According to surveys, between 55 per cent and 63 per cent of people want to set up their own business. But with 50 per cent of small companies failing in the first year, how do you guarantee your business’s survival? Alexandra Robson, co-founder and Managing Director of King of Soho London Dry Gin, faced these stark figures when she entered the drinks industry in 2013.
After meeting Howard Raymond, son of Soho property mogul and publishing baron Paul Raymond (affectionately dubbed The King of Soho due to his role in transforming Soho from a rundown area in the ‘50s into the vibrant and eclectic scene it’s known for today), Alex was asked to use her business experience to advise Howard on his portfolio of businesses.
Together, they created their first spirit offering, a super premium London Dry Gin, encapsulating the rich creativity and unique lifestyle of the effervescent London district. Their creation has successfully gained international recognition, but what can Robson share about her experiences and how easy is it to replicate their success?
What made you invest in the drinks industry?
I was already making small investments in a few fields and I became more interested in the drinks industry in general because with these small-income companies you get to meet the MD and the Chairman of the board and you just become more interested in what’s going on. It just sort of sparked an interest. Through that I became more interested in the spirits industry in general. We did look at perhaps taking over an existing gin, but we didn’t find anything where the flavour profile actually suited what we were looking for, or our visions from a brand perspective.
So you were already quite a connoisseur?
Well, connoisseur isn’t quite the word. I think because I had made this initial small investment I became more interested. By meeting people in the drinks industry and reading up about it, I started to gather more knowledge. The more people you meet, the more you read, the more you look into something, the more your knowledge increases. I wouldn’t say that at the time we did this I was an expert, but I would say there was an active interest there, and because it’s an industry, you don’t find out about it overnight.
You find out about it through experience. So I think I came from a position of looking in at an industry, to actually being involved in an industry. It’s having the interest to make that change from being an observer to somebody who’s actively participating. But you have got to start somewhere and something’s got to trigger it, so if you’re looking for the trigger, it’s making the initial investment. That led me down the path which led to a change in direction, which resulted in the founding of the King of Soho brand, which I co-founded with Harold Raymond.
So what were you doing previous to this?
Previously I was working as a business consultant, so I was working in a different sector, it wasn’t one specific centre. Because I think a lot of people are quite dubious about making an investment because they don’t know what to look for I’ve noticed a change over the years when it comes to investing. I think 20 to 30 years ago people were very afraid; it wasn’t a normal thing. But over the years the public companies have become privatised and I think that’s made investment more accessible. And you don’t have to invest huge amounts. But I think everybody has a little something invested somewhere nowadays because of the way society has changed in general. Again, it’s an evolutionary thing within society, and things are more accessible. You can buy shares on the internet now; you couldn’t do that before, you had to have a stock broker. And your bank would ring you up and say, “Oh, do you want to make an investment?”
I do think it is more common for people to make small investments as part of planning for retirement, or maybe it’s just that they want to take advantage of particular products that the government has launched. There’s a tax incentive in order to encourage investment in the economy in general. I think the tools are now there, where they weren’t 20 or 30 years back. I wouldn’t say I’m an investor, I would say I had a few small investments, and one of them was in a drinks company.
Tell me a little about your personal business philosophy. Do you have one?
I think, on a personal front, I’m always open to new challenges. I’m always looking to evolve in a positive way, drawing from the experiences that are around me. As a philosophy… well there are a lot of clichés out there now, and I don’t want to get into the cliché area, but I think I’m fairly focused on what I do, and I have good follow through; if I have an idea, I’ll follow it through and I’ll implement it. I think that’s quite important. Implementation is very important because having an idea in itself isn’t really enough, is it? It’s the easy part. It’s also about having the confidence. I think, especially for women, we have to be very confident; we have to have an inner strength that we carry into meetings with us or when we’re putting forward our views.
What advice would you give to somebody who was setting up their own business for the first time?
I think you have to have a very clear vision of what you’re wanting to achieve. Certainly with regard to the gin, we had a very clear brief because the design that we were trying to achieve was quite a challenge. And I also think that as you go along and you’re developing the product or your business idea, you’re going to meet people with lots of different opinions, and you have to really stick to your vision.
Don’t let people persuade you that they know best, because they don’t always know best. Everybody has an opinion, and you have to stick to your vision; listen but don’t be swayed unless you absolutely think that what you’re hearing is best. Stick to your guns. Consumers are looking for brands with individuality. It’s important in any part of life; it doesn’t just relate to the drinks industry.
How do you know when there’s room for your product? Obviously there’s already a lot of spirits around, so how do you know you’re going to have an audience for your product?
When we first sat down to do this, it was about three or so years ago, probably a bit longer now. There wasn’t a new gin every month back then. We felt that it was a good market and that there was room there for us. Obviously now it’s slightly different because there are lots of new gins, but that’s really been since we launched, which was October 2013. We had hoped to launch slightly before that, but with the development of the bottle we were slightly behind schedule. In the alcohol industry there was such an interest in gin, and since 2014 we’ve seen a lot of new gins.
You could say that with all these new gins there’s a lot more competition now, but at the same time the interest in gin is so much stronger because people are now seeing all of these artisan style brands coming out.
You can benefit from the wave, but I think when you’re bringing out a new product, you have to allow for the development time. There is always a lead time; you can’t just sit there and wait for it to happen tomorrow, you have to give it time. Our lead time by industry standards was not a lot, but we just wanted to get it out there to see it on the shelf. When you’re a small company you can move more quickly.
And how long was your lead time?
We finalised the design in January 2013, and prior to that we’d been working on it for a year before. But I think from finalising the design it took another eight months to get it on the shelf.
Did you do any market research before you launched?
We drank a few gins! (Alex laughs) We did our own form of market research; it was fun!
What would you say are the biggest lessons you’ve learnt?
I think my biggest lesson is learning when not to speak. I think on a professional level sometimes people can talk too much and they miss what’s going on. Sometimes the power of silence can get you a lot further. Listening is very important.
Do you feel there are times when you didn’t listen as much as you should or when you felt your opinion was more important?
Not that I can think of. I just think I’ve noticed it in some of the people I’ve come across.
by Nicola Kavanagh