Spirited graduate set to shake up drinks industry
ABIRMINGHAM Deliveroo worker described how her business dream paid off, transforming her into an award-winning cocktail entrepreneur.
Grace Ubawuchi has created the world’s first strongly-spirited sorbet cocktail brand, Xin and Voltaire.
The 28-year-old Aston University graduate gained a major investor that has seen her innovative boozy product become stocked by big names including Electric Cinema, Selfridges, Soho House and London’s luxurious Mandarin Oriental.
She has even had interest from airlines and Disney Cruise Line, with plans to expand distribution to Mexico, Dubai, Switzerland and Spain.
Grace’s star is certainly rising – she won the most promising medium-sized business title at this year’s KPMG’s Black Entrepreneurs’ Awards. But it’s all a far cry from when she was living as a student in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter and later opposite Nandos in Broad Street, earning money by working for Deliveroo.
The entrepreneur has spent the past seven years building up her ready-todrink frozen cocktails so that drinkers can enjoy a chilled cocktail sorbet without the ice melting and diluting the flavours.
Freezing alcohol can be difficult, so Grace collaborated with scientists, mixologists and chefs including worldfamous, Michelin-trained Parisian pastry chef Nina Metayer.
Now, two of Xin and Voltaire’s cocktails have just won bronze awards at the International Wine and Spirit Competition(IWSC): Giselle is a mix of Champagne, raspberry and Mezcal, while Florian is a floral flavour of Champagne, vodka and white peach.
Other sorbet cocktails include Alphonse – dark rum, mango and passion fruit – and Aurelie, which contains single-malt whisky, amaretto and pear.
“My philosophy is, if you don’t try, you don’t get,” said Grace, who studied business and international relations, and now lives in Manchester. “I came up with the concept for Xin and Voltaire when I was in Birmingham at university.
“I worked at Deliveroo but I learned so much about the food-and-drink industry while I was there.
“I was a very wild child when I was younger and would go out clubbing in London with my cousins. I loved cocktails but wanted to have proper chilled pre-made ones at home too, but couldn’t find them, so thought about creating it myself.
“Perseverance has been the biggest thing for me. I had to get used to hearing ‘no’ for a while and was sending out 100 emails a day to try and get an investor. In the end someone at a private equity firm believed in it and I got investment in 2018.
“Now the product has finally launched and has so much interest. It feels like it’s all about to kick off and I’m pursuing more retail angles and talking to Marks & Spencer and Sainsbury’s.”
Grace’s company is already bringing in £25,000 a month even before international distribution plans begin to step up.
“I have first-hand experience of how challenging it can be initially, especially as a solo founder without access to information or a community,” she said.
“What’s great about today is that social media and incredible people with access act as the megaphones, sharing key information so that those barriers are broken.”