‘I thought my business would shut down’

At 24, Tarquin Leadbetter moved from a desk job in London to the north Cornwall coast, with plans to make gin in the morning and surf in the afternoon. He taught himself to distil gin on his cooker at home from the internet, using vodka bought from a wholesaler and plants from his garden. 

Today, 13 years on, Leadbetter runs a £10mn business, with more than 50 staff and seven gin shops across Devon and Cornwall. Tarquin’s Gin, available in Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and John Lewis, is sold in more than 30 countries. After starting out as a gin distillery, the business has diversified to produce rum, vodka and whisky. Twin Fin Rum is sold in Europe and Canada, Connie Glaze Vodka sells in Europe, particularly Germany, and Tinner Bros Whisky was launched in the UK in March.

How did you start your business?

My original plan was to set up a quick service Thai restaurant chain, but I also wanted to live close to the sea. I’ve always loved food and drink and gained experience in the industry during my gap year, when I worked as a chalet host in the French ski resort of Courchevel, using skills I had learned on a Cordon Bleu course.

I then had a change of course, taking up a job at financial services researcher Business Monitor International, responsible for analysing the economies and political systems of Venezuela and Colombia. I left after a year, however, and went back to the food and drink industry, working in a Notting Hill pub serving Thai food for six months. At the same time, I wrote a business plan for a Thai restaurant chain. But I soon realised I was well short of the capital required to start a restaurant.

As a barman, I learned that while there are many small producers of beer and wine, most of the spirit brands were owned by three multinational companies. This drew me to the idea of starting up a micro-distillery, where you make spirits commercially but on a tiny scale. I thought it would be rewarding to start a gin distillery and make a unique product with my own recipe. The advantage of making gin is that you can produce it in a few days, unlike whisky that has to age for three years.

Are you surprised at your success?

Yes. I have exceeded my own projections and expectations for the business. As I only had a £50,000 inheritance to start the venture, I had to be creative, writing my own five-year business plan for a distillery while spending a year experimenting with gin recipes. My friends thought I was crazy, especially when I began working from a converted cowshed.

Athene, my older sister, is a chartered accountant and helped me with bookkeeping. She was head of finance at the business for the first few years, although she pitched in with everything. She is no longer active in the company but remains a shareholder.

Has the business been a rewarding experience?

I think I have the best job in the world, so yes. I get to live and work by the sea. I work with a fantastic team in a fun industry and I love testing new recipes. The best ones we sell as limited editions.

I enjoy making gin for local celebrity chef Rick Stein, which is a brilliant way to celebrate the best of Cornwall. Our mission is to bring a slice of Cornwall to the world.

The summer is the best time as that is when our sales increase because of the tourists. Sales in July and August account for 25 per cent of our annual sales.

What was your worst business experience?

I think that had to be in 2015 when my glass supplier told me they had run out of stock of our bottles and would be for three months. I thought my business would shut down. The French manufacturer said that we were what they called buffer stock, meaning the amount I sold was so small, it was insignificant to their production planning.

I had to get my best friend, who is half-French, to call up every glass wholesaler in France to ask if they had any stocks left of my bottle. I had to buy some similar looking although less attractive bottles, but it meant I could carry on supplying my customers. I lost more sleep than money, but at the time I had no idea this would ever be a problem. It never occurred to me that you could run out of bottles.

Are you good with personal finance?

I am OK at personal finance. I don’t do that much. In 2021, we bought a house in south-west London. I commute weekly to work, from London to Cornwall. My wife’s job is in London. 

We budget our household and family expenses together monthly. I have a small amount in an Isa. At this stage in my life, with young children, we are looking at saving for school fees.

I have a pension, the same as my employees. Nothing more. But our biggest asset is the business. We are continuously reinvesting any profits in the company.

I see this as a first-generation family business that I hope to pass on to my children. We have never used outside investors and have only used profits and retained earnings to expand the business. 

How important is non-alcoholic gin in today’s market?

It is a rapidly growing, very exciting area of the drinks industry. People come into our shops every day asking for non-alcoholic gin. We spent three years perfecting our recipe for non-alcoholic Tarquin’s Gin, which was launched in December 2024. It is early days, but it could well account for 10 per cent of sales by the end of the year. 

What impact has inflation had on your business?

After Covid, and the rise in energy costs in 2022, some raw materials such as cardboard and glass shot up by 50 per cent. It took a year for these costs to fall back down. A short-term price shock is difficult to manage as a small business, and we had to absorb the costs. You can only put up the price of gin by a couple of per cent a year, otherwise customers will go elsewhere.

What is your view on the Budget in October?

Our expenses have gone up by more than £200,000, due to increases in wages, business rates, excise duty and waste packaging costs. I am hoping for more business-friendly policies in the future.

Do you give back to the community?

The company has supported the Cornwall Wildlife Trust since 2015. One per cent of sales from our vodka brand, Connie Glaze, goes to support Beach Guardian, an environmental charity based nearby, focused on keeping local beaches clean. Through our rum brand, Twin Fin, we support the Cornwall Seal Sanctuary in Gweek, near the Lizard peninsula. I am proud to support our local community as an employer in Cornwall.