A South Lanarkshire business that specialises in manufacturing small batches of spiced rums has witnessed a boom in business after upgrading its website.

Old Mother Hunt, launched by husband-and-wife team Matt and Becky Hunt, has seen turnover increased by 65% since it started working with the Business Gateway support service. Development of its online presence has helped it achieve a doubling of organic search traffic since November 2020.

Based in rural Strathaven, former pilot Matt was made redundant at the start of the pandemic. Faced with an uncertain job market, the couple decided to start their own business and have since won a business start-up award.

In their search for a “pandemic-proof” product and fuelled by a love of learning, Matt and Becky settled on rum. In May last year, they obtained their own distillers’ licence and started to make rum from scratch – an unusual practice within the UK as rum is typically imported and redistilled.

Becky said: “We conducted market research to find out what was popular in Scotland. As the drinks market is saturated by gin, we decided to distil rum and learned about the process and flavours. We then approached Business Gateway for help to launch the business.

“In the beginning, setting up on our own gave us something to focus on during the pandemic. However, now we have a thriving business that includes a core range of rum – silver, spiced and golden – as well as special limited-edition flavours.

“We’ve become specialists in a short space of time, deliberately distilling our rum in small batches, so we can continue to craft the perfect rum and hone in on the distinctive flavours of each rum.

“We are now growing after a relatively short period, all while juggling the challenges of the pandemic and raising a young family. Business Gateway has been a key partner to us throughout this period, and ensured we know as much about running a business as we do about rum.”
www.oldmotherhunt.co.uk, www.bgateway.com