Since its appearance in Dragon's Den, Club artisanal gin has exploded in popularity and made a lot of money in the process. Jon Hulme and John Burke are the co-founders of the Craft gin Club. They decided to create the subscription business after the couple noticed that an increasing number of artisanal gins were appearing on the market. It had reached the point where customers were overwhelmed by what they could choose.
They asked for 75,000 pounds in exchange for three percent. They explained that gin drinkers were looking for quality rather than quantity. Driven by the country's shift to drinking at home during lockdown, the number of members grew by 66% in the last year to more than 100,000 gin lovers in the United Kingdom. The two decided to select the best artisanal gins on the market and began sending them to subscribers every month.
Hundreds of club members were attentive to each event, where they were able to learn how to prepare cocktails with the club's master mixologist, watch interviews and ask questions to the best artisanal gin distillers. Jon Hulme, who grew up in Burslem, had been working as a software engineer when he finally decided to take the plunge and launch the business with like-minded John, whom he met at a business school in Madrid. In the long and far from disastrous marriage between show business and alcohol, I am happy to announce that I am the proud owner of a Geneva company. I don't know whose idea it was to allow me to enter the gin business, but I can assure you that there are more intelligent and reasonable people in charge.
With the mission of improving the drinking experience at home at its core, the Craft gin club has never been so popular with consumers. Driven by the shift in consumers to online shopping and e-commerce, during the shutdown, the Craft Gin Club also saw a 100% increase in monthly subscriptions and strong adoption of its new online store, generating a 500% year-on-year growth in revenue. The Den during the performance, but it turns out the Dragons really like gin. After investment offers from four out of five dragons, Jon and John left with an investment of £75,000 from the co-founder of the London Cocktail Club, Sarah Willingham.
With the shift of consumers to the Internet over the past six months, Craft Gin Club saw an increase in member engagement on social media and on the blog of the Craft Gin Club, the club's online community. Seven years later, the couple runs a multi-billion dollar company that ships artisanal gin to more than 140,000 active subscribers across the United Kingdom every month. Sarah's participation helped Jon and John accelerate the Club's growth to the incredible gin-loving community that it is today, and continues to play an important role in the development of the Club, as it looks to an exciting future.
