Andrew Quinlan from Orchard Pig gave a talk to 65 pupils and staff on his entrepreneurial journey from “Royal Marine to Magners”. 

After starting out on a farm in Norwich, Andrew always dreamed of farming pigs, but his life took a slight diversion when his mother told him to join the Royal Marines. After leaving the Marines, Andrew worked for Mars pet foods and pursued his hobby of cider-making on the side. Eventually, the demand for his cider and apple juice grew to the point where it was worth quitting the day job and giving it a go! Andrew grew the business from a small orchard in West Bradley to a million pound operation which was eventually bought in 2017 by the C&C group (Magners). Andrew talked about setting up the business along with his sources of finance, the product portfolio and the varied and interesting marketing mix and how that is changing with the advent of new technology and social media. The key message from Andrew’s talk was: enjoy what you do, do your research, never give up, work hard and the rewards will follow. The Business Enterprise and Hospitality pupils showed a keen interest with a multitude of questions at the end from the likes of Tom, Toby, Clara and Mrs Vigers along with a number of pupils staying at the end to ask lots of questions. Our thanks to Andrew for sharing his time and knowledge with us.

Paul Reed - Business Studies & Economics