MAFFEO DRINKS

In Ep. 60, I had an incredible chat with Nick Gillett, Managing Director of Mangrove Global. We spoke about all the aspects of bringing Drinks Brands to market from start to scale, including distributors, Wholesalers, and all the links in the Drinks Ecosystem. I hope you will enjoy our chat.

Time Stamps
0:00 Intro
1:20 Brand or Liquid Marketing Foundation
1:58 Nick Gillett Intro
6:58 Wholesalers & Importers Differences
12:50 The Game of Share of Mind
16:53 The Diversity of Wholesale
25:58 Has Wholesale Changed?
28:53 The Value of Relationships
32:10 Outro

About The Host: Chris Maffeo
About The Guest: Nick Gillett

Show Notes

Episode Deep-Dive Analysis Available at maffeodrinks.com 

In Ep. 60, I had an incredible chat with Nick Gillett, Managing Director of Mangrove Global. We spoke about all the aspects of bringing Drinks Brands to market from start to scale, including distributors, Wholesalers, and all the links in the Drinks Ecosystem. I hope you will enjoy our chat.


Time Stamps

0:00 Intro

1:20 Brand or Liquid Marketing Foundation

1:58 Nick Gillett Intro

6:58 Wholesalers & Importers Differences

12:50 The Game of Share of Mind

16:53 The Diversity of Wholesale

25:58 Has Wholesale Changed?

28:53 The Value of Relationships

32:10 Outro


About The Host: Chris Maffeo

About The Guest: Nick Gillett





Interested in Group Subscriptions, Keynote Presentations or Advisory? You can get in touch at bottomup@maffeodrinks.com or find out more at maffeodrinks.com 

Creators and Guests

Host
Chris Maffeo
Drinks Leadership Advisor | Bridging Bottom-Up Reality & Top-Down Expectations
Guest
Nick Gillett
Founder & Managing Director | Mangrove UK

What is MAFFEO DRINKS?

The MAFFEO DRINKS Podcast is a leading drinks industry podcast delivering frontline insights for drinks leadership.

For founders, directors, distributor MDs, and hospitality leaders navigating the tension between bottom-up reality and top-down expectations.

20+ years building brands across 30+ markets. Each episode features drinks builders: founders, distributors, commercial directors, sharing how the drinks industry actually works. Not the conference version. Honest conversations.

Insights come from sitting at the bar.

Beyond episodes: advisory for leadership teams, subscription with episode deep dives and principles to navigate your own reality.

Beer, wine, spirits, Low and non-alcoholic.

Bottom-up Insights & Episode Deep Dives at https://maffeodrinks.com

Welcome to the Mafao Drinks
Podcast.

I'm your host Chris Mafao.
In episode 60 I had an

incredible chat with Nick
Gillet, Managing Director of

Mangrove Global.
We spoke about all the aspects

of bringing drinks brands to
market from start to scale

distributors, wholesalers and
all the links of the drinks

ecosystem.
I hope you will enjoy your chat.

One last thing, if you enjoy
this podcast, you will also like

the Mafao Drinks guides where
you'll find all you need to

build a brand.
Bottom up, you can subscribe

free or paid on my third
drinks.com.

Hi, Nick.
How you doing?

I'm good, Chris.
Thanks very much so.

Welcome to the My Third Drinks
Podcast.

It's an honor to have you.
You know, I've been following

your journey for quite some
years, I think.

I think you were one of the
first people that I started

reading, you know, posts on
LinkedIn and commenting on and

reading articles and we finally
met and we recognise each other

at Bar Convent a couple of years
ago and at a stand and I said I

think we know each other
virtually.

I was very kind that you've
taken the time to read some of

my rantings on on LinkedIn.
You're never quite sure if

anyone does, and I've been
listening to a number of your

podcasts.
To me, your great guests are

quite interesting and every
day's a school day, so we can

always all learn.
Fantastic, fantastic.

So let's start.
I mean, you know, one of my

starting question is always does
it start with the brand or the

liquid?
That's one of my favorite

question to ask.
What?

What's your take on that one
for?

US Mangrove Actually, it's a
pretty simple answer.

It always starts with the
liquid.

When we first started the
company and and to this day any

potential brand, We always taste
blind against its competitive

set.
You can always change packaging

and branding and often you know
we we get sent liquids in

different bottles and various
things.

So it's always starts with the
liquid and then every other

layer comes on top.
Nice.

I I, I agree.
Let's start with a bit of an

intro about you.
Like for for those who don't

know you like, just give us a
one minute kind of overview of

who you are and your experience
in the industry.

I'm Nick Gillett.
I'm the founder of Mangrove's

importer and distributor
Spirits.

Within the UK market we handle
sales and marketing for brands,

but both within the UK and
around the world who want to

achieve their potential in it in
in the UK, I've been in the

industry a long time.
I'm reminded of that every day

when I go out and now when I
talk to my team and sort of

recent recruits, I realise I'm
probably one of the older people

in the industry these days.
I started out working for a

wholesaler in London, so I was
just an account manager working

for Co visitors who were to my
mind still one of the best

wholesalers back back then in
the day.

Spirit specialist, Premium
spirit specialist as account

manager at Central London.
Then I moved into a marketing

role for them as a business, got
lucky, went and launched.

Was part of the team that
launched Sagatiba Kashasa, which

was just an amazing experience.
And between those two roles and

Jobs had this idea for a company
that can represent premium

spirit brands who needed stories
told.

And it's very difficult.
Most of your listeners won't

remember.
But cocktails were just becoming

a thing, right?
It didn't really exist.

I think we we probably only had
10 gin brands back then.

You know, it feels like a very
long time ago, but we built a

portfolio for many years,
started in 2006 as a independent

part of the wholesaler.
And then 2013 we were out in

market on our own.
And then in 2023, my partner and

I decided we would join Group
Bernard Higher, who operate

around the world as Spiribam, a
French conglomerate who who owns

some Spirit brands.
And we've been one year as one

of their companies.
Wow, that's a bit of a journey.

So you are.
So you're one of those people

that experienced this, the Stone
Age where there were 10 gin

brands in the UK market.
I was trying to explain to my

team, we we probably as a
wholesaler had I mean maybe 10

gin brands, but two of those
would have been magnums that

went on optics in in pubs.
It it was a very different, very

different time on on one hand
the the competition and number

of brands has grown
exponentially since then, but on

the other hand, the leading
likes of hospitality.

There were groups who were just
just amazing and we were so

different match group with one
that I was fortunate enough to

look after admit their
bartenders.

I think they were still
bartenders back then, not even

mixologists, but their their
drinks professionals just had

this encyclopaedic knowledge
that set the bar for me as a

salesman to talk to them and
actually were part of the

blueprint for Mangrove going
forward, you know, probably five

years after I first met.
Nice, nice.

I love the story and it's it's a
very bottom up story.

Yeah, it all starts to bottom up
and and one of the foundation

building blocks, the Mangrove,
was to understand all about the

liquid because we were taking
liquids to customers and they

wouldn't have heard of the
brands necessarily.

And my first experience as a
salesman was walking into a

match group with a bottle of
tequila have been asked to

deliver.
I think I've been a salesman for

three days in the drinks
industry.

And yeah, Sliding doors moment.
I got lucky.

The person I delivered to said,
what do you know about it?

I said absolutely nothing.
I was told never darken their

door again without knowing
something about the brand.

And they invited me to a
training session and I watched

10 people analyze Dissects
liquids in a category I knew

absolutely nothing about other
than as a student, I didn't like

it very much and I was amazed.
I was amazed with their depths

of their knowledge, their
passion and absolutely

intimidated about trying to then
sell.

I assumed everybody in the
industry was like that.

At that point I suddenly
thought, well, I better know

some stuff here.
I better read up and learn some

stuff about our brands and how
they compete in the marketplace.

So that sounds very, very
interesting.

I'm I'm a big fan of the you
know, the British entree because

I I used to come to to England
to learn English, you know,

since I was 15.
And I remember, you know, going

to the pubs and you know it was
a totally different culture for

me coming from Rome and you know
going to pubs just, you know,

like as as a restaurant, I mean
even just like to have dinner or

lunch.
And this whole culture was so

different to me that that that's
played a big role in my love for

for entree that then got me into
into what I'm what I'm doing

now.
So I'm.

I'm totally interested in that
and and especially like one of

the things that I explain when
people ask me how to explain the

difference between an importer
and a distributor and a

wholesaler is I always say the
importer goes horizontal and the

wholesaler goes vertical.
The importer goes nationwide and

the wholesaler, the distributor
goes vertical.

You know really deep down into
the, the nitty gritty of the

sales and like building on what
you were saying about you know

getting the knowledge and how to
move that one bottle, You know

how to make it a case, how to
how to grow the rotation and how

to move into into that.
Would you would you agree with

with that definition?
It's a relatively simple slip

between the two.
When you're a wholesaler, you

walk into any outlet, You want
100% of their products.

You want to supply them with
everything.

That's how you make your money
and pay your pay your bills so

the more you can do.
The reality is, to my mind, a

good wholesaler is one who can
provide a range of products at a

competitive price but backs it
up with service.

When you're an importer and
you're working, you walk into

that venue.
But paying your mortgage depends

on you selling and activating a
small number of brands, a finite

number of brands that you
represent and that slight

difference in focus and
emphasis, it should both be

working for your ultimate
consumer.

You're right in the an import
from my sales team, getting a

product listed is only part of
the job.

They need to then get the
rotation and try and gain market

share from from their
competitive sets.

Whereas A wholesaler can just
sit back and let all the brands

compete because they will be
taking a margin on every.

Yeah, I think it's the question
of focus and wholesalers,

there's only a few that have
national coverage.

So for brands, you need to work
with lots of wholesalers if you

want true national coverage.
And wholesalers can specialize

in a particular area if they
want, So they can become

specialists know their customers
in inside.

Out.
Yeah, yeah, I agree.

And also I think there's another
element to what you were saying

that I feel the importer is
always more on the brand owner

side of things, let's let's call
it pleasing them or let's let's

say understanding them.
And you know like taking that

kind of side while the
wholesalers I think would take

much more of a customer side.
They need to deliver to the

ultimate outlets, you know, to
the outlet owner, you know their

relationship is it with is with
the outlet owner and to your

point is like they can play with
a much wider selection of items.

So that the challenge is
actually exactly on that

relationship between importer
and distributor, wholesaler

because that's where you know
the two worlds meets and and you

need to ensure that that
conversation is happening in a

in a proper manner otherwise
important level stays very top

line and you know at brand side
and at wholesaler level becomes

a little bit too tactical on you
know kickbacks and discounts and

shipments and and not brand
Bill.

There's a wide variety of
solutions within the industry,

but I think the very best
wholesalers have a pretty

knowledgeable sales team who are
aware of brands and options out

there for their customer base
and understanding their

customers the most efficient,
the best logistics next day or

same day ordering is very
important for clients.

You know ultimately it's about
satisfying the demand of their

consumers they have in the
premises at one point as a a

brand importer or distributor we
only make money if our brands

are successful.
So it's quite a lot of emphasis

on that.
So yeah we we work very closely

with our brand owners at
Mangrove and there's there's

other people do the same as us.
We will if you if you wish

design and execute a marketing
plan for the UK amend something

you've got globally.
So specifics in the market and

we'll deliver that at out net
level, but wholesalers for us

are key.
You know if the wholesalers

won't list our products then
they won't do that.

We try to make sure that there's
a margin in there for them for

that vital service they provide.
We try to work with their sales

teams to provide stuff that's
interesting.

But at the same time, we're
obviously trying to deliver

against a set of criteria,
distribution or sales numbers,

whatever it might be for our
brand owners.

And it's a complex balanced,
trying to be balanced

relationship.
Some brands have decided that

they can't make that work and so
they go direct.

Some wholesalers are currently
building their own brand

portfolios.
So that makes that harder for us

necessarily to work hand in hand
with the the distribution model

is changing all the time.
You can see if you look to the

US, you know you've got one or
two very dominant players there

with thousands of thousands of
skews, very difficult for brands

emerging to gain any traction.
I think we need a strong

wholesale sector in the UK,
otherwise I'd have to spend a

whole heap of time and money on
logistics.

But equally we can't rely on
them.

They're busy.
They have things to do in a wide

range of products.
I have a sales team generating

mild and explaining my brands to
our ultimate consumers.

It's the model we have.
It's the one I believe works.

I can't expect anyone else to
sell my brands.

Is is I guess what it boils
there.

Yeah, I I mean ultimately I
always say it's a game of it's a

game of share of minds, no.
And it you know regardless at

which link of the value chain or
or at the drink system it is,

it's it's still about share of
mind you know.

And then I think when to your
point about going direct, I

think there is also an element
of you know, trying to blame the

system in a way that in the end
is just like you're just

postponing the problem now.
Because if you don't work with

shadow of mine, you know shadow
of mine happens at you know,

importers level, at wholesalers
level that you know like whether

you have to explain it to the
sales team of wholesaler to the

sales team of the importer, to
the bartender, to the bar

manager.
You know, like it's still about

really having a story to be
told, as you said at the

beginning, so that you know it.
You you have more chances to win

that battle for the saying, huh?
And then if you just catch one

of the elements, you know, you
could think you're a little bit

further down in the journey, but
then you still have to do that

thing that you probably skip as
you know the previous link of

the chain.
We talk about building brands

and building brand equity and
and that tends to be a long term

plan.
If you say there's a 100,000

class licensed outlets in the
UK, they will have many

customers at any moment in time
having to make a choice, often

looking at a back bar, often
trying to remember what advert

they saw last or what brand they
want to choose.

It difficult to read label from
a you know a distance.

So we rely ultimately we rely on
the bartender, the sommelier,

the independent retailer shelf
space, promotional activity to

try and engage with the end user
of the consumer.

And this is where bartenders and
training provide for new brands

or smaller brands provides such
a key service because otherwise

you need a brand representative
in every outlet all the time to

stand the best chance of getting
your products served.

When you work with wholesalers,
it's about trying to get a share

of voice.
So they remember to mention your

brands.
And have you spoken to Nick from

Mangrove?
You know, he's got great staff,

he's a great guy.
I've got really good support

because that makes them
potentially look better or maybe

they can make some margin or
whatever the reason may be.

It's quite a complex ecosystem.
And if you don't do those

things, so you know, if you're
going to miss out the wholesaler

network, you need to deliver
efficiently and you need a big

sales team.
And what what Mangrove do, what

a lot of importers do is they
scale what a brand could do on

their own using local knowledge.
So brands could absolutely set

up in the UK, build a huge sales
team just selling 1 brand and

some brands do that, but it's
very expensive.

Even with one brand, you will
struggle to get some accounts

open because it's another
delivery, it's another person

the buyers got to talk to.
And so being part of report

failure of like minded brands
helps a lot of brands in the UK.

So I'd like to think that
mangroves are present in most

conversations because of one or
other in the brand we've got in

a portfolio and it allows us to
talk to about other brands.

I guess the compromise is we're
not solely focused on delivering

1 brand the whole time.
It's much more of a portfolio

approach.
But I think the strength in

numbers and I think the strength
in working with like minded

brands and for my sales people
have a big advantages.

They can walk in and say to her
an account, I'd like to talk to

you about gin.
And I say, well, we don't want

to talk about gin, where we can
talk about anything else from

arap to whiskey.
Yeah, I can imagine when I

started writing about it and
digging into the the thing

during my home days during
COVID, I always felt when I was

having conversation with brand
owners or with people in the

industry that the wholesaler is
a big bit of a kind of like a

black hole that nobody knows.
Nobody really cracks in the

sense of understanding whether
you've been in the industry as a

marketing director or says
director for 20 years or 15

years or or 25 years, you still
don't actually understand

exactly the nitty gritty of the
wholesale business now.

And there is an element for me,
it's a bit of a the old story of

the the fox and the grape.
No, like the fox can't reach the

grape and then it says the grape
is is bad.

You know, that's nothing
special.

I don't like grapes.
So there is that elements also

because like many brands
especially the smaller one don't

manage to gain that kind of like
place at the table, sit at the

table and having that
conversation.

It's like the kind of thing like
Nick doesn't answer my e-mail

kind of thing.
You know, like I don't manage,

you know, I'd love to go with
Mangrove, but I never get a

reply because they have other
brands, other priorities.

So then I'll go on my own kind
of thing.

And then the other element is
actually I don't understand

exactly.
You know, most of the people get

lost into the no, but I've got a
distributor, Yeah, but that's an

importer.
No, no, but that's a

distributor.
You know, the word distributor

sometimes gets applied to
wholesalers, sometimes gets

applied to branding agencies
that do some deliveries.

Sometimes it's it's an importer
that is just having a license

for the country but doesn't have
any boots on the ground kind of

thing.
So what is your opinion on on

that one?
I absolutely agree.

It's very confusing because
importers, distributors,

wholesalers, sometimes the
boundaries aren't clear and

there's a blurring of lines
because people do a bit of

everything.
If you look at the UK as a

whole, in global terms, it's a
relatively small drinks market

in terms of case sales.
It's an incredibly competitive

market.
It it's, it's had open borders

and and up until recently a
relatively small national drinks

trading.
And you know we've been very

good at beer.
We have a history in in, in

June.
We've got a great new history

coming in wine.
But generally we've been open to

things from around the world for
a long for a long time and we're

very multicultural.
We've taken trends and we've

loved food in in new food trends
and and chefs and and various

things.
What what that means for brands

is very difficult to reach that
Gale and satisfy everybody at

once what wholesalers and what I
believe and listen I'm totally

biased because you know I worked
for one who I saw were were

excellent and I and I look at
some of the.

Colleagues in the teams, I was
in there and then I I'm not sure

you realise quite how good our
model was, but a wholesaler

provides a delivery mechanic for
the brands.

It's the way that your boxes
arrive at your end.

Consumer.
Good wholesalers are very, very

good at that.
There are people doing same day

deliveries and guys who, you
know walk it around the corner

and all of those sorts of things
and that service element, they

do the credit control, they do
all of those all of those tasks

people forget about that has a
value and wholesalers take that

in margin.
The the simple equation is look

at what they're charging and
look at what it would cost you

to do and look at the coverage
that you get with them compared

to what you could do yourself.
Is it worth it, right.

If you don't think it's worth
it, go ahead and do it yourself.

For me, wholesalers offer quite
often local knowledge.

They will guide you us to
accounts that are worse time and

money and investment.
And maybe those who who who

aren't, they will have
experience, they will know the

characters and they can offer
scale.

You know, it's one delivery for
me to a wholesaler who can then

service fit the accounts for me.
And that to me has a, has a

absolutely has a value.
I think where it becomes

difficult is some wholesalers
will say to brands, yeah, will

be your importer, will be your
distributor, will, will be your

brand representative.
And initially that's a great

model.
They can guarantee some sales,

they can push it through, they
can substitute products, they

can do all of that.
But most accounts in the UK have

more than one wholesaler.
And I don't know, wholesaler has

100% distribution in the UK.
So there's always gaps and

wholesale needles typically
don't want to buy up each other.

Why?
Why would they?

Your competitor has brands and
they'll be retaining A margin

and they'll have access to
information.

So for brands, that's a
difficult model.

It seems great initially, but it
becomes very difficult to get to

the next scale equally as I said
earlier, wholesale.

And it's fundamentally it's
about volume of trade.

When push comes to shaft,
they're probably not going to

walk away from account because
they you don't take a particular

gin or a vodka.
So as a brand owner you know and

and there's plenty of different
models out there but we only

mangrove only make money on each
case we sell that focuses the

mind a lot into doing the best
for those brand owners.

So you know, I understand the
frustration of distributors and

there's a number of good
distributors in the UK, but

pretty much we all have quite
big portfolios or full

portfolios and we can't take
every brand.

There are other companies and I
look at somebody like Duffy

Share who who's been through a
journey of distributors and they

use their logistics back office
tool, Kruger, I know, I know

Jack mentioned it when when you
were chatting to him.

And I think the brands often
it's not one-size-fits-all and

often it may be different steps
at different times in their

brand life cycle.
So if you're very focused on one

geographical area, you can work
exclusively with one wholesaler

who hits all of those accounts,
and then you might need to

branch out.
These days, there's different

people, there's sales agencies
who don't buy your stock, who

just charge your retainer.
There's there's, there's a

number of different solutions,
but it isn't easy.

You can.
Imagine and and and This is what

like when you were talking.
Like it was bringing me back to

my old days as a sales guy in
Rome.

One of the things like of I just
realized like when you were

talking that one of the reasons
why I've been so focusing on the

details and I like to deep dive
into the details of things and

not just stay on the surface is
because when I was a sales guy,

I used to get paid on.
I mean the let's say the fixed

salary was like marginal.
It was on Commission, but the

Commission was on on the actual
money that I was getting paid by

the customer.
So it wasn't on the invoice, he

was on actually getting the
money back.

So my attention was always on
this kind of like level of brand

building or what, you know, we
wouldn't need a good outlets,

but then we would also need a
good outlet that would pay,

which is often very
misunderstood by brand owners

when they stay at top level.
Now as like we want to be in XYZ

kind of bar, but you know, like
there is something that you're

paying on the wholesaler level
like the risk of insolvency, you

know the risk of breakage or
whatever, you know and and very

often it's easy to look at an
Excel sheet from a corporate

headquarter without knowing what
actually goes into the basics of

of the business.
Now and it's it's something that

is very dear to me because I
mean if you see like the the

photo that I've got over there,
like there's my grandfather

sitting in front of his shop and
he was a wholesaler in the South

of Italy.
And I can't remember if I told

you about this and and that the
business was open for 100 years.

You know, his father had opened
it and then you know, nobody

wanted to continue that business
in the family.

And then he died when I was only
six years old.

So I wasn't in down the line of
continuation.

This is the best I can do from
that, from that angle.

But like what makes me think,
like, I've always had that in

the back of my mind.
And what's interesting and what

I'd like to know from you is
that do you think like the

actual wholesale business as it
changed like with all this news

and things and digitalization
and Google Maps and all these

things, do you think that the
actual essence of wholesale

business has changed?
I have this conversation a lot.

So what am I, 2025 years, maybe
a few more years than that.

Out Out of wholesale not being
one, the rules we operated and

back then we we walked away from
a business which was two types

of market because it wasn't
worth it.

We didn't do very many beers and
waters and and mixers and things

like that because they were
heavy and they took up space on

the truck and we'd rather sell
champagne and and and Magnums of

vodka because the margins were
better.

We were 300% focused on getting
paid.

It's funny you mentioned that
it's a key element and you know

brands working with wholesalers
and and it spreads your risk or

concentrates your risk into one
person going bus.

But you don't have to spend all
your time chasing chasing money

and hospitality.
He's got a track record of

business failure because it's
just the sheer nature of it,

it's hard.
So I think when you look at

what's happened, technology has
come in, it's streamlined the

ordering process.
There's lots of automated

systems to make it easier at at
at bar level everyone has

Google, right?
I mean you can all, you can all

go and search this software
around to help map routes and

you know maximize vehicle loads.
But the fundamental process and

we'll caveat it slightly but the
fundamental process of service

looking after your customers
making sure product arrives on

time, the right orders and and
and wholesalers when they do it

properly add a real layer of
knowledge and experience.

I don't think that's changed.
I don't think where it's done

well.
I think it's even more valuable

at the at the moment to be
honest because COVID for a big

change in starting and
expertise.

I think what has changed to a
certain extent and it's driven

by staffing, it's driven by
other business considerations

such as high overheads and you
know taxation and energy costs

and COVID loans and various
things is whether venues value

wholesalers as much as they used
to.

And there has been certainly in
in the market, there's there was

a a race for market share people
trying to get every last penny

up a bottle, which I understand
on one hand.

But on the other hand if you
need time to deliver to you on

Sunday or you need an emergency
order or whatever else, then

there's always a compromise to
be to be met.

And I think some of the biggest
threat and owners, I think

they've forgotten the role that
wholesalers can play in

distribution, ceding new brands,
getting getting things out

there.
So while whilst I don't think

the good practice has changed
and I think technology may have

been harder parts of it and
various in.

I'm not sure people value value
it as much.

But I but I think that's the
same across society as a bit

wider people have forgotten
values of relationships and and

personal things.
You know, when I was a

wholesaler, my phone was on for
my customers pretty much round

the clock because that's how I
earn my living.

And so if I could respond and
look after them and and and

everything else I would in
service orientated business

that's we, we've seen people be
focused on other things recently

for bigger business reasons.
I can imagine, I can imagine and

and I mean and that's in a way
like that's the beauty of it

that you know, as much as we can
digitalize and make things

sufficient, effective and you
know, doing all this kind of

like economic scale, like it is
like there is this human element

that is still, you know, driving
things.

It's just that you know you need
to top it up with the system of

of habits, of good habits and
good practices that you know.

Otherwise it becomes like a bit
of a band of rock and rollers

going around the city.
You you can meet your needs for

you know a particular spirit in
in a number of ways and and you

frankly could choose and
actually quite good products low

price with no no branding.
Certainly in the UK you know we

have a lack of brand calling as
a culture but what you're going

to get drink and get served if
you don't rent call probably

won't Yeah it's not going to
kill you you know it it it may

not be the best drink ever but
it's not going to be the worst.

I just think people are missing
out so much.

Hospitality for me is all about
the people and all about the

occasion and I extend that to
our, you know, I'm really lucky

with some of our brand partners
we have and some of the ones

I've worked with over the years.
I'm friends with a lot of those.

I'm friends with competitors in
the industry.

It's unusual for that.
You don't, you don't get that in

a lot of industries.
Mangrove is in the brand

representation business.
We do that through stories, we

do that through explanations, we
do that through training.

But we've just got some
amazingly interesting people and

brand owners that you know, I I
would love to take every

consumer to visit some of our
disk deliveries.

You know, that would be the
easiest mechanic to sell out

brands because once you're there
when you're doing and you feel

the love, the dedication that
goes into making some of these

products, it's great.
And the same thing happens with

chefs and farmers and
mixologists, right?

I mean, just go into a good
quality bar and, you know, ask

the bar in there, what do you
recommend?

What's there?
What's interesting?

And there's a good chance you're
going to learn something.

You're going to find a brand or
a drink you haven't tried before

or a slant on it.
It's a living, breathing thing.

There are a lot of people out
there who do really, really

worthwhile jobs and, you know,
save lives and do and do

everything like that.
Hospitality doesn't do that, but

it it does bring a feel good
factor to people That human

connection is is the part that
technology can't, can't,

replace.
I don't want my drinks served by

a robot I don't particularly
want out of a vending machine.

I like human interaction in the
conversation.

That's all for today.
Remember that this is a two-part

episode, 60 and 61.
If you enjoyed it, I have a

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