The club was opened at 1, Dover Street in 2005 by Piers Adam, David Phelps and Nick House. Mahiki is a nightclub and bar, with a Polynesian and tiki theme, predominantly specialising in rum. Mahiki claims that it adheres to a mostly open door policy. Its co-founder Nick House has said "The vision with Mahiki is that whether you're fat, thin, bald, ugly or old, you can get in. Admittedly, when it gets to 11pm, it might be more difficult. But certainly, until it reaches capacity, anyone can get in." Some papers have attributed its popularity with London's upper class in part to promotions manager Guy Pelly, who is a close friend of Princes William and Harry. For a time, Mahiki was managed by Jack Brooksbank, who later married Princess Eugenie.
The Mahiki brand
Other clubs
A Mahiki club in Dubai, located at the Jumeirah Beach Hotel, opened in 2011 and closed in 2018, due to “unforeseen circumstances during the renovation” of the hotel, as stated by the owners at the time. In 2017, Mahiki's owners further expanded and franchised the brand. In the course of that year, Mahiki Clubs have opened in Marbella, Spain, in the Forte Village Resort in Sardinia, in Manchester and at a second London location. There is also a Mahiki club in Gothenburg, Sweden.
Branded liquors
In 2003, a line of three rum blends exclusively sold at Selfridges was released under the Mahiki brand. Mahiki Coconut, the club's branded rum coconut liqueur, was first introduced in 2011. In 2017, it was relaunched with a new bottle design by fashion designerHenry Holland, as Mahiki Coconut Rum. The liqueur is described as „refined with Jamaican and Polynesian rum and rounded off with Samoan coconuts“. Later that year, Mahiki introduced three ready-to-drink canned cocktails adapted from cocktails on the Mahiki menu. For production of the beverage range, Mahiki partnered with Diageo; marketing and distribution were overseen by the UK drinks distributor Cellar Trends. Since 2018, international production and packaging of the Mahiki beverage portfolio is managed by the German drinks distributor MBG Group. For the UK, MBG has signed a new distribution agreement with Cellar Trends. MBG has launched the Mahiki drinks range – with some changes in product design – on the German market, in Austria, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates and Spain in 2019. The original canned pre-mixes were replaced with the new products „Mahiki Coconut Pineapple Cocktail“ and „Mahiki Coconut Maracuja Cocktail“. In the six months period after the launch on the German retail market, more than 100.000 bottles of the rum liqueur have been sold. Later in 2019, a rum coconut liqueur with cream was added to the Mahiki range. New pre-mixes were introduced in June 2020.
Ownership
The London Mahiki club is operated byMahiki Ltd. . The Mahiki brand was originally registered to Taihiti Ltd. and is now owned by Tiki Brands Holding Ltd.. In 2018, the German drinks distributor MBG announced the acquisition of a 34,44 percent share in Taihiti Inc. , together with the production licence for the Mahiki Coconut Rum beverages and exclusive distribution rights for the entire Mahiki range in Germany, the United Arab Emirates, Spain, Switzerland, Austria and the Netherlands. Since May 2019, Andreas Herb, the managing director of MBG, is the sole director of Tiki Brands Holding Ltd. A confirmation statement published in 2020 lists Piers Adam and MBG as the main shareholders of Tiki Brands Holding Ltd., with a 34,44 percent stake each.
