priority markets
Importer and distributor matchmaking, with reference checks
Label compliance review and packaging adaptation guidance
Market-entry pricing model and channel-mix recommendation
Negotiation support on distributor and principal agreements

Commercial Strategy Sprints

Defined-scope, time-bounded commercial engagements for Indian Alcobev brands and importers that need senior strategic thinking on a specific problem — not a permanent hire. Each sprint runs with named deliverables, a single point of accountability, and documented systems your team can run on after we leave.

Built for

Scaling premium and craft brands moving from regional to national play
Mid-sized importers managing complex multi-state portfolios
New entrants — founder-led brands needing commercial structure for the first time
Existing brands seeking experienced professionals to address specific business challenges

What you get

Commercial diagnostic with data, interviews, and ranked findings
Key-account playbooks for top retail chains and on-trade groups across the country
Field-sales structure review and incentive plan redesign
Monthly executive review with the founding partner
Documented handover so your internal team owns the system at the end

Why O’de Vie

Five reasons clients hire us instead of a generalist firm.

We are operators, not theorists.

Our founder ran territory at India’s largest premium wine producer for a decade before he ever wrote a strategy deck. Everything we recommend, we have done.

We work only on alcohol.

We do not advise on FMCG, retail tech, or hospitality outside the Alcobev sector. Domain focus is not a marketing line for us — it is the reason our clients trust the recommendation.

We pair on-the-ground experience with structured strategic rigour.

Fifteen years of Indian Alcobev commercial experience opens doors. IIM-A SMP-credentialled strategic thinking decides what to do once they are open. We bring both.

We deploy tools, not slide decks.

The AI infrastructure we represent is live in European venues today. Our consulting engagements end with running systems, not PowerPoints.

We are asset-light by design.

We do not take inventory positions, we do not own distribution licences, and we do not compete with our clients. Our incentives are aligned with yours.

How We Work

A clear path from first call to running system.

Discovery call.
Thirty minutes, no charge. We define the constraint you are actually trying to solve, not the symptom you walked in with.
Diagnostic.
Two to three weeks of data review, stakeholder interviews, and structured findings. You receive a written diagnostic regardless of whether you engage further.
Engagement design.
We propose one of the three service pillars — or a combination — with fixed scope, fixed timeline, and a clear definition of success.
Execution.
Embedded delivery with weekly checkpoints and a single point of accountability.
Handover.
Documented systems, trained internal owners, and a thirty-day post-engagement review built into every contract.

Book a Conversation

The first thirty minutes are on us.

If your problem is one we can solve, we will tell you how, what it costs, and how long it takes. If it is not a problem for us, we will tell you that too — and where to find the right help.

Use the button below to email the founder directly. A booking calendar will appear here shortly.

Request a 30-minute call

Contact

Get in touch.

For new business enquiries, partnership proposals, or media requests, the fastest path is a direct email to the founder.

Company: O’de Vie
Location: Pune, Maharashtra, India 411045
Email: gaurav@odevie.in
Direct line: +91 70456 84491
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/gaurav-vijay-sharma

Or send us a brief.

We respond within one business day.