We’ve pulled out some excerpt to give you a flavour:

“My name’s Tom. I’m 23 at the date of this post and I’ve left my job in the Royal Navy to follow a dream: to own a cider press and become my own boss. This blog will follow my journey (we’re halfway there already as of writing this, so if the tense changes halfway through the blog don’t be surprised!) from start to end and will try and address many of the issues facing start up businesses in the cider industry, especially those in the UK and those without access to their own orchard.”

Leaving the Navy:

“Joining the Royal Navy was one of the best decisions I made and hopefully leaving it will prove to be one too, but you can’t be certain unless you make the jump…
“I left HMS Northumberland before I became a fully-fledged Officer of the Watch, it was because of this that I did not owe the Navy 5 years ‘Return of Service’. I’ve always wanted to run my own business and it was a difficult time dropping my career in the Navy to found Beard and Sabre. Angus was the first person I called, the same person whom I had called when I decided to join the navy – he was also there at my commissioning ceremony. We spoke briefly about starting a business, and I was on my way to Bradford to run through the details.”

Acquiring Funding: 

“We chose to go through the start-up loans company that manage a variety of loan providers, we worked with X-Forces due to my military background.

“Our loan provider was very good and extremely helpful, Anthony, our contact, was very helpful as at this stage we needed to bring all sorts of things together at once. They have taken an interest in our progress and have helped us advertise on Facebook and Twitter wherever possible which is always helpful. We had to budget for three months in which the cider would be fermenting and there would be no product to sell. As the apple season is only once a year we also needed to buy all of our apples and storage equipment for the entire year. Breweries and distilleries do not face this problem.”

The Future:

“There’s so much to look forward to, so much to do, so many possibilities. We currently have two products,
apple smuggler and bubbly shipment, but would like to make some sweet ciders and perhaps even apple juices. Ultimately we want to have our own orchard so that we may grow the best cider apples available and experiment with new mixes. Fruit ciders will be appearing soon, too. One things for certain – no matter how big we get or how far we go we will always remember our roots and our values. A can-do attitude should not only be limited to small businesses.”

For more information about Tom, and his business visit:

Website: beardandsabre.co.uk
Facebook: @BeardandSabre
Twitter: Beard_and_Sabre
Instagram: @beardandsabrecider

If you require funding for your business idea like Tom did, see how X-Forces Enterprise (XFE) can help you! Visit bit.ly/2t1I4cV

#XFSuccess