In 2016, sisters Tess and Amy Taylor, as well as Amy’s husband Paul Humpherson, decided to leave London behind and open a business. The family had all worked within the criminal justice system and embarked on a venture that combined this experience with the booming industry of craft beer. 

With first-hand experience of the lack of practical help for prison leavers, Tap Social Brewery was set up in Oxford.

Director and Founder, Tess Taylor, explains “We wanted to do something that would have a tangible impact on people going through the justice system. The beer business idea came from all of us being excited about the industry and eventually seeing it as a vehicle for a great social mission.”

“We quit our jobs, moved into our first warehouse, and began working with people on day release from prison and prison leavers.”

Since 2016, the business has made impressive strides, opening five sites (including taprooms and a bakery), generating 90,000 hours of paid employment for prisoners and prison leavers, and being awarded the Oxfordshire Business Awards’ (OXBA) Business of the Year Award. After winning the award, Tess was inspired to invest time in developing her skills and knowledge.

The Help to Grow: Management Course

“OXBA was sponsored, in part by Oxford Brookes, and a number of people on the judging committee recommended we look into the Help to Grow: Management Course. This suggestion came at a really useful time because we were looking to grow in ways we hadn’t tried before.”

At the start of 2024, Tess joined the course, to improve her leadership skills, develop employee engagement, and grow the business. As the year comes to a close, she has already made progress in all of these areas.

Better Leadership

“I was attracted to the course because of its focus on management. I sometimes felt like I wasn't an effective manager and before embarking on our business journey, I’d never had any people management or leadership training, so I didn’t feel experienced in that aspect of my role.

 “What I found useful was hearing from my peer group on the course about how they manage different situations. It helped me reflect on my management style and how that would be interpreted by staff.

“The course helped me put systems in place that made sure I had regular touch points with our employees so I wasn’t being too hands-off and then over-correcting at the end of a project.”

Engaging Employees

Tess didn’t only look inward at her own development, she also investigated how she could make the business work better internally.

“The ‘Employee Engagement’ module stood out to me. It covered how you bring people into your business and make them feel supported. In my head, I thought that we did this intrinsically, but the module made me realise we could do more.

“I sent a survey to our team members and asked for anonymous rankings of what we offer and prompted for feedback on what they’d like to see. The feedback led to us implementing changes, such as an extra day of holiday for every year worked, an employee of the month scheme, and more team socials.

“To keep us all on the same page we also reinstated a company-wide newsletter as well as team training days.”

Ultimately, these changes have created a more unified workplace with a positive culture for Tap Social Movement’s 50 employees.

Growing the business

Looking at opening new sites

Pitching major retailers to stock their products

The team at Tap Social Movement is now looking to raise equity and is pitching to investors with the goal of its criminally good beer  being stocked by major retailers.

“The Mission, Vision and Values module helped me consider how we present our business, which combined with the confidence the course has given me has had a massive impact on how I pitch.”

The funding will go to PR and marketing campaigns to support the retail listings,  as well as scaling up equipment to meet demand.

With the bright future of the business in mind, Tess says “I would recommend that all business leaders and managers do the Help to Grow: Management Course. When you engage in it and build connections it’s amazing.

“It was great to create a group of peers to keep in touch with and share ideas with as we continue to develop our business.

“My confidence has grown and so has our vision for what Tap Social can achieve.”

Find out how the Help to Grow: Management Course can further your organisation here.

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