Thatchers. Nowhere else to go.
Thatchers outsold every beer and lager in the South West while rivals cut orchards down. It can't leave, and that is why it builds.
THE GIST ON THATCHERS: "No Way Out"
How does a family farm outsell every beer?
Thatchers makes cider on a family farm in Somerset, and last year it outsold every beer and lager in the South West. It did it in a shrinking market, and while rivals cut orchards down, it keeps planting them. The people who can't leave are the only ones who build.
Who owns British cider?
Britain drinks less cider every year, and almost all of it now comes from multinationals. Heineken bought Strongbow and Bulmers. For them, cider is one of a hundred lines in a spreadsheet, most of them beer.
So when numbers dipped, Heineken felled an orchard in Wales the size of 140 football pitches and said demand was slowing. 2,000 acres of British cider orchards have gone the same way in the last few years. The apples are too bitter to sell or eat, so the trees have no other use. They just come out.
What does Thatchers do instead?
Thatchers has put 158,000 trees in the ground in the last ten years. Each one takes eight years to give a full crop. It's very simple: Heineken can leave, Thatchers can't. One farm making one drink since 1904, with no beer division to fall back on. The only thing it can do with a bad year is make the product better.
What does your exit decide?
Keeping your options open changes your approach. If you can leave, you only ever make things that pay off before you go. Heineken will review cider every year, and nothing that takes eight years to mature survives a question asked that often.
Your exit opportunity decides the size of what you build. Everyone's told to stay flexible, keep moving, don't get stuck. That advice guarantees a life made entirely of short things. Are you in it for the long haul?
Do you plan for the long haul or keep options open?
Your take. One tap, then see how everyone else voted.
Quick answers
Why did Heineken fell an orchard in Wales?
When numbers dipped, it removed an orchard the size of 140 football pitches and said demand was slowing. Cider apples are too bitter to sell or eat, so the trees have no other use.
How much has Thatchers planted?
158,000 trees in the last ten years, each taking eight years to give a full crop.
Why can Thatchers think long term?
It is one farm making one drink since 1904, with no beer division to fall back on, so it can't leave.
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