White House Distillery Diversifies with Trotec Laser.

Based in Otley West Yorkshire, White House Distillery was founded by Nick Jocelyn in 2018 and following a search for the ideal premises, began trading in October 2019.

A new venture

White House Distillery supplies a range of gins to hotels and other businesses in the hospitality industry. When the distillery was founded, Nick's core focus was the distilling side of the business and he did not initially consider other avenues. This changed during a conversation with a friend, an RAF Squadron leader, who was discussing the topic of personalised laser engraved bottles with Nick. The idea sparked Nick's interest and led to him considering the viability of this service for his business.

Nick looked into the possibility of outsourcing the engraving of his drink bottles and knew of several businesses that could provide this service. However, Nick considered the drawbacks of outsourcing;  as a new business outsourcing could be cost-prohibitive and would incur additional costs to sterilise bottles after they were returned from being engraved. In addition, quality control and increased lead times could also cause problems and increased costs. Overall, Nick felt that there would be, significant advantages to bringing laser engraving in-house.

Nick began to look into the possibility of incorporating a laser into the distillery, with the scope of adding additional products and also producing marketing collateral in-house. Nick's first contact with Trotec was through his brother-in-law, who owns an entry-level laser cutter from Trotec. Having heard the high recommendations from his brother-in-law, Nick began to do research of his own and quickly saw that Trotec has a strong reputation within the market. Convinced that a Trotec laser would be the best fit for his business, Nick contacted Trotec to find out more about the laser systems.

During his initial discussions with Trotec, Nick decided that he would be better-suited opting for a larger laser model to future-proof his investment as the business grew. He booked a demo at his local Trotec showroom where he was shown a range of different materials processed on Trotec's Speedy 300 laser engraver. Impressed with the quality of engraving, Nick decided that the Speedy 300 system would be the perfect partner for his business with enough scope to cope with new demands as his business evolved. The Speedy 300 was installed in October 2019.

The ongoing knowledge and support from my Trotec area manager have been priceless, with visits to discuss new projects to problem-solving over the phone. Trotec's staff are friendly and supportive and I could not ask for more. I am currently looking to other prospective avenues to diversify my services, including the growth of my bespoke engraving service to include weddings, corporate gifts and special celebrations. The future is very exciting and I am sure there will be many new opportunities to put my Speedy 300 to work. 

Nick Jocelyn
Director

Looking to the future with Trotec

Since his Speedy 300 laser engraving machine was installed, Nick has been able to diversify to include a range of products and services in the White House Distillery portfolio. Aside from engraved bottles, Nick now also offers promotional products, engraved hessian jute and tote bags and badges made from Trotec's TroLase engravable laminate.

As one of Nick's core services is engraving personalised messages onto bottles for customers, strict quality control is essential. The in-house capabilities result in less material wastage and significant added value for customers thanks to the premium engraving quality and a quick turn around, with same day turn around which would not have been possible if the work had to be outsourced. Nick is also able to offer unique products with no minimum order quantity.

As well as helping to broaden the range of products on offer, the Speedy 300 has also been used to make a significant enhancement to the White House Distillery gin brand. Created by a local graphic designer, the back of the gin product label contains a drawing of the oldest map of Otley which could always be seen through the glass bottle. With the laser, Nick now adds an engraved design of Otley White House to the front of the bottle to create a striking effect against the map in the background.

Upon purchase of his machine, Nick opted for Trotec's TroCare extended warranty, which has proven highly beneficial as a new business, particularly during the busy Christmas period, with any issue Nick encountered being resolved in a timely manner, allowing him to continue to meet customer demand.

Nick is currently looking to the future with his Trotec laser, with a view to further expanding his range of products and services into new markets.

I have only used Trotec's TroLase so far, it was an excellent material for the application, which was in badges for the 1.6" material and panel plates for the 3.2" material. It is easy to laser process and the results are excellent. I plan to utilise more Trotec materials in the future.

Nick Jocelyn
Director

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