INDEPENDENT gin distillery Warner Edwards won the final of HSBC Elevator Pitch – a national competition for small and medium sized enterprises – and will now invest in increasing its capacity much sooner than planned.
Warner Edwards will invest in new equipment and staff to increase production and fulfil larger orders.
INDEPENDENT gin distillery Warner Edwards won the final of HSBC Elevator Pitch – a national competition for small and medium sized enterprises – and will now invest in increasing its capacity much sooner than planned.
Warner Edwards will invest in new equipment and staff to increase production and fulfil larger orders. The company is also planning to build a botanical garden next to its distillery in Harrington to grow herbs and spices to flavour its gin.
“This is a real game-changer for our business and will enable us to turbo-charge our growth plans,” said Tom Warner, founding partner of Warner Edwards.
“It means being able to invest in increasing our capacity much sooner than we’d planned so we can take advantage of the demand for gin globally. Our first task will be to strengthen our team and start to develop our markets overseas. This win gives us the confidence to move forward.”
More than 1,000 SMEs from across the UK entered the competition by submitting a 90-second video pitch outlining how they would use the £150,000 to grow their businesses.
Warner Edwards was shortlisted in the top 10 finalists and attended a two-day masterclass before re-pitching to a panel of judges outlining their vision for growth.
The UK gin market is projected to be worth an estimated £1.3bn by 2020 and Warner Edwards is one of many craft gin distillers fighting for a share of that burgeoning market,” said Martin Hanson, HSBC’s head of business banking in the Midlands region.
“Our judges recognised Warner Edwards’ potential to succeed in the UK but were also impressed with the business’s overseas ambitions. The prize money will help the business put in place the resources it needs to take on the competition in existing and new markets.”
Recent figures revealed that the UK exported a record-breaking £394 million worth of gin in 2014, enough to make more than 1.6 billion gin and tonics.
