Cranes

Idea

Introduction

Cranes produce two delicious products: our innovative Cranberry Ciders and award-winning Cranberry & Blood Orange Liqueur.

Our ciders are naturally light, by using fruit sugars they have 30% fewer calories than leading fruit cider brands. This achieves a great natural taste and meets the consumer demand for healthier drinks. We produce our ciders in three exquisite flavours: Cranberries & Limes, Raspberries & Pomegranates and Blueberries & Apples.

Our unique Cranberry & Blood Orange Liqueur won the Gold Award at The Liqueur Masters presented by The Spirits Business. Our recommended recipes are: Cranbellini (with Prosecco), Lemon Berry, and Cosmopolitan. However, bars and mixologists have been using it in many different bespoke cocktails.

We will be listed in Asda from May, we are already listed in our local Morrisons, and in a host of farm shops, garden centres, bars and pubs across the UK.

Our aim is to be one of the top three leading brands in both the Fruit Cider and Fruit Liqueur UK Markets.

Intended impact

Our ciders have been developed by identical twin brothers Ben and Dan and align with three major driving factors:

1. Increasing Cider market – Second largest growing alcoholic drinks category in the off-trade driven by innovation in flavour.
2. Reducing sugar in products – Increasing consumer awareness of the sugar content of products, important considering recent sugar tax and further proposals.
3. Crafted drinks popularity – Premium brands are taking market share from cheaper brands. For example, Bulmers sales having almost halved since 2015.

It would be wrong to claim an alcoholic drink is healthy, but in moderation it remains an important part of how people socialise and relax. We believe people will always enjoy a drink, but are increasingly looking to choose a drink that has healthier ingredients without impairing the taste. We believe our ciders provide that choice to the mass market and along with our liqueur we are building a strong distinctive brand.

Substantial accomplishments to date

We achieved over £190,000 in funding with our first Seedrs round, doubling our original target, with investment from key industry players including Brothers Drinks Ltd (international cider producer and contract bottler, who are also shareholders in soft drinks company Fever-Tree).

During 2017 full rebranding completed of the company and products, the feedback from consumers and the trade has been overwhelmingly positive.

Won the Gold Award in the 2017 Liqueur Masters for our Cranberry and Blood Orange Liqueur by The Spirits Business.

Ran 27 Road Show events in Costco, trialling and selling both ciders and the liqueur. Currently in discussions for a permanent listing.

Launching ciders with Asda in May.

Stocked both the cider and liqueur in our local Morrisons stores as a trial, to then extend nationally if sucessful.

Listing with Blackmore SPAR who deliver to 700 SPAR’s across the Midlands.

Listed by Diverse Fine Foods, a premium food wholesaler, who sell to high end retailers, including Fenwick’s and Selfridges.

Ciders stocked in the Wyevale Garden Centres.

Gained listings in major on-trade wholesalers, including LWC, Matthew Clark, Amathus, Hammonds and Masters of Malt.

Agreed a UK distribution agreement with Paragon Brands to become one of their key brands. Paragon Brands is a premium drinks brand distributor owned by industry experts who have excellent links in the drinks industry which we believe will open us up to sales channels that were previously out of reach.

Monetisation strategy

To generate revenue, we will focus on two main channels: on-trade and off-trade.

The off-trade emphasis will be on a successful trial with Morrison’s to increase listings and to ensure a successful launch with Asda. The success of this will reassure and encourage other supermarkets to also list our products. We have been in discussions with Tesco who are potentially interested and are asking us to keep them updated on our progress.

On-trade is a complex sector with several routes to market with different regional and national wholesalers to target. We feel that our partnership with Paragon Brands ensures the successful navigation of this market with their vast experience, contacts and track record. With listings already in numerous major wholesalers we are in a great position to advance in this sector.

Use of proceeds

We are looking to raise £150,000 to help us achieve our long-term goal to become one of the top three leading brands in both the Fruit Cider and Fruit Liqueur UK Markets by 2028.

Specifically, in the shorter term we will use the funds to:
• Deliver our marketing plan to help achieve our 2018 revenue target.
• Invest in increasing distribution and support sales in the on-trade through Paragon Brands.
• Support working capital, so we can produce larger batches of cider and liqueur to achieve higher margins through economies of scale.
• Invest in production capability to ensure we can meet the expected sales demand in 2018 with major supermarkets now listing our products.

Please note, Cranes has an outstanding directors loan of £187,320.30. This loan accumulates no interest and repayments can only be made when the business has profits, at the directors discretion. No proceeds from this round will be used to repay this loan.