This couple and their four daughters run a successful drinks business from their kitchen
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When it comes to family businesses, Jackson Roze – a new Tandragee based artisan drinks producer – is the epitome of that moniker.
Andrew and Nicky Jackson head up the company, which was only founded in the latter half of 2022. It’s one of our youngest companies to feature on this newsletter but it has its own very unique story.
While the husband and wife duo oversee the operation, their four daughters; Rebekah (15), Zara (12), Olivia (10) and Eliana (6) play a huge part too. Not only is the non-alcoholic traditional ginger wine produced and bottled in the home kitchen but its name derives from the girls’ initials – ROZE.
The business is centred around the one product. One product has allowed the Jacksons to focus, and with time, comes mastery – that’s the aim! The recipe, after all, is a century old.
It’s been less than a year since Jackson Roze became an official product though. The journey started around October/November 2022, as they were approaching the Christmas period.
“To be perfectly honest, we have been making ginger wine as a family for as long as I remember,” Nicky explained.
“My mum and dad – and then my grandparents before that – I remember them all producing the wine. The recipe was passed on to me from my mum and dad about seven or eight years ago.”
Ginger Wine is a traditional Christmas drink; the Jacksons would have produced it every Christmas and Nicky would have given it to friends and family.
“One of my friends said to me, ‘do you realise there's nothing like your product out there; it's spectacular in its flavour’. They had tried ginger beer, ginger ale and all sorts of ginger drinks but there was nothing that was really set apart. They looked forward to me making it every year.”
The idea was planted but the reality of producing this drink to be sold was still a long way off.
“That thought then transformed into ‘maybe we should do a couple of Christmas fairs and see how we get on’,” said Nicky. “We thought it might bring in the money for Christmas for our four children.”
The Christmas fairs were the perfect market research but they had to source bottles to begin with.
Luckily, Nicky has family who bottle apple juice “so we approached them and asked them if we could have 30 bottles”.
“We started with 30 bottles. We didn’t have a lot of confidence and were stepping well and truly out of our comfort zone but that 30 turned to well over a thousand in that six week period. It kind of just exploded in the lead up to Christmas.”
The first Christmas fair they managed to shift 19 of those initial 30 bottles.
“We thought we were the bees knees,” laughed Nicky. “The Council then asked us to do a couple of their light shows and Banbridge cleaned us out of everything we had that night. 120 bottles gone!"
“At that stage we realised that what we're actually offering something unique that nobody else was doing. At that point we knew we needed to think about turning this into an actual business, rather than just a fly by night thing.”
Those six weeks of trading got them through Christmas and just like any normal family, they had bills to pay – the business was a real game-changer for the family in the sense they could incorporate it into their everyday lives.
Nicky currently homeschools three of her youngest daughters, and building a business incorporates so much learning.
“We decided as a family if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do it together,” said Nicky. “The girls are learning how to run a business, how to start something from scratch from the home environment.
“Zara sees this as a business that she's going to take on herself some time,” added Nicky. “Now she wants to be the sales rep, a marketing consultant, everything. She’s being exposed to all of that because we are all learning together as we grow.”
Nicky has a background in finance, Andrew works in electrical home sales but the business of food and drink is all new to them.
“We speak to the children about all sorts, like environmental health; they’re very involved in every aspect of the business. Socially, they’re out with us; the other traders know them and they’re out talking to people, telling people about the business.”
The challenge for the business is making their non-alcoholic ginger wine more than just a Christmas tradition. Nicky wanted to develop it to be sold throughout the year.
Most ginger drinks are made with ginger essence – flavouring – but in January, just after the Christmas rush, Nicky spent the entire month perfecting her own ginger essence using natural ginger roots – a throwback to a bygone era of producing tonic wine using pure ingredients, which in turn has its own health benefits.
“The taste remains the exact same and I’ve had people at the table literally in tears, saying it reminds them of their mum or their dad, someone that used to make it at Christmas time. The nostalgia side of it is there, which is lovely and I love that. People have told me to go down a different path and forget about that but I don't want to forget about that, it’s too important to people.”
A traditional family recipe – and with it family secret – but when it comes to selling a product publicly, it’s no secret anymore.
“I used to ask dad all the time how to make it and he would have talked about the secret ingredient and everything else – I never knew what the secret ingredient was until about seven or eight years ago.
“Unfortunately, I don’t get away with that anymore. I was able to, before Christmas, play the secret ingredient card, but as soon as we registered in January, you have to put that on the bottle.”
To get started, Nicky and Andrew contacted the Go For It programme, and reached out to the Council’s Economic Development team who got them involved in the Food Heartland programme.
Nicky is currently doing a food innovation programme through the Southern Regional College. Through these different programmes, conversations started to happen and the business started to blossom.
Now, the Jacksons are producing anywhere between 1,500 and 2,000 bottles a month from their home kitchen. The production, bottling, labelling is still all done by hand and all the profit the family is making is going back into the business in some shape or form.
Non-alcoholic ginger wine has the difficulty of not only trying to shake its Christmas tag but it’s a rather niche product that, as Nicky admits, “people will walk past it very easily”.
“People need to taste it to believe it,” she said. “We have to stop people in their tracks. As soon as people try it you get this surprised look in their face.”
While still in its infancy, the business is bubbling and Nicky knows the small domestic kitchen is not going to withstand the demand for much longer.
“The next step would be to get more equipment; we would love to be able to streamline a little bit more and increase the litre volume per month.
“The big vision is that we are looking a shed with a custom built factory which will also have space for community.”
For now, it’s one bottle at a time – quite literally in this case! The product is getting recognition from buyers but also those handing our some pretty glitzy gongs.
Not only did Nicky win £3,000 from a Women in Business pitching competition but Jackson Roze is up for Family Business of the Year at the prestigious Great British Entrepreneurial Awards later this year.
“It feels overwhelming at times, I’m not going to lie,” admitted Nicky. “It’s a whirlwind but we’re trying to roll with it and walk through the doors that open to us.”
A lot has happened in less than 12 months and that presents its own challenges; for Nicky, fitting everything in has been tough.
“The amount of hats I’m having to wear. I’m going from creator to producer, to marketing, sales, to social media guru, homeschooling, to mum, to wife and in the midst of all of that my own mum had moved in with us for a period after my father passed away last year.
“Going from paperwork to production, it’s hard work, but we knew it would be. We are currently challenging ourselves, putting ourselves in situations we're uncomfortable with, all the while knowing we've got a great product.”
Jackson Roze now stocks in 25 outlets – two months after the first stockist came on board – with more in the pipeline. Fortunately, after a few samples placed with buyers at the beginning, the stockists are seeking the Jacksons out.
And they are extremely grateful for all the help they have received. It’s a business that has really helped a small family come together and create something special.
“There’s not a bottle sold we’re not grateful for.”
Jackson Roze - handcrafted with love and care. And it tells!
