An Ipswich man has spoken of his journey from pulling pints at university to running a £10million beer company.
Tom Renshaw, 26, grew up near Foxhall Road and was a pupil at Ipswich School.
He said: "When I was done for the day, I would pop off and busk outside the Boots in the town centre.
"But the tips were better in Bury St Edmunds so I used to try and get the prime spot there on weekends!"
Eventually, Tom made the jump to higher education and joined Queen Mary, University of London.
It was there he would meet his future business partner, Stefan White, 27.
"We were in the same flat", said Tom.
"On the first day I brought two cases of beer and Stefan brought two bottles of whiskey.
"From that moment, I knew we were going to be mates."
During their three years of study, the pair had three separate business ideas.
The first was colour-flamed lighters. The second was Bulgarian tomato sauce. And the third was a portable fitness company.
"We eventually landed on our Bier Company idea where we supplied bar snacks like peanuts to pubs," said Tom.
"We were pulling pints in London until April 2019 when we decided to do the business full-time.
"In just nine months, we jumped from stocking 20 pubs in London to building a portfolio of 2,000 across the UK."
However, the Bier Company's sharp rise faced a huge setback when the Covid-19 pandemic struck the following year.
The pair saw their revenues, which came solely from pubs, decimated overnight.
"When lockdown was announced, 100% of our income was just wiped out", said Tom.
"But we were still a two-man band in a 200 square foot safe store unit with no electricity.
"So we decided to make the jump to e-commerce and started selling to local breweries within three days."
The company expanded to selling independent craft beers to local breweries, while also supplying their famous pairing snacks, Bier Nuts and Bier Crips.
It is estimated the Bier Company is now worth a total of £10million.
"I really think we can take this global, said Tom.
"But no matter what happens I'll never forget my roots.
"I regularly come back to Ipswich to see family and visit the local pub on Foxhall Road.
"It's always nice to relax and breathe in that nice Suffolk air."
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