Smoking cocktail entrepreneurs look for backers

Two North East entrepreneurs are looking for investors for their smoking cocktails idea.

NiteOwl founders, Colin Myers and Rob Flunder, have developed a machine that injects dry ice into the bottom of drinks glasses to create a smoking effect.

Colin, a former manager for the Walkabout chain of bars first came across the concept at a Las Vegas Show Bar and saw its potential.

The duo, who met playing cricket, began selling the smoking cocktails at Sam Jacks bar in Newcastle and the customers loved it, prompting them to resign from their jobs and concentrate on the business full time.

Rob, a former account executive at manufacturing firm, ThyssenKrupp, said: “The drink becomes a real talking point and always provokes a reaction.

“It’s become a ritual like a Jagerbomb or a Flaming Sambuca, and always gets people interacting with each other and taking photos. The benefit for operators is that the system increases add-on sales.

“We knew we were onto something when we were asked to showcase our product at the Playboy Mansion, when other big companies were paying just to be there. NiteOwl is designed to be fun and I can assure you there is no more fun place on the planet than the Playboy Mansion.”

Since NiteOwl was launched in 2009, they’ve turned over around £400,000 selling their system to bars across Europe. They also have an events team taking the concept to corporate functions, weddings and private parties.

Rob added: “The majority of the time has been spent on research and development, but we are now ready to push sales with our new machine

“The secret is that the machine injects a dry ice powder into a chamber at the bottom of the glass where it’s safely stored, removing the need to handle the dry ice. The powder sublimates quickly once a drink is added and chills the drink without diluting alcohol which is a benefit over traditional ice.”

One of NiteOwl’s first customers was Utopian Leisure, which runs five venues including Fat Buddha Asian Bar & Kitchen in Newcastle and Durham, the Loveshack nightclub in Durham, Sam Jacks bar in Newcastle and The Box in Belfast, Northern Ireland’s biggest nightclub.

Managing director Bob Senior was so impressed he invested £50,000 in the business.

He said: “I first bought a NiteOwl kit in December 2010 and recovered my outlay of £1,500 in less than a month from additional sales. Obviously I was delighted and bought more to put into all of my outlets, where they are still operating and producing results. Customers love the buzz as the dry ice produces the smoke effect, lots of photos are taken on cameras and that’s great to advertise your premises to their friends who receive the photo.”

Now Colin and Rob are looking for a further £300k investment to commercialise the product globally and are looking into a variety of funding options including Kickstarter, equity crowd funding, private angel investors, and organisations like RTC North, NEL Fund Managers and the MAS.

Rob added: “Long term the big idea is that once we’ve grown NiteOwl for the licensed and leisure trade, we’ll look to enter the home market with our Soda Stream style NiteOwl system.”