The House of Malt business caters for whisky connoisseurs, gin lovers and everyone in between and has more than more than 3,000 different products on the shelves of its warehouse.
Founded by director Ben Turnbull in 2015, the Carlisle-based business House of Malt now employs 10 people, has its own high street shop, and a fully stocked warehouse to meet the demand for online orders.
Operations Manager Piers Foster said: “Our aim is to compete on price with our bigger competitors in the marketplace while offering excellent customer service and a level of expertise that they perhaps wouldn’t get elsewhere.
“It’s really important that people get to speak to a real person, whether that’s via email or on the phone. The team works really hard to ensure that our customers get a great level of service and that orders are dispatched and delivered as quickly as possible.”
The Covid pandemic led to a huge growth in online sales, which now make up 99% of the business. House of Malt moved into its high street store on Warwick Road, Carlisle, five years ago, where it runs monthly events including wine or whisky tastings and has recently opened an instore wine cellar.
House of Malt is most well-known for the eponymous spirit, with hundreds of different Scotch whiskies from six different production regions available, as well as whiskies from around the world.
“We work closely with producers such as Springbank to ensure a fair price for the distillery and the buyer,” said Piers. “Our range includes everything from J&B Rare retailing around £20 to an extremely rare 50 year-old Macallan single malt costing nearly £60,000.”
The business also sells Champagne, wines, port, sherry, rum, tequila, gin and absinthe amongst others.
House of Malt has been with H&H Insurance Brokers for several years, with account executive Luke Conn-Goodman ensuring they have the right cover in place for the business.
“Luke really understands the business and has been with us as we have changed and evolved over the years,” said Piers. “During the pandemic, we had a flood in our Warwick Road store, which we were using as a base for our online operations, and we lost a lot of stock. Thankfully, we were insured for the damage and Luke made sure it was all sorted as quickly as possible so we could get back to business.”
Luke said understanding the individual needs of a business was key to providing the right insurance solutions.
“I’ve been working with House of Malt for a number of years now and it’s been brilliant to witness its growth and success,” he said. “One of the core responsibilities of being a trusted advisor to our clients is understanding the unique challenges they face so we can create bespoke solutions,” he said. “We always hope that you never have to claim against your policy, but when something does go wrong, you need that peace of mind that your business will recover. By establishing a long-term, trusted relationship with our clients we can ensure they have the right support in place whenever they need it.”
For House of Malt, plans for the future include introducing new automation technology in the warehouse to save time when fulfilling orders. “Our aim is to improve the efficiency of the business while still delivering exceptional customer service,” added Piers.