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Dear Newsletter Subscribers, Beta Testers & Crowdfunding Survey Respondents,
We've had a busy few months with new product development, working with new suppliers, expanding distribution and creating bespoke Vermouth recipes for a few of our customers. We've even finalised our range of cocktails for Xmas 2019! Organised AF....kind of.
We now have a few new products on the horizon, including a couple of extra special English Dry & Bianco Vermouths. One of those will be run through the Beta Testing process shortly, so keep an eye on your inboxes for that.
Many thanks to all of you who completed the crowdfunding survey we set up a little while back. We promised to give all the respondents a sample bottle of their choosing and those are going into the post as we speak, so keep an eye out for them over the next few days. Obviously if you're in the US / Asia / Oz, it will take a little longer!
We promised to update you on the responses to the survey, so please see below.
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Crowdfunding Survey
In the spirit of transparency ('cos that's how we do things here) we thought we would share the results of the survey with you all. So, without further ado...
Respondents: 222 people completed the survey 60% said they would definitely support it and be involved 33% said they wanting more information before committing 54% of respondents had invested in crowdfunding campaigns previously
Investment levels:
We had some great responses around the level of investment that people would be interested in: 5% of respondents - £5000+ 8% of respondents - £1000+ 14% of respondents - Up to £1000 23% of respondents - Up to £500 50% of respondents - Up to £100 A few people, just a handful, said they were not keen on the idea of crowdfunding. We get it, won't hold it against you and there is always time to change your mind. Of course there's an extra special shout out to the 2 people who were not in our distribution list and had been forwarded the survey, who said: They had never heard of Asterley Bros Were absolutely NOT interested in crowdfunding at all Said they did NOT want to hear from us at all in the future AND then went on to select the samples they would like to be sent FFS Well, a deal is a deal and the samples are on their way to those guys too. You gotta respect their honesty to be fair...
Rewards:
As well as the equity shares we are selling on Crowdcube, we also wanted to do some fun stuff with rewards, so we asked what kind of thing people would be interested in: Investor only access to seasonal cocktails / collabs / ltd editions runs came in top with 63% of respondents Lifetime discounts on all products came a close second with 62% 47% of respondents wanted 'Investor only' invites to pop ups / masterclasses / open house events The opportunity to help design new products, and also to create your own one-off liqueurs, both also came in at around 30% General merchandise, and the chance to name a new product, both came in at around 20% Finally, 30% went for 'Eternal Life' (surprisingly low take up on that actually). That one's still in the development stage... as is 'Free Hummus', 'a hug*', and 'a night with Kylie Minogue'. Shameful behaviour. You know who you are...
*hugs come as standard, FYI
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Next Steps:
So, we are finalising our 'pitch deck' and financials now, and about to begin the filming of the all-important campaign video next week, and looking at launching the 30 day campaign at the end of June.
We'll keep all you updated as soon as we have more details.
During the campaign we will be doing a series of open-evenings / free tastings at various locations, as well as having a launch party to mark the beginning of the campaign. Keep your diaries free for those.
If anyone still wants to complete the survey, it will be open for another week or so and there is a link at the bottom of this email.
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General Update:
We'll be honest, we probably haven't been great at really highlighting what we've been up to recently, and doing those proper 'newsletter' kinds of things, so we're gonna give it a shot below: We have recently designed a bespoke House Vermouth, now on tap at the new Wild Honey Restaurant at the Sofitel Hotel in Piccadilly. Full of interesting and unique flavours, we used artichoke, olive leaf, germander and cascara for this one We are super proud to announce that our Estate is currently the House Vermouth in the Coburg Bar at The Connaught We are working on prototypes for an English Ortega Vermouth (to be available in bottles and kegs) We have been approached by a couple of companies on a consultancy / liquid design basis and are in the early stages of that process. Can't say any more about those for now...but will probably have some news within the next few months that we can share And finally...we need a f*** drum roll for this one please...the Asterley Bros team is expanding! We have a new team member joining us very soon indeed! *big announcement to follow soon... That's it for now, remember to keep and eye out for your samples if you filled in the survey, and shout if they don't arrive soon.
Cheers,
Rob & Jim
P.s: I will be up front now and say that we're probably going to be banging on about crowdfunding now for the next couple of months. We can't really avoid it, so apologies in advance for those who really couldn't care less. In truth, you may want to unsubscribe to these newsletters until it all blows over...we won't hold it against you.
As for the rest of you: Thanks for the support and we'll be in touch!
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