Quality a core value for fast-growing cidermaker

Inside Track Q&A: Daniel Emerson, Stonewell Cider

What distinguishes your business from competitors?

We focus on quality as opposed to mass production. People have become more interested in the provenance of their food and we only buy our apples in Ireland.

We are at the forefront of a new wave of companies in a market dominated for so long by the Diageo and Heineken duopoly.

What’s been the biggest challenge you have had to face?

The biggest challenge we’ve had to face is universal risk aversion in the market. Nobody is willing to take on any risk these days, either on the lending side or the financial side.

And your major success to date?

Achieving double digit growth during the worst recession in living memory. We have done it every year for the last three years and we are still in business so that’s positive.

What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made in business?

Assuming other individuals are of the same mindset as you. You assume people will behave and act a certain way unless you are an entirely cynical person who always doubts everything.

What was the best piece of business advice you’ve ever received?

Never give a personal guarantee. However, that is near impossible in the current business environment. Nobody will do anything for you unless you give them some sort of guarantee.

Who do you most admire in business and why?

I admire any entrepreneur who overcomes business failure and goes on to become a success. Entrepreneurs are the cornerstone of our economy, especially in a recession.

It takes a massive amount of character strength and resolution to go through turmoil and come out the other side and make a success story.

I also admire my uncle Warren Taylor who was my first business mentor. He exposed me to business and taught me a lot.

What piece of advice would you give to the Government to stimulate the economy?

I am a little fatigued by the constant referral to foreign direct investment and the Government’s focus on big names such as Google and Facebook. They need to get off that cloud of FDI and get down into the nuts and bolts and look at proper supports for smaller Irish businesses.

There seems to be no point in having a limited company these days as you have to give personal guarantees to take on any exposure which defeats the whole purpose. Legislators and financial institutions are taking so many steps to protect themselves it’s becoming prohibitive to business.

Do you think the banks are open for business at the moment?

I think the banks are partially open for business. They are re-learning their business. Their knee-jerk reaction is to centre everything around Dublin. You go into a bank in Cork looking for a loan and they have to seek approval from Dublin.

They focused on property for so long, they forgot about other businesses. It’s extremely difficult to do business with the banks as they are totally risk-adverse.

How do you see the short-term future for your business?

Blue skies with intermittent dark thunder storms, hopefully as infrequent as possible. We want to continue to grow despite strong headwinds.

Last year, Mother Nature dealt us a bad summer which affected the price of apples greatly. Hopefully, the same won’t happen this summer.

When we first set up the business, the Irish consumed more cider per capita than any other nation and all we had was uncle Bulmer. There is greater choice now but greater competition too.

How much is your business worth and would you sell it?

It’s priceless and it’s worthless. It wouldn’t add up to much more than the sum of the parts as we are in a rapid growth phase. I invested everything in it so, to me, it’s priceless and I wouldn’t even contemplate selling it.

In conversation with Pamela Newenham