The Whisky Exchange founders: Brothers Rajbir Singh (left) and Sukhinder Singh
By Asia Samachar | Britain |
Two London-based Sikh brothers who nurtured an online whisky business are set to rake in hundreds of millions of pounds with the sale of their business to wines and spirits giant Pernod Ricard.
Brothers Sukhinder Singh, 53, and Rajbir Singh, 49, founded The Whisky Exchange in 1999, a pioneer online whisky specialist retailer.
Over the years, they have turned the business into a spirits online and physical retailer and a reference for global whisky and fine spirits lovers. The UK-based business today claims to catalogue some 10,000 products.
The deal made public on Tuesday (21 Sept) would have made the brothers ‘hundreds of millions of pounds’, according to a major British newspaper, which said the company reported a £72 million turnover last year.
Their venture goes back to the 1970s when their parents opened a off-license called The Nest in Hanwell, West London.
“The opened a grocery story, selling everything. A lovely customer persuaded them, after a few years, to open a liquor shop. They applied and got a liquor license in 1972. So, they were the first Indian family in the UK to get a liquor license,” Sukhinder said in a previous interview seen online.
In 1999, their parents sold their business. The brothers then ventured into the online space, back then a new and unfamiliar territory for most.
Living with their parents above the shop, Sukhinder and Rajbir Singh literally grew up in the trade, with The Nest not only their home, but also their playground and eventually their employer. Sukhinder joined his parents and was soon running up and down ladders to grab bottles from the top shelves for customers. Soon knowing what the regulars enjoyed, he began to learn about the bottles and how the shop worked, according to its website.
Sukhinder had finished university in 1990 as a chartered surveyor while Rajbir had studied computing at university.
In the late 1990s, the potential of using the internet as a shop front was starting to become clear, and Sukhinder and Rajbir were keen to be at the forefront of bringing spirits to the public in this innovative way. Venturing into this uncharted territory was both exhilarating and nerve-wracking, and demanded significant investment in both time and money, according to the same entry.
In 2013, the business had moved into a state of the art warehouse and office building, filled with more than 250 employees from across the Elixir House Group, all built around The Whisky Exchange’s expertise and reputation.
The Whisky Exchange will continue to operate with its current team and structure, with Sukhinder and Rajbir Singh managing the business as joint managing directors, according to the Pernod Ricard statement.
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