Leeds cocktail firm Zest Mixology secures funding deal for London expansion

Zest Mixology, the Leeds-based cocktail company, has been granted a scale-up loan from HSBC worth upto £80k.

The company, which was formed in 2011 by entrepreneur, will use the funding to open a London warehouse operation to serve customers located across the South of England, in addition to creating eight new full jobs over the next three years.

Zest Mixology has supplied pop up drinks services to more than 2500 corporate events to date, for firms such as Nokia, BMW, EE, Lloyds TSB, First Direct, Barclays and others.

Since launching, Zest Mixology has secured a total of £95k in funding. Having first established Zest Mixology, Murdo worked together with HSBC relationship manager Maria Rogers to formulate a business plan and organise a startup loan of £15,000.

As the business grew, Murdo was able repay the loan in just 24 months.

Murdo MacLeod, managing director, said: “We’re thrilled to have secured significant funding from HSBC which will enable us to scale the business and double sales revenue over the next 12 months.

“Colin Glass from WGN was instrumental in facilitating the initial meeting with the HSBC, through his passion for helping SME’s grow, so I thank him for that.

“We’re also looking forward to providing further employment opportunities and welcoming new members to our team. As a company, we’ve experienced a consistent history of year on year growth and an overwhelmingly positive market reaction to our corporate drinks services. There’s a bright future ahead for Zest Mixology.”

Andrew Bennett, HSBC’s area director of West and South Yorkshire, commented: “HSBC is passionate about supporting growing SMEs and assisting businesses to create jobs and expand into new markets.

“Zest Mixology is a dynamic business which has now made its mark in the drinks and leisure industry. We look forward to seeing the business grow and our continued support demonstrates our appetite to back businesses in Yorkshire and beyond.”