1st presenting Company -
Charlie McIntosh & Alastair McIntosh
In 1958 a rare blend of Scotch Malt and Grain Whiskies was discovered in 10 oak casks in Leith, Edinburgh in a warehouse owned by William Muir (Bond 9) Limited (founded in 1823).
At the time it was established that the blend had been originally distilled in 1954 and the blend recipe, created by Marshall Taplow (established in London in 1760), dated back to the 1800's. In 1966 a small quantity of the blend, which was now 12 Years Old, was bottled for the exclusive and private use of the Directors of William Muir (Bond 9) Limited and a restricted number of their friends.
A total of six individuals were instrumental in forming what became known as Syndicate 58/6 - hence the name.
The late Donald Smith and Alastair McIntosh, respectively Chairman and Managing Director of William Muir (Bond 9) Limited, gradually built up the Syndicate over the years and by the mid 1980's the Syndicate had grown significantly.
The Syndicate blend contains 18 Single Malt Whiskies and 4 single Grain Whiskies. The quality and consistency of the blend has been maintained over the years by operating a 'Solera' system whereby when additional 12 year Old whiskies are added then they are reblended with the older stock and thus the Syndicate blend still contains small quantities of the original 1958 blend.
However what sets the Syndicate blend apart from all other blends is that it is 'married' and finally matured in 4 year old Oloroso Sherry casks which we are now importing direct from Spain. This final marrying and maturing process gives the Syndicate blend a much smoother and distinct taste. This process, by it's very nature, does restrict the amount of blended Syndicate whisky which is available at any one time . Plans to increase the number of Syndicate members from the current 150 throughout the UK to approximately 1,000 is an issue due to the process of blending.
This will make the Syndicate an extremely exclusive Club with discerning members who really appreciate a good Dram.
On the 28th February 2008, Syndicate 58/6 was acquired from Whyte and MacKay with the intention to revive and grow Syndicate 58/6 back to it's former glory and above all to maintain and enhance the quality of the blend.
Guest Commentator
Graeme Atha - Having specialised in Marketing at the University of Strathclyde , Graeme has remained wedded to this business discipline for his entire career starting in brand management at Tennent’s in Glasgow before heading to London to work on Bailey’s.Graeme then returned to Scotland to set up his own business before entering the world of marketing consultancy. Graeme was part of the MBO team that bought Clarke Hooper Scotland before then selling it as The Boroughloch Consultancy seven years later to the Interpubic Group. At present Grame is Chairman of Frame a Glasgow based marketing communications agency with a wide range of clients from Scottish & Newcastle , Subway , VisitScotland and The Famous Grouse. He is also a Director of the Marketing Society an organisation that promotes best practice in what he believes is central to the success business. Graeme lives in Edinburgh and has 4 sons who keeps him busy on the golf course and on various touchlines.
2nd presenting Company
Four years ago, David Haggarty established a mobile catering company with a difference. This company aims to make it easier for people to choose healthy options when they do not have access to a canteen or restaurant. The business idea for Streetlife Fare came about as David realised that the only options available to these people were snack vans, serving up greasy food like burgers and fried breakfasts. People are more health conscious these days, so obviously wanted an alternative to the food traditionally served on these vans.
At least half of the Streetlife van menu is now made up of healthy options and the regular customers, made up of office staff, building site workers and garage staff, are happy with that. The Streetlife van became the first mobile outlet in Scotland to scoop the Healthy Living Award from the Scottish Consumer Council.
This ethos has been carried over to Streetlife's buffet service, where fresh, healthy options are served instead of the deep fried finger food that people are becoming tired of. Streetlife also run the Ka Cafe at Peoples Ford, and previously ran a works canteen for a local company for 18 months, where they also achieved the Healthy Living award status.
Guest Commentator
Lifestyle entrepreneur Gordon Richardson this summer launched Pico, a New York City-style deli and coffee house. The launch followed Richardson’s departure from Beanscene following a difference of opinion at board level about the evolution of the chain he founded with a coffee cart in 1999.
Having entered the licensed leisure sector in 1983, Richardson spent the next 13 years in both the leisure and music industries and between 1990 and 1999 oversaw the design, build, operational set up and ongoing management of some 25 bars, restaurants, clubs and hotels in addition to running a music management company whose artists were signed to major record labels and his own independent record label.
From 1996 to 1999 Richardson was business development director of The Big Beat Group were he was responsible for brand development, marketing and the operational management of the company’s 18 bars, restaurants and hotels generating a combined annual turnover in excess of £10m. In 1998, as launch director of Beat 106 FM, he managed the successful bid to win the coveted new FM licence for central Scotland. Richardson was then responsible for establishing the systems, management infrastructure and marketing campaign for the station’s launch in November 1999. With a capital cost of £2m Beat 106 FM was subsequently sold to The Capital Radio Group six months later, in the Spring of 2000, for £33m.
Richardson established Beanscene in September 1999. Evoking the coffee culture promoted through the coffee houses of ‘60’s Soho, London, Greenwich Village, NYC and the Italian quarter of San Francisco, with the aim of offering a simple, loungy, clean, fast and highly customer focused environment that was both cool and accessible. Conceived as somewhere that parents could hang out with their kids, Richardson built Beanscene to 14 stores employing 150 people with turnover in excess of £4.5m, evolving it into a broader-based lifestyle business targeted at 25-50 year olds. That evolution was achieved through the provision of a platform for exposure to emerging music artists live in-store; the launch of a unique in-store and online radio station; the launch of the Luna Records label and the launch of a pioneering music download store.
With plans to open six Pico outlets throughout Glasgow over the course of the next 12 months, the NYC deli and coffee house is the first of four distinct hospitality sector operations that Richardson plans to rollout over the next 24 months under his newly established One Big Groove umbrella group.