Tap Social, an award-winning craft brewery, bakery and hospitality brand on a mission to reduce reoffending through prison-leaver employment, has attracted investment from a number of high-profile backers in its initial funding round, including ex-Punch Taverns CEO Giles Thorley and healthcare innovator David Hipkiss.
The company quickly surpassed its initial funding target of £500,000 and has now set a new expanded goal of £1m. In addition to money committed from angel investors, the opportunity to invest is open to investors on Crowdcube.
Tap Social was founded in 2016 by sisters Tess and Amy Taylor, and Paul Humpherson, all of whom had come from careers in the criminal justice system. Its profit-for-purpose model combines criminally good beer, bakery and busy venues for meaningful change. With annual revenues exceeding £2.5m, the fast-scaling business has delivered 105,000 hours of paid employment to prisoners and ex-offenders and has developed a comprehensive business strategy since completing the government-funded Help to Grow: Management Course.
The company is set to announce a listing with a national retailer across over 150 locations later this year. The investment will support this national supermarket expansion in addition to new venue rollouts, brewery scaling, bakery upgrades, and brand marketing. It will also create up to fifteen new career opportunities for the company's workforce - 30% of which is made up of ex-prisoners.
David Hipkiss, Tap Social investor and founder of AlveoGene, said: “Tap Social’s mission is fantastic and I’ve been impressed by how it has rapidly grown to five locations, including an upgraded brewery and a thriving commercial bakery. The company has so much potential and now is the perfect time to invest as it makes its national retail debut, alongside wider major growth plans over the next couple of years.
“What’s impressed me the most has been the team’s resilience and ability to adapt to new challenges and opportunities, keeping the company growing commercially while increasing its social impact. Being able to be part of something that truly turns lives around is very rewarding.”
Tess Taylor, co-founder of Tap Social, added: “We’ve been committed to driving a real social change from day one, and this funding will help us significantly increase the impact we can make. Taking part in the Help to Grow: Management Course was transformational in our journey. It allowed us to identify and pursue the growth opportunities on offer, propelling us to the position we’re in today.
“It’s fantastic to gain further support and endorsement through a number of high-profile backers, and the funding we raise now will enable us to realise our ambitions growth plans. We have big plans for increasing the reach and visibility of our mission through more locations and major national retail listings.”
Help to Grow: Management is a 90% government funded, 12-week course delivered across over 60 business schools and designed to help SMEs increase resilience, innovation, and growth. For a £750 and a 50 hour time investment, more than 10,000 business owners have transformed their business' growth journey. Tess Taylor completed the course at the Oxford Brookes Business School.
About Help to Grow: Management:
Help to Grow: Management is a 12-week course designed to support business leaders and their senior managers to increase resilience, innovation, and growth within their organisations.
Developed and delivered by the network of Small Business Charter accredited business schools, the course is available in more than 60 locations across the UK and is 90% government funded. It is designed to fit around existing work and personal commitments, providing business leaders with more than 50 hours of online and in person training including 10 hours of one-to-one mentoring. Individuals completing the course automatically join the Alumni Network, where they have access to exclusive events, content and partner offers, as well as the support of a UK-wide peer network.
The Small Business Charter (SBC) empowers small business success through its network of expert business schools. Developed 10 years ago by Lord Young, the previous Department for Business, and the Chartered Association of Business Schools, the SBC was established to signpost entrepreneurs, small businesses, and local economic stakeholders to business schools in their region with the expertise to help them thrive. There are 67 SBC accredited business school centres of excellence across the UK which are trusted partners of local stakeholders and the national government to deliver effective leadership and productivity programmes and small business support to drive economic growth.