for liquid deli

New direction for liquid deli

Demijohn, the highly successful ‘try before you buy’ liquid deli, has opened a new outlet in Craigie’s Farm Shop just outside Edinburgh.

The company which started in 2004 recently closed its own retail premises in Edinburgh and Glasgow to concentrate on a new sustainable business model, involving the setting up of a string of concessions and more online sales.

As part of the change the company has opened a shop within a shop, its fourth so far, in the highly successful Craigie’s. Customers can browse a range of large glass demijohns containing a selection of the finest artisan liqueurs, fruit vinegars and oils, as well as some gift products.

The idea behind Demijohn’s way of selling is for customers to taste before purchasing and then choose the size and shape of the re-fillable bottle. They can even have a personalised message added for free.

Based on the Italian cantina method of selling this approach to sustainable retail appeals to many farm and food shops. There is minimum packaging, focusing instead on the provenance and quality of the products.

Photo by Stewart Cunningham

The company recently decided to expand its offerings to more consumers by taking up concessions in other like-minded food shops. Craigie’s Farm Shop was identified as a natural choice as it has been involved with the production of some of Demijohn’s finest handmade fruit vinegars for the last 16 years.

To date Demijohn has opened other highly successful concessions stores at Loch Leven’s Larder Farm Shop in Fife and Luss General Store on the shores of Loch Lomond. Another five are planned to open throughout the UK within the next few months. The current concessions are hugely popular with regulars and tourists alike who love sustainable retail and tasting delicious artisan drinks.

Demijohn’s drinks are quite unlike most commercial liqueurs – all are made from natural ingredients, with no added colourings or flavourings and are perfect as the basis to delicious cocktails, or on their own over ice or as an ingredient in one of Demijohn’s famed recipes.

Photo by Stewart Cunningham

“We offer a seriously fun and engaging method of shopping which appeals to large numbers of people who enjoy discovering new food and drink tastes,” said Angus Ferguson, owner of Demijohn.

“Our customers love our quirky, high quality products and increasingly understand our ecofriendly retail concept. Re-using a Demijohn bottle by refilling it makes even more sense in 2020 than it did in 2004 when we first started. We are sharing our knowledge and success with other like-minded independent businesses such as Craigie’s Farm to create smaller, more flexible concession stores. We aim to make it as easy as possible for our customers to refill their bottles by opening more concession stores in the UK throughout 2020.”

Angus Ferguson, founder and owner of Demijohn

Photo by Stewart Cunningham