How did a Richmond entrepreneur change the way we enjoy our favourite tipple? Alice Cairns meets Fever-Tree co-founder Tim Warrillow...
Picture the scene. You’ve spent a long day working from home. You settle down in your cosiest armchair and open up your favourite local magazine.
What could complete this picture as readily – or as tastily – as a gin and tonic, nestled at your elbow and frosty with ice?
G&Ts are everywhere, and the British public is demanding the best.
We search for craft gins infused with lavender, seaweed or elderberries. We garnish our glasses (copas or highballs, of course) with wedges of lime or twists of pink grapefruit.
Ben Phillips
079_21May19_BP0575
© Ben Phillips
Finally, we top them up with the kinds of artisanal tonic water that didn’t exist until Richmond local, Tim Warrillow, spotted a gap in the market for premium mixers.
Fever-Tree products are now so readily available that it’s hard to imagine a time when they didn’t exist.
But cast your mind back to the dark ages (the early 2000s), and you’ll remember a barren world in which discerning tipplers had no choice but to douse their craft gins in glugs of artificially sweetened tonic waters.
“At that time, the world of mixology was coming to life,” Tim explains. “People were flocking to cocktail bars, and they were willing to spend money on new craft spirits. But when it came to mixers, the market was dominated by one large conglomerate and a handful of own-brand products. There was a focus on manufacturing efficiency, rather than on quality or flavour.”
The conglomerate Tim is alluding to here is none other than Coca-Cola, the owner of Schweppes in the UK.
A pretty daunting rival, one might think – but with a hefty dose of entrepreneurial spirit (“or blind optimism!”), Tim and his business partner, Charles Rolls set about developing new tonic water that would put its rivals to shame.
Little did they know that they’d have an even bigger problem to overcome than their multinational competitor.
“Absolutely no one cared about tonic water. We’d go to retailers with our big idea, and they’d tell us that no one wanted to hear about mixers.
When we asked people what ingredients went into tonic water, they had no idea – in fact, most didn’t know that it contained any ingredients at all!
We quickly learnt that it wasn’t as simple as developing a great product. We also needed to educate people about why mixers were worth caring about in the first place.”
So Tim went searching for the kinds of delicious, top-quality ingredients that would speak for themselves.
He holed up in the British Library, taking a deep-dive into the history of tonic water. He traced this bittersweet delicacy to 19th century India, where the British mixed their medicinal quinine with gin.
He discovered that quinine was extracted from the bark of the Cinchona tree, known as the ‘fever tree’ because of its anti-malarial properties.
“Next, my partner and I travelled the world to find the ingredients we’d read about. My research had shown me that there was only one remaining plantation producing the highest quality quinine.
Unfortunately, it was in one of the most lawless and remote places in the world: the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo. The area had been devastated by genocides and a lack of industry.
To get there I had to take three planes, followed by a gruelling eight-hour drive across Rwanda. But we chose to source our quinine there, and the area has grown alongside us. The plantation is thriving, and is a huge source of local employment.”
Fever-Tree has never lost this intrepid approach to sourcing ingredients. Tim still takes regular trips to remote corners of the globe in order to source the very best.
“We get wonderful, rare lemons from Sicily and unique limes from the Yucatan Province in Mexico. We source gingers from India, and from deep into the Ivory Coast. We never stop searching.”
And it was this commitment to finding the finest ingredients, whatever the obstacles, that finally persuaded the naysayers to take an interest.
“People were excited by our voyage of discovery. They saw that we were sourcing these ingredients because we were determined to breathe new life into overlooked and forgotten drinks.”
It was something the trade could get behind.
Positive PR followed, as did a call from the soft drinks buyer at Waitrose. Fever-Tree had arrived.
What followed was the kind of soaring success story that belongs in business school textbooks.
Fever-Tree went from niche brand to household name, and in 2017 overtook Schweppes as the UK’s leading mixer brand.
Today, Tim believes that the brand is part of a revolution in the way we think about food and drink.
“Suddenly, we’ve all woken up to the fact that our obsession with efficiency has resulted in increasingly cheap, poor-quality, commoditised and artificial products. We’re demanding something better.”
And to meet that demand, Fever-Tree has added a range of top-quality tonics, sodas and colas to its portfolio.
Tim hopes that the brand’s emphasis on exciting ingredients and forgotten techniques could even restore a few lost flavours to the British palette.
“Take ginger beer for example. So many people tell me that our version tastes like the ginger beer their grandparents used to make. That’s because these days, most ginger beer is manufactured very cheaply, using capsicum instead of ginger.
We make our version with three different types of ginger, and we brew it, steeping it in hot water for 24-48 hours. We do all that because want to bring back those amazing flavours that otherwise might be lost for a generation.”
Noble work indeed. But of course, no business, however brilliant, has gone untouched by the Coronavirus crisis.
With bars, pubs and restaurants empty, the outlook for Fever-Tree seemed bleak.
Would people still want to drink fancy mixers and complex cocktails in the unglamorous confines of their living rooms?
Ever the optimist, Tim took the decision early on that the company wouldn’t be furloughing its staff, nor would it be accepting any government support. Instead, the team worked hard to stay in touch with an otherwise fun-deprived public, hosting a packed programme of G&T masterclasses and guided tastings.
The result was a hefty increase in supermarket sales.
“People have been turning to gin and tonics at home like never before. It seems to represent an affordable, everyday treat, marking the end of the working day and the start of leisure time.
My wife says that she considers the work I’m doing to be a public service – the only thing that kept her going through days of homeschooling was the thought of that gin and tonic, getting earlier and earlier every evening!”
Tim remains positive about Fever-Tree’s prospects post-pandemic.
He believes that the days of neat spirits – drunk in a wingback chair, preferably with a cigar – are behind us. Instead, he argues that an informed and enthusiastic public will continue to explore colourful combinations of spirits and mixers.
“We’re living through a renaissance of spirits, enjoyed in new ways. The Aperol Spritz has introduced people to the world of Italian Bitters, and we’re seeing lots of interesting vermouths coming to the market.
Young people are beginning to get a taste for whiskies, drunk with gingers of various sorts. This is not just in the UK – there is a huge, global trend for long drinks.
Think of the Kentucky Mule, with bourbon, ginger beer and a squeeze of lime. You wouldn’t want for anything more. It’s making me thirsty, even describing it!”
A sentiment I share in spades. After my chat with Tim – and I mean this as a compliment – I’d never wanted a gin and tonic more.
Tim says: I’m a South West Londoner through and through. I was born in Wimbledon, grew up in Barnes, spent the early part of my married life in Putney and now live in Richmond. I haven’t moved far!
I live near to two brilliant pubs, The White Swan and The White Cross. The White Swan has a lovely pub garden. The White Cross is quite hard to beat for a gin and tonic overlooking the river.
