Seven Bro7hers was set up by the McAvoy brothers, Guy, Keith, Luke, Dan, Nat, Kit and Greg. Growing up with an amateur brewer father, his hobby inspired them to start up their own business in 2013.
They sold their first pint in 2014 and since then have expanded into bars, opening their first in Salford, with four – soon to be six – more around the region and now employ 120 people. The company has seen tremendous growth, with revenue up by 614% since 2017 and 40% year on year growth (2022 vs 2021). They have also signed national distribution deals with Asda and Lidl.
Like any new business they had their teething problems: the brothers initially struggled to finance their start-up costs, including purchasing the equipment they needed to begin their brewing operations. So the brothers approached BGH’s Access to Finance (A2F) team looking for help in finding start-up capital.
Ian Dixon, Senior Business Advisor – A2F at the BGH explains, “A2F were able to support the Seven Brot7hers strategy by understanding and evaluating the business finance requirements, identifying appropriate funding sources and making introductions to introducing the right lenders. The experience, and guidance and support of an the A2F advisor ensured the business provided all information in the relevant format to ensuring an investment ready proposal and enabling a quick, efficient and positive decision from the lender.”
The result was a £50,000 loan from GC Business Finance, which was enough to help the brothers buy the equipment they required to get started leading to three new jobs being created.
Keith McAvoy, managing director at Seven Bro7hers, then began working with a Hub adviser on building the business plan. Advisor, Michael Hadfield, helped them with local sourcing, logistics and buying procedures, and provided up-to-date sector information – including building a cost of goods calculator which they used to establish their margins and costs.
“We discussed routes to market, in particular wholesale and supermarkets, and I was able to give them an inside edge on how to approach buyers,” explains Michael Hadfield, then sector specific adviser at BGH.
BGH also supported the company in a successful bid for £5000 of funding to work with Manchester Metropolitan University as one of the first breweries in the country to road test a new scheme to introduce the SALSA food safety standard into brewing.
Seven Bro7hers were on the very Recipe4Success cohort, a specialist programme of support for food and drink SMEs.
“When we launched the Recipe4Success Hub, there was a palpable sense of excitement and anticipation, and Seven Brothers was right there with us. Watching them engage deeply in workshops and actively collaborate with our advisors to craft their marketing strategy was truly inspiring. Seven Brothers’ journey with us serves as a testament to the potential and promise we envisioned for every participant in Recipe4Success.” Marc Appleton, Business Growth Advisor at BGH.
“Seven Brothers have worked with the Business Growth Hub since 2014 and its very satisfying to see the operation span manufacturing, hospitality and retail with core innovation at its heart. Having attended the inaugural Recipe4Success programme with follow on 1-2-1 support its impressive to see how far their commercial skills, innovative products and property portfolio has come. They’re genuinely nice guys as well,” says Michael Hadfield, former BGH adviser.
As Seven Bro7hers look to open their sixth and seventh locations and are part way through a crowdfunding campaign to help build their permanent home in Greater Manchester, Keith McAvoy reflects on their journey.
“GC Business Growth Hub have been there for us since day one with guiding advice on all aspects of building a business from start-up to scale-up. As we transition to the next phase of our development the Growth Hub will be an invaluable asset ensuring we take the right decisions at the right time.”
GC Business Growth Hub have been helping Greater Manchester businesses, like Seven Bro7hers, grow since 2011. You can read more about their impact here – Our Impact | GC Business Growth Hub
GC Business Growth Hub was part financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) 2014-2021, as part of a portfolio of ERDF-funded programmes designed to help ambitious SME businesses achieve growth and increase employment in Greater Manchester. Working in partnership with Greater Manchester Combined Authority, Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC), formerly the Department for Communities and Local Government and Greater Manchester Local Enterprise Partnership.