Commercial Considerations
Thinking of going into business selling your hard grafted crafted cider or perry? Whilst this will not have all the answers, we are lucky enough to have the expertise within the group.
If you don’t find your answer below, or if you are still unsure, please ask on the group – just don’t expect them to give all their secrets away.
How do I start selling my cider?
The first thing to be aware of is that selling any cider or perry in any quantity without the necessary licence and exemption is breaking the law. With that out of the way, what do you need to have in order to start selling?
- Duties & Cidermakers Exemption.
Fortunately, cider currently enjoys an exemption from duty by Customs & Excise. A cidermaker can make up to 7,000 litres of cider before having to register for duty. This is not an automatic exemption though, and if you intend to make any kind of real quantity you should apply for exemption. Information is available through the following links, and the application form can also be downloaded.
Once applied for, expect a visit to check your premises and to make sure you don’t have vats buried underground. This will be followed by a letter of confirmation (note that you are not exempt until you have this letter!)
After this, or should you be altering your cider by adding something not on the 'approved' list (e.g. Honey - see here for an except to notice 162 relating to additives), duty should be paid at the rates given below (current at 30/5/2009):
| Still cider and perry | Exceeding 1.2% - not exceeding 7.5% | £26.48 |
| Still cider and perry | Exceeding 7.5% - less than 8.5% | £39.73 |
| Sparkling cider and perry | Exceeding 1.2% - not exceeding 5.5% | £26.48 |
| Sparkling cider and perry | Exceeding 5.5% - less than 8.5% | £172.33 |
| Still wine and made-wine | Exceeding 5.5% - not exceeding 15% | £177.99 |
| Wine and made-wine | Exceeding 15% - not exceeding 22% | £237.31 |
Rates are £ per hectolitre. (percentages relate to the abv.)
- Licencing.
There are several types of licences available, a ‘Personal Licence’ will enable a cidermaker to sell at 52 events per year, plus to retailers and others who hold 'Premises Licences'.
To sell at your farm gate, there needs to be a premises licence - which will entail such things as HACCP plan, Fire and maintain cleaning rota's etc.
There has been soem discussion over what licence you need to do various things, so it is always worth trawling the group archives. However, in simple terms the only times you may sell alcohol without any licence is:
- to a licencee (e.g. pub, club or off-licence), where they are retailing the product to customers. Please note that this does not include the internet - you are required to have a licence for this.
- at an event covered by a Temporary Events Notice (TEN). Note, if the event has a premises licence, you are required to have a personal licence in order to sell alcohol. As a non licence holder, you are allowed to apply for (at a cost) 10 TEN's per annum.
In order to get a personal licence, you will need to attend a course. A list of establishments running the required courses are available by following the link below
- Food Hygiene, Environmental Health and Trading Standards
Under the Food Safety Act, before you start to sell, you will need to register as a food production business with your local District Council Environmental Health Dept. This will ultimately lead to a visit to check out your premises, view your HACCP plan (cleaning and hazard risk assessment).
With this in mind, start to write up cleaning rota's, keep a record for batch control and think about having your cider/perry tested (you will need to establish its precise alcohol content to comply with the labelling regulations in any case). Once registered, you will probably get a periodical visit from Environmental Health or Trading Standards to ensure you are doing what you should.
Each business will experience different levels of interest from the authorities. However, it is probably worth investigating a Level 2 Award in Food Safety.
Trading Standards/ Weights & Measures
This is an important factor to consider when starting a business selling a bottled product, and once you have registered yourself as a small business expect contact from Trading Standards to ensure that you are on the right track. It ought to be added that generally these people are there to advise as opposed to punish - and you are sure to forget 'something' along the way.
- Measurements/Volumes. Short selling folks is the quickest way to bring on a visit from the TS. The safest bet is to plan to 'over fill' by a small percentage - it would be interesting to see if anyone has ever been reported for over filling! This can be done by using a filling measurement. Usually the distance (in mm) from the top of the bottle to the top of the liquid can be found on the bottom of the bottle. You will need to check with the bottle manufacturer whether this is the top of the glass or cap included.
Measuring the distance like this generally requires a 'template' which should be purchased from the bottle supplier and be approved by TS. A more expensive route is to buy a bottling machine with variable nozzles. This can guarantee consistancy (as long as they are set up correctly).
Another way of measuring quantity is by using scales - although bear in mind bottle weights can vary, and TS will almost certainly want to check and stamp your scales to ensure they are accurate.
Essentially, a TS officer is going to ask 'how can you prove this' in regards to ensuring the correct quantity of cider is being sold.
- % Vol. Once you start to sell, a hobby hydrometer is no longer sufficient to measure the alcohol volume, and you will need to seek out more accurate instruments, which can be expensive.
Ironically, however, the UK law allows you to be 1% out either way in your eventual ABV - this is the reason that most producers of full juice cider opt for between 6.5 and 7%
- Planning / Change of use
It is wise to speak to your local Planning department to see if there are potentially any barriers or applications required. Generally, as long as you class your business as a hobby and not a proper business, they will not require anything - but it is worth making the call to them before they make a call to you!
- Insurances
This is a door which we can only open so far, as individual circumstaces will dictate what level of insurance you require. However, some kind of liability insurance for your cider business is definitely and ‘ought to have’, as with any business.
If you plan on selling cider at markets, Roy Bailey recommended joining the National Market Traders Federation will give you liability and product insurance - it is well worth checking this out as the cost of insurance from another provider (e.g. NFU) may be prohibitive.
A more general business insurance was suggested by CiderNik, which may be obtained by following the link below. Please note, if you plan to sell to shops you may need an extension of the insurance 'Craftsure Starter'
Finally, Martin Inwood suggested the NFU Homeworker package - which is an extension of Home/Contents insurance provided by NFU. You may need to specifically ask for it though, as it is not always promoted.
- Labelling.
The law requires that you put certain things on your labels. This law is often confusing and is liable to change. With this in mind, Nick Bradstock of the NACM has kindly allowed us to publish information he posted to the group.
If you want to investigate this further, or want the most current information, follow the link to the Food Standards Agency (UK).
However, at the Cider Workshop, we want to encourage all our members to start placing the ingredients and juice content on their labels too. We may not be campaigning for this, but we do feel that small scale producers can lead by example and, in any case, distinguish themselves from the larger industrial ‘gloop’ manufacturers.
So I have started selling. Anything else?
- Record keeping
It is always a good idea (if not required for the tax man) to keep a track of your cider - the more detailed the better. This also helps to prove the genealogy of your cider, and some cider makers keep records from tree to bottle, including the orchard that apples were from.
You will also need to maintain records of quantity made, batch information, cleaning records, any losses or quantities used for personal consumption and accounting information (sales, profits etc.). This is not just for Customs and the Revenue (even though they are one and the same these days). Should you have a customer fall ill, you may be required to trace batches to find the source.
We cannot hope to make this an absolute list, but merely make you aware of the sorts of things you should keep records of when in business. Generally, good business practice will see you through. For a link to those who can help you to run a business properly, see below:
- Membership of Associations
This is something that some craft producers choose to do even if they are not currently selling, although clearly it is a cost. However, there are benefits of joining an industry body, such as the NACM (National Association of Cider Makers) or one of the regional bodies associated with them, or CAMRA, who run 'Apple' for cider makers.
As with all things, it is worth doing your homework before signing up - why not take some advice from within the Cider Workshop group?
For further information, follow the links within the 'links' section of this website.
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We are always after help and guidance in order to make the commercial side of cider making easier for those who want to start out. If you have any experiences you wish to share with us, join the group and contact the administrator (or just post your experiences!) |