Case study 01
Business Consulting that turned a struggling Scottish brewery into a profitable, low-waste operation
Brewcroft Ales came to us eighteen months ago with rising costs, a 22% spoilage rate, and flat revenue. Here is what happened next.
The problem Brewcroft brought to us
Brewcroft Ales is a 14-person craft brewery based outside Dundee. When the founder, Callum Rennie, phoned us in March 2024, he described a business that felt like it was running in circles. Raw material costs had climbed 18% in a single year, yet the retail price of his flagship pale ale had stayed flat because three local competitors were undercutting him on shelf.
Worse, almost a quarter of each batch was lost to inconsistent fermentation temperatures. The team knew the problem existed but lacked the diagnostic tools or spare bandwidth to fix it while also keeping up with weekly deliveries.
Callum was not looking for a slide deck. He wanted someone who would walk the production floor, read the invoices, and tell him plainly what to change first.
What we did in the first four weeks
We began with a two-day on-site audit. One of our senior consultants, Fiona Laidlaw, mapped every step from grain receipt to keg dispatch. She timed each handoff, photographed the cold-store layout, and interviewed six members of staff individually.
The audit revealed three root causes for the spoilage: an ageing glycol chiller that cycled erratically, a manual temperature-logging process that was only completed twice a day, and a scheduling habit that left fermenters partially filled over weekends.
We delivered a 12-page operational report, not a 60-slide presentation. It contained a prioritised action list, estimated costs, and projected payback periods for each recommendation.
Fiona didn't talk in abstractions. She pointed at the chiller and said, "Replace this unit, install a wireless sensor on each tank, and you will save roughly £4,200 a month in wasted product." She was right.
Callum Rennie, founder, Brewcroft Ales
Before and after: Brewcroft by the numbers
| Metric | Before engagement | Nine months later |
|---|---|---|
| Batch spoilage rate | 22% | 4% |
| Monthly material waste (£) | £5,100 | £980 |
| Wholesale accounts | 11 | 17 |
| Gross margin | 28% | 41% |
| Staff overtime hours / week | 38 | 12 |
"They didn't try to sell us software or a retainer. They gave us a list, helped us execute it, and left when the job was done."
Callum Rennie, Brewcroft Ales"The pricing model review alone paid for the entire engagement within two months."
Isla Geddes, finance lead, Brewcroft Ales
Why Fairholm needed a different distribution model
Fairholm Organics grows salad leaves, heritage carrots, and soft fruit on 45 acres. For years they sold almost everything through a single wholesaler who paid slowly and marked up their produce by 60% before it reached Edinburgh restaurants.
Owner Morag Fairholm suspected she could earn more by selling direct, but she had no delivery logistics, no invoicing system beyond a spreadsheet, and no sales process for approaching chefs.
The consulting engagement
We spent three weeks on this project. Week one was financial modelling: we built a simple spreadsheet comparing margin per kilogram across wholesale, direct restaurant, and farmers' market channels. The numbers showed that even with the cost of a refrigerated van and a part-time driver, direct restaurant sales would yield 2.4 times the margin of wholesale.
In week two we helped Morag draft a one-page pitch sheet for restaurant buyers, set up a basic invoicing workflow using free accounting software, and planned a delivery route covering 14 Edinburgh restaurants in a single morning run.
Week three was a ride-along. Our consultant accompanied the first three delivery rounds, introduced Morag to two chef contacts we had from a previous engagement, and troubleshot the cold-chain timing so that leaves arrived crisp.
I expected consultants to hand me a report and disappear. Instead, one of them sat in my van at 5 a.m. and helped me stack crates. That is not something I had experienced before.
Morag Fairholm, owner, Fairholm Organics
Seven months on, Fairholm supplies 19 restaurants directly. Wholesale still handles root vegetables in bulk, but the high-margin salad and berry lines now go straight to kitchens. Monthly revenue is up from roughly £8,400 to £17,100.
What connects these two stories
Neither Brewcroft nor Fairholm needed a transformation programme or a long-term retainer. They needed someone to look at their operation with fresh eyes, identify the highest-impact changes, and help them act quickly.
That is the kind of business consulting we do. Short engagements, clear deliverables, measurable outcomes. We work with mid-market firms across Scotland, typically between 5 and 80 employees, in food and drink, agriculture, light manufacturing, and professional services.
We do not sell ongoing advisory subscriptions. If a client needs us again later, they call. Many do.
Our diagnostic framework
Every engagement starts with the same five-lens diagnostic. We apply each lens in sequence during the first on-site visit, then score the business on a simple red/amber/green scale to decide where to focus effort.
Revenue architecture
Where does the money actually come from? We map each revenue stream by margin, volume, and customer concentration risk. Clients are often surprised to discover that their largest customer is also their least profitable.
Operational throughput
We time the core production or service-delivery process end to end. Bottlenecks, idle time, rework loops, and handoff delays become visible when you measure them rather than estimate.
Cost leakage
Waste, duplicate subscriptions, underused equipment, overtime patterns. We look at 12 months of bank statements and supplier invoices to find money leaving the business without generating value.
People capacity
Are the right people doing the right tasks? We interview staff individually to understand where skill gaps, unclear responsibilities, or outdated habits are slowing the team down.
Market position
Pricing relative to competitors, customer perception, channel mix. We gather this through desk research and, where possible, brief conversations with a handful of the client's own customers.
Sustainability readiness
Regulatory exposure, carbon footprint quick-estimate, supply-chain resilience. For firms selling into retail or hospitality, sustainability credentials increasingly affect whether buyers say yes.
How an engagement typically unfolds
Week one: scoping call and site visit
A 45-minute call to understand the situation, followed by a full-day visit to your premises. We observe, ask questions, and collect data. No charge for this stage if we decide the fit is wrong.
Week two: diagnostic report
We deliver a written report scoring each of the five diagnostic lenses, with a ranked list of recommended actions and estimated financial impact for each one.
Weeks three to six: implementation support
If you choose to proceed, we work alongside your team to execute the top-priority actions. This might mean renegotiating a supplier contract, redesigning a workflow, building a pricing model, or coaching a manager through a staffing change.
Week eight: review and close
We revisit the baseline numbers, document what changed, and hand over any tools or templates we created. The engagement ends cleanly. No trailing invoices, no retainer pressure.
Start a conversation
Tell us briefly what your business does and what challenge you are facing. We will reply within two working days to discuss whether our approach is a good fit.