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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
National
Saffron Otter & Ramazani Mwamba

Lad who charged 2p-a-go to jump off his bunk bed now runs £10m empire

A Stockport lad who has built a multi-million company is hoping to rebuild the beloved local where he had his first pint. Stefan White is the co-owner of Bier Company along with his best mate Tom Renshaw.

The company is an online shop stocking craft beers from breweries across the UK and Stefan and Tom have built an empire which has seen them rake in a whopping £10 million in revenue. Speaking to the MEN, Stefan expressed his wish to one day bring back the beloved Fir Tree pub in North Reddish.

A once ‘thriving’ local in the area, the pub was knocked down to make way for a supermarket leaving locals devastated. Entrepreneur Stefan, who used to charge his younger brother and sister 2p a time to jump off of his top bunk bed as a child, said: “I grew up right next to the Fir Tree pub, that was where I had my first pint.

"But it was knocked down for a Lidl. The plan is that hopefully in the future I have enough money to rebuild the Fir Tree pub.” Fir Tree was demolished at the end of 2020 despite residents pleading for the 'beautiful building' to be protected.

Stockport council received 16 letters of objection to the plans. One read: "The Fir Tree was once a thriving pub at the heart of the community and with the right management team, staff and security in place, it could thrive once again.

The Fir Tree public house, Gorton Road, Reddish (Google Maps)

“The Fir Tree is sorely missed by the people in the community, especially in North Reddish, where there isn't a single pub. Pubs are the heart of any community and something that North Reddish is currently missing.”

Another added that that the community had been ‘ripped apart’ since the pub closed in 2019, while a fellow resident pleaded for the ‘beautiful building’ to be protected. Many hoped the Fir Tree, in North Reddish, could be given a new lease of life and restored to the heart of the community.

But no one came forward to take it over, and an application from budget supermarket chain Lidl to demolish the building was given the green light.

Stefan's dad with a 'Super Dad’ giftbox Stefan made up for him, before they took it to the mass market (supplied)

As a child, Stefan was always finding ways to make extra pocket money, selling his Easter eggs a month later for £1 cheaper than supermarkets, and charging his younger brother and sister 2p a time to jump off of his top bunk bed, causing it to break. Whilst his peers were watching the Disney channel, he watched Dragon’s Den.

“I used to think the Dragons could save you,” Stefan says, of how the multimillionaires had the power to change people's lives.

Stefan and Tom's remarkable rise came after they graduated from university. They set to work making their beer snacks empire a reality. Each day, they would pick a London borough and pound the pavement all morning knocking on independent pub doors trying to sell their product - like scenes out of BBC’s The Apprentice.

(L-R) Stefan White, from Stockport, and business partner Tom Renshaw (supplied)

By the afternoon, they’d make calls to pub groups, and by 3pm, start shifts working in bars as kitchen porters and bartenders, finishing at 2am. Stefan, 27, from North Reddish, was earning £1,300 a month, but with his rent at £1,250, he knew he had to make it work.

Their breakthrough was with Stonegate Group, who put their flavoursome snacks into 300 of their pubs, which then landed them in other chains, growing from zero to 2,000 pubs in nine months. But disaster struck in March 2020 as the Covid pandemic hit locking down pubs, losing the duo 95 per cent of their revenue stream and forcing them to rethink their strategy.

Drowning their sorrows in supermarket beers, Tom had a lightbulb moment and suggested expanding into craft beers online, creating ‘care packages’ for customers to help them through the pandemic. Initially, this was a 12-week project while pub doors were closed, but packages were flying off the shelves following the release of their hit ‘Super Dad’ giftbox for Father’s Day - which sold out in 10 days.

Two years later, Bier Company - an online shop stocking craft beers from breweries across the UK, paired with their signature own-brand Bier Nuts and Bier Crisps - has generated a whopping £10million in revenue. The idea for the business came about after a trip to Bulgaria.

The uni mates turned business partners now have their sights set on further expansion into Europe and the US. “This business will be the first name that pops into your mouth when you talk about craft beer,” Stefan assures. “It’ll be the brewery once we launch that, the snacks, in pubs, online presence, draft beer dispensers in your homes.

“This business will be everything. Currently, that's Brewdog - but it won’t be in five years’ time.”

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