Gin
Craft Gin Club gets Dragons' Den investment
Founders Jon Burke and John Hugh had four of the 'dragons' gagging to invest in their business, but were keen to get backing from restaurant magnate Sarah Willingham from the off.
More people are drinking at home and choosing quality over quantity, and wanted craft products that they couldn’t find in the supermarket, the pair, who wanted £75,000 for a 3% stake in their business, told the dragons.
“The number of craft producers is booming, but they have limited marketing budgets and are often left undiscovered,” said Hugh.
Send out craft gins
What the Dragons wanted:
- Touker Suleyman: 35%
- Deborah Meaden: 10%
- Sarah Willingham: 12.5%
- Peter Jones: 10%
The pair send out craft gins, other products and a magazine to customers each month, which they charge £40 per delivery for.
In its first year, the business acquired 3,225 customers and had a turnover of £421,000. The Craft Gin Club is now turning over £1.2m, leading dragon Peter Jones to suggest the business could eventually be sold for more than £25m.
Four of the dragons were interested in the business and offered to invest the full amount, but for varying amounts of the company.
However, after much debate, Burke and Hugh went with Willingham, who admitted she was already a customer.
Willingham said: “I’m going to have to blow my cover… I am one of their customers and I can’t believe it. You never know what’s going to walk into the den."
Craft market is massive
She added: “I absolutely love it (Craft Gin Club). Your business model is so straight forward and I think the craft market in alcohol itself is massive.”
Willingham originally asked for a 15% stake in the business for the full amount of money, but after other dragons asked for less equity she lowered it to 12.5%.
Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones withdrew their offers of 10% when the entrepreneurs asked Willingham if she would lower her offer further to a 10% stake.
The pair said: “We’ve got a great dragon and we should be very happy. We didn’t get the valuation that we wanted, but we’re getting the expertise.”
Meanwhile, experts from across the spirits category will come together on 3 October for The Morning Advertiser's Future Trends: Spirits event in London.
For more information and to book tickets, visit www.spiritssummit.co.uk.
