BUSINESS NEWS
Roar energy for inaugural Bath Dragons finale
Last night( Thursday 12th June) the region’ s business community came together for the culmination of the inaugural Bath Dragons competition.
Held at The Apex Hotel in central Bath, the event saw finalists, Jim Hughes( Untamed), Ross Austen( Hanora Health), Michael Kerstein( Easyphones) and Ben Franks( Canned Wine Group) pitch their ideas to the Dragons in front of a packed audience.
The Dragons- Debbie Boulton, Managing Director, Richardson Swift; Tom Webb, Corporate and Commercial Partner at Moger Drewett; Dan Webb, Co-Founder of South West Business Finance; and Anita Jaynes, Founder of The Business Exchange – had the tough job of grilling the business owners on their strategies and finances.
After a fierce and fiery process, Ben Franks’ Canned Wine Group was declared the winner and will now benefit from a business support package worth over £ 20,000 donated by tax advisers Richardson Swift, lawyers Mogers Drewett, South West Business Finance and The Business Exchange.
Winner Canned Wine Group does what it says on the tin and specialises in high-quality canned wine, however the firm’ s entry concentrated on the business’ diversification and‘ Copper Crew’ range specialising in wine in kegs for the hospitality market.
During his pitch, Ben Franks shared,“ Canned Wine
Group’ s ambition is to roll-out wine on tap into venues across the UK, becoming the single serve house wine, nationwide.
“ We believe that a consumer should be able to find quality wine by the glass anywhere, but the current wastage challenge across the hospitality industry is significant. 650 million bottles of wine are wasted every year, meaning the cost of selling wine by the glass is significantly high. Canned Wine Group’ s solution increases flexibility around the‘ by the glass’ serve through delivering 20 litre KeyKegs, each equivalent to 26 bottles of wine.
“ KeyKegs reduce packaging, storage requirements and emissions and reduces the number of shipments required for the same volume of wine. Each KeyKeg has a guaranteed shelf life of six weeks, minimising liquid waste to close to zero.”
Ben was modest about the win, he said,“ It’ s fantastic to be in a room with other great Bath businesses. There’ s a lot that goes on in the South West. So many look to London for startups. Canned Wine Group Co-Founder Simon Rollings and I love the city, and we wouldn’ t go anywhere else. The more you can get out and support Bath businesses the better, so here’ s to Bath!”
Anita Jaynes, Founder of The Business Exchange, said,“ The Bath Dragons competition has been so well received, and we’ re honoured to have helped to make this event a huge success alongside our partners South West Business Finance, Mogers Drewett and Richardson Swift.
“ The standard of entries was fantastic and the finalists showed excellent business acumen. In the end, there can be only one winner and Canned Wine Group are thoroughly deserving of this game-changing package of support.
“ We look forward to supporting the Canned Wine Group team with their ambitions.”
To find out more about Bath Dragons winner Canned Wine Group visit: www. cannedwine. group
And to find out more about the finalists go to: www. easyphones. co. uk www. becomeuntamed. com www. hanorahealth. co. uk 6 www. tbebathandsomerset. co. uk