As many Scots across the nation gear up for the Christmas season, the festive spirit and the preparations it brings are in full effect.
High streets enjoyed the increased rush of Christmas shopping spending and hospitality venues were relishing the return of the annual office party in whatever capacity it is.
Businesses were adapting to the ‘new’ Christmas this ‘new normal’ has popped into their stockings.
However, with the cautious guidance issued by government advice about limited numbers over the next few weeks, people are opting for a much ‘softer’ approach to their Christmas celebrations as the non-alcohol or ‘adult soft drink’ sector is booming.
With more alcohol-free substitutes and ‘nosecco’ pouring across the break, many a cautious and careful Scot is hoping to not wrestle with a hangover come Boxing Day.
This rise in purchasing T-total tipples has long outgrown its usual ‘Dry January’ boom because of the change in health habits during lockdown. UK sales of non-alcohol and ‘adult’ soft drinks rose by 18.5 per cent this year, bringing over £714 million to the economy.
This massive surge includes a 64.1 per cent rise in sales of low and no-alcohol wines, a 24 per cent rise in alcohol free beers and a cracking 120 per cent rise in non-boozy spirits.
With this trend, Scottish businesses and business owners are taking note of this, adding it to their lists and, checking it twice.
A colossal success story for the Scottish non-alcohol sector as of late is from the Edinburgh-based brewer Days, who has recently bubbled to prominence and raised £1million via investments from other independent businesses in the food and drink sector.
These taste tycoons include Propercorn founder Ryan Kohn, Mindful Chef founder Giles Humphries and former Camden Town managing director Adam Keary, who also joins the company.
Originally launching during lockdown in October 2020 by childhood pals Mike Gammell and Duncan Keith, the Days duo have since poured into hospitality venues with a clear focus on wellbeing of their customers and on track to be available at 500 UK venues by the end of January, boosted by the dry demand that comes with sober starters in ‘Dry January’.
In a sector that Mr Gammell described as one which has even ‘more opportunities’ than its boozier big brother, it’s clear that there’s plenty of happy days left for this growing brewing beast.
Another non-alcoholic beverage business which is set to make waves this Christmas is the fellow Edinburgh-based Jump Ship Brewing, a non-alcohol beer brand who have recently put the city on the map with their Yardarm lager being celebrated as the best alcohol-free lager in the world at the prestigious World Beer Awards back in September.
This capital success story founded by entrepreneur Sonja Mitchell got themselves an extra Christmas present in the form of a £50,000 investment from a high growth potential business funding competition organised by Scottish EDGE, an accumulation of Scottish business giants from businesses such as Brewdog, Stagecoach and the Hunter Foundation.
These Scottish business leaders aren’t the only ones looking to get involved with the funding of this lucrative corner of the drinks market however with Scotland’s richest man Anders Povlsen also popping the cork for a smaller Fife non-alcoholic drinks brand this Christmas.
The private landowner and shareholder in fashion retailer ASOS, Mr Povlsen has recently announced that he will be financially backing Feragaia, a Fife-based brand known for their alcohol-free spirits with a remarkable £1.5million investment into the group.
Founded back in 2019, Feragaia describe this year’s conclusive gift as a ‘landmark’ moment for their business, with the investment helping them to further grow the brand and continue their fast-growing success story to new heights.
Speaking of highs, the company also have a commitment to restoring parts of the Scottish Highlands to their former natural splendour via the investment, so this business is wholesome in so many more ways that just the New Year’s health kick.
It’s refreshing to see so many success stories pouring out of this Scottish sector and it’s this entrepreneurial spirit that’s clearly the fizz the industry needs and something that we need to keep an eye on for future.
Either way, it’s looking like the Scottish non-alcohol sector is set to pop the cork to a very merry Christmas indeed.
Stagecoach Sale Shakes Up Scottish Transport Scene
Stagecoach was founded in Perth in 1976 and their HQ remains there to the present day. Ann Gloag and Brian Souter built it from scratch, and, in the early days, Ann would make sandwiches for the passengers on the earliest rendition of their Dundee to London service.
It has just sold for £470million – a classic Scottish success story.
The takeover by National Express looks to be a financial success for Stagecoach shareholders, agreeing on an 18 per cent premium on closing share price the night before talks were revealed.
The two boards believe the larger group will result in “significant value creation for both sets of shareholders.” National Express hope that combining the companies will produce annual cost savings of £45million.
The new takeover increases the National Express fleet to 40,000+ vehicles, and a staff of 70,000+. This perked the ears of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA); however, the path has been smoothed over by the agreement to sell Stagecoach’s Megabus, Scottish Citylink network and Falcon, the West Countries regional service.
This comes less than a year after it was announced that ScotRail will be going back into government hands after a disappointing performance under Abellio, opening public discourse once again on public vs private ownership of public transport and less than two months after the crisis reports of bus driver shortages.
In late October this year, there was an expected 4,000 vacancies for bus drivers across the UK. Many bus drivers took advantage of the recent HGV driver shortages. These jobs offer significantly better paid, so perhaps the £45 million in savings will go into preventing further staff turnover from the sector.
It will be an interesting watch in the coming months on two accounts. Firstly, to see the feedback from the CMA, and secondary, to watch two giants in the industry tackle the notoriously difficult game of mergers and acquisitions, all with the added pressure of providing a public service and recruitment.
It Made Me Laugh
Recruitment has been a slog for many businesses this year. The news has been swamped with stories from a multitude of sectors telling us of their hardship in finding new recruits. Many articles have blamed a work-shy youth.
I think this is misguided, but the Kilmarnock based hospitality firm, Buzzworks, understands that the recruitment process is a two-player game.
The firm launched a campaign on TikTok, a favourite for Gen-Z. with the #ineedajob campaign and used content creators and influencers, including the 2020 Love Island winner, Paige Turley, to “shine a light” on the benefits of working in hospitality.
The campaign has been a huge success so far, with the company on target for 1000 applications before the end of January which is more than enough to find perfect matches for their 13 venues across Scotland.
Is this the future of recruitment? Only time will tell… tick tock…
It Made Me Weep
Over 200 employers were found to not be paying minimum wage, according to a government announcement led by the Minister for Labour Markets, Paul Scully.
Many of these companies have been considered “essential” during various stages of the pandemic, so it is concerning to discover that such “key” work has been carried out by exploited people.
Things got even gloomier when I read the results of a survey by accountancy firm, Moore UK, which claims that 33 per cent of owner-managed businesses are planning to make redundancies over the next 6 months, following the loss of the furlough safety net.
The job market seems to be in limbo, with the news telling us about staff shortages one minute and job losses the next. The coming months may show serious flood damage to the economy as the furlough dam bursts.
