A good friend recently introduced us to the most delectable drinks companion, biscuits from The Drinks Bakery. These are delicious savoury biscuits that are expertly flavour profiled to balance and match with great drinks and are so tasty you could nibble away and simply forget about a main course! Not only are they super tasty but the packaging is fun and it’s clear to see how much thought has been given to each drinks pairing. We were so impressed with them that we had to find out more about the story behind their being. Read on to find out more from Andy Murray – The Drinks Bakery founder.
Please tell us a bit about yourself and career.
I grew up in a food and drink obsessed family. My parents were pioneering the term ‘foodies’ before it was cool back in the 70’s & 80’s. They threw us in the back of a VW camper van every summer and we travelled around Europe for weeks at a time following our noses for great food and drink. We collected inspiration from amazing brasseries, markets and wineries across Europe.
I’ve been baking since the age of 10, was a decent cook by 14 and wine qualified at 19. I had no idea what I was good at when I left school and ending up doing a teaching degree because I figured I ought to do something. Still searching after graduating I briefly lived and worked in Dublin before heading off on an adventure to the Southern Hemisphere. I was again drawn to the idea of a food and wine focussed journey but this time on a bigger scale.
I managed to get a decent job in Sydney, saved up to buy a van like the good old days and hit the road, but this time it was me behind the wheel. Eight months, 60,000kms and two engines later I’d pretty much covered Margaret River, Barossa, Coonawarra, Yarra, Hunter Valley and Rutherglen, so jumped ship to New Zealand. I spent a further nine months around the wineries of Hawkes Bay and Central Otago where amongst other things I was a wine waiter to Bill Clinton and got a part in a Hollywood blockbuster movie!!
After a quick spin around the deep south of America and bringing in Y2000 in New Orleans I made it back to UK and landed a job in an Investment Bank where I worked in the city for four years and got married to Becky. When news of our first baby hit, we plotted our escape from the City and landed in Edinburgh with a 9month old baby and no job. 16 years later I can look back on a property business, a corporate entertainment golf venue, a gastro-pub and a wine business. Now I’m a Biscuiteer and loving it!
It was your experience and passion for the drinks industry that lead you to notice that the snacks to compliment craft drinks were not innovating at the same pace. Please share how this observation progressed to become what is now The Drinks Bakery.
I’m a huge fan of craft drinks and independent craft brands so watching the sector explode from 2000 to 2010 was thrilling. I always thought the big snack brands would jump at the chance to bring the common snack closer to world of craft drinks but nothing happened. In fact, not much at all had happened in the snack market for almost 30 years. I wanted a snack that was more thoughtful and discerning, like the ones Mum used to make to match their aperitif. So, I began to think more deeply about the best flavours that would pair and balance with the great drinks in my cabinet and The Drinks Bakery was born.
I started baking in my kitchen at home but very quickly outgrew the space as each day saw me become progressively more obsessed with the processes and recipe development, and the batch sizes got bigger and bigger. I knew I had to look for a bakery to help and was introduced through the Scotland Food & Drink network to a family bakery that was forward thinking and entrepreneurial. They liked the pitch and the concept and invited me up to the bakery in Speyside for a look around. It took a further 9 months to really nail down the manufacturing process as it’s harder than you think to transfer a recipe from your home kitchen into large scale production. When we launched on shelf it was such a relief to gain consumer and industry approval almost immediately with great feedback and Great Taste awards, and since then the awards have happily tumbled in.
And what does a typical day for you involve (if such a thing exists)?
Ha! Lots of things. Selling, pitching, filling out MASSIVE forms, social media campaigning, marketing, communicating with key stakeholders and working out better ways to do stuff. A typical day also probably involves some success and some failure. There are so many things that we’re faced with on a daily basis that I genuinely have no idea how to overcome. People talk about entrepreneurial mindset quite a bit, and for good reason. ‘I can do this’ is a powerful thing to say to yourself, and I say it most days. Getting it wrong from time to time is inevitable but it’s not something to fear, it’s actually essential. It’s how you get better so you’d better just embrace it.
You have a great range of delicious flavours (parmesan, toasted pine nuts and basil are one of our personal faves – nothing to do with our penchant for champagne of course!), where and how do you seek inspiration for different flavours and pairings?
That’s easy. From doing what I’ve always done – eat, drink, travel, cook. I adore spending time in the kitchen cooking and thumbing through recipe books but there’s nothing quite like being somewhere new (or old) and tucking into different food, flavours and experiences. That’s how one creates your very own palate memory. I love to recall the flavours of plates of food I’ve eaten stretching back 30+ years. Sometimes a smell or taste of something can trigger the memory of a plate of food from way back. I’ve eaten in some amazing places around the world. Great food from humble peasant kitchens and farms, grape-picker kitchens, bush campfires, Balinese Megibungs and Maori Hangis to the amazing wineries around the world and high-end restaurants like El Bulli, Le Manoir, Cote d’Or, the London scene and plenty of Michellin madness in France.
It’s completely true that I’d travel 1000’s of miles for a plate of food if someone recommended it. I recently travelled all day to Anglesey from Edinburgh for an evening meal at a small restaurant that a friend said I needed to visit, and then came back the next morning. Completely normal.
Which is your own favourite flavour and why?
You can’t ask that! My genuine answer is ‘it depends what I’m drinking’ J
I’m loving the Mature Cheddar, Smoked Chilli & Almond at the moment with dry Amontillado sherry from Equipo Navazos. I got a magnum of the stuff because it’s so good and the pairing with this Drinks Biscuit is ridiculous.
And if you could enjoy Aperitifs with anyone and anywhere in the world who would it be, where and why?
I’ve been lucky enough to travel around the world and experience so many aperitif cultures but keep returning to Spain, and for good reason. I think San Sebastian Old Town beside the Atlantic with my Dad. He and Mum are the ones that started it all off, it’s their fault. He never made it to San Sebastian but I know it would be his new favourite place and we’d explore the narrow Pinchos lanes together.
Your journey so far has been an exciting one, what have been the greatest challenges and highlights (we’ll come to Dragon’s Den soon…)
Without a doubt the greatest challenge is a lack of funding. When you’re passionate about a vision and soaked in belief but can’t quite grasp it because the cashflow isn’t there it can be heart-breaking. Truth is, a start-up FMCG business needs cash to accelerate growth.
Getting the range ‘on shelf’ was a major highlight. Taking a concept off the back of a beer mat, into the kitchen, then to a bakery and eventually onto a retail shelf was a ‘big moment’. Fast forward a couple of years and we’re now selling in 10 countries around the world and getting our first 1Million unit enquiry.
You impressed two of the nation’s most infamous Dragons, Peter Jones and Deborah Meaden with The Drinks Bakery business that they both made you an offer. Tell us more about this experience – are the Dragons really as intimidating as they appear?
Yes! It’s a terrifying experience. No question. I saw it as an opportunity to further test the business proposition and show my kids that it’s important to be brave and stick your neck out for what you believe in. I turned up with some great booze and some damn tasty biscuits – what’s not to like? I made them laugh early and was able to talk clearly about the numbers and my vision for the business. It was a leap of faith for them too because my business was only a few months old when I pitched in the Den. I recall the whole thing like an ‘out of body’ experience. Watching the show when it aired surrounded by great friends was surreal because it didn’t really match my memory of being in the Den. Now I use it as a motivational vision. If I’m feeling under pressure I see myself standing there on my ‘mark’ in the Den and say ‘That’s you, you did that, so you can do this.’
What is next for The Drinks Bakery and your delicious biscuits?
Funding 2021 Q1 to support marketing in new territories, NPD
Exporting Major growth in US and UAE
Airlines Scale the opportunities we already have
Partnerships With great whisky brands and beer brands around the world
2021 Year of the Drinks Biscuit
Where can we buy in Edinburgh?
IJ Meillis Cheesemongers, Herbies of Stockbridge, Machina Tollcross, Great Grogg, Catalog, Deburgh Wines
Where is your own Hidden Edinburgh and why?
West End, William Street. I love the pubs, independent clothes shops, cafes, food and art shops there. In fact, I love it so much I bought a couple of flats there years back and did them up myself. I sometimes sneak over there when they’re empty to have a quiet cup of tea and watch the cobbled street bustle below.
What are your top tips for a first-time visitor to Edinburgh?
I leave a list of top tips for guests who stay in the holiday flats on William Street with heaps of food & drink suggestions. I get a real kick out of helping visitors find the little hidden gems in Edinburgh.
Climbing Arthurs Seat is an obvious must for me. Getting up high and surveying the Castle, Old Town, New Town, Leith, Firth of Forth gives you a real sense of the city, what a handsome place it is and how it’s all held together. Visiting little pubs like my local Kay’s Bar and some classic old bars like the Café Royal or if you’re a romantic the Bon Vivant on Thistle Street is a top spot. Visiting IJ Mellis Cheesemongers and Valvona & Carolla on Elm Row are ‘musts’ in my book. They’re like mini epicurean cathedrals where you feel like you have to speak in a hush and light a candle. I pretty much spend ALL my money in these few places.
Life motto (if you have one)
Be brave and go for it. The worst that can happen is you learn something.
More Info:
W: https://www.thedrinksbakery.com/
I: https://www.instagram.com/thedrinksbakery/
