‘I sacrificed my early twenties to make honey business a success’

At 23, former bricklayer Scott Davies based Hilltop Honey with a £5,000 overdraft and no earlier information of beekeeping or enterprise.

Right now the 37-year-old entrepreneur has the UK’s second-largest honey model, with a turnover of £44mn and a spread of merchandise in main supermarkets. Davies determined to attempt beekeeping when a critical again harm at 22 left him unable to work for a 12 months.

Based mostly in his house city of Newtown, mid-Wales, Davies employs 130 individuals. The top workplace and manufacturing unit web site span 4 acres, producing over 1,000 tonnes of honey a month. In September 2022 Davies diversified into producing peanut butter, at a second web site.

In Could 2024, Davies purchased a small Pate manufacturing unit in North Wales, Patchwork Pate. In January, he acquired half a bakery chain, Waterfields, within the north-west. The 2 ventures make use of 350 employees.

In the event you had not injured your again, would you continue to be a bricklayer?
I might have began my very own constructing agency. I had an absolute want to create my very own enterprise, however I’m stunned to have ended up in foods and drinks.

My father is a retired sheep farmer, and my mom labored as a district nurse chief for the county. Once I was out of labor I used to be in an terrible lot of ache, and referred relentlessly to docs and physios. 

I spent my time enjoying laptop video games and studying. I got here throughout a ebook about beekeeping and was intrigued. In March 2011 my mother and father purchased me the primary beehive for £250. I spent £100 on a bee go well with.

As I recovered, I painted a couple of homes to pay for 12 beehives. After a month I ran out of honey to promote. A business beekeeper wants 300 hives.

How did you create Hilltop Honey?
I used to be not an ideal beekeeper, however I quickly recognised a chance. There have been many retired individuals within the nation who had lots of beehives and honey, however that they had no advertising and marketing expertise or want to promote it and create a model. The common age of beekeeper within the UK is 63.

I contacted these bee farmers. Initially they have been cautious, however I went with my father and picked up a couple of pots of honey from every farmer. I had simply sufficient to pay them.

The primary 4 years of constructing Hilltop was via British beekeepers. We’d purchase the honey and promote it via farm retailers, delicatessens and backyard centres. The actual breakthrough got here after I received British honey into Holland & Barrett in 2014, and Tesco in 2015. The opposite supermarkets quickly adopted.

I now barely produce any honey myself, however I nonetheless go to many beekeepers to check the honey and examine they’re producing it in the fitting manner.

The Hilltop model immediately is honey from everywhere in the world. We’re obsessive about provenance. I’ve travelled far to supply the perfect honey, from the mountains of New Zealand and the plains of Mexico to Outer Mongolia and Hungarian forests.

What did it’s a must to sacrifice?
I needed to sacrifice time and my early twenties. Both I used to be packing honey, coping with suppliers, assembly prospects, or going out to meals festivals each weekend to promote honey to customers. My associates and relations helped me at any time when they may.

What’s your view on the October Finances?
It’s a catastrophe. I’m unsure what the federal government is attempting to perform. Elevating the minimal wage and the national insurance contribution for employers is one factor, however decreasing the band (secondary threshold) was a killer blow to part-time employment. At Hilltop, I estimate we will probably be paying one other £150,000 in further prices.

Within the bakery I’ve simply purchased, the 200 part-timers have turn into significantly expensive to make use of, as much as one other £500,000, that can power us to make some powerful selections. In January we have been too far alongside the acquisition course of to again out, believing we may flip round a 98-year-old enterprise.

Do you’ve got a pension?

I solely began a personal pension 4 years in the past, for myself and my spouse, that is after I felt financially in a position, and we pay within the most every year. I consider in the good thing about pensions personally and for the workforce.

Are you good with private finance?
I’m excellent. I handle shares and shares and Isas for myself and my spouse. I don’t have a monetary adviser; I’ve simply discovered make investments myself. Hilltop has taught me the whole lot it’s essential to learn about how corporations generate earnings. I learn in regards to the world economic system and its influence on shares most evenings.

Do you consider in giving one thing again to the neighborhood?
We’ve the Hilltop Neighborhood Fund, that gives a £10,000 grant to companies and charities inside a 15-mile radius of the manufacturing unit. We sponsor the native soccer workforce, cricket membership, golf membership, and rugby golf equipment with kits.

If you inherited £1mn, how would you spend it?
I might assist my instant relations to repay their mortgages and purchase the vehicles they need. I might not use the windfall for myself. Hilltop has given me the whole lot I would like. I purchased an previous nursing house with a big backyard in January 2024 and transformed it right into a 10-bedroom home. My mother-in-law and stepfather-in-law stay within the annex.

Your finest funding recommendation?
Persist with the sector you perceive — for me that’s foods and drinks — and don’t chase the short cash. Be proud of a gradual return. I do have a portion of my portfolio, 10 per cent, for danger in different sectors. A very powerful factor is to start out investing in shares or a pension as early as you may, to profit from the compound impact.