Subscribe Now For A Free Five Step Tutorial
Get a free five-part email course that shows you how to find, validate, and launch your side hustle idea — no experience required.
What It's About
After experimenting with different recipes, a British man finds one that inspires him to start his own micro pub.
Business Model
Skills Required
Complexity
Profit Potential
Words of Wisdom
You should work hard for your employer, but you should also think about yourself and create your own security. That's what starting a side hustle is all about, and Tom's story illustrates this principle well.
At first, he was thinking like a good employee and put all the profit from these food experiments back into the till. That worked for a while, but one day he was mowing the pub garden lawn, he wondered why was he making food and not making the profit? After asking that question, it was a short transition to working for himself and starting his own micro pub.
Fun Fact
Tom often watched food programs on TV and saw a chef make scotch eggs with black pudding—and instead of deep frying them, he baked them. Tom didn’t have a deep fat fryer, but he had an oven, so he started making scotch eggs.
The great scotch egg experiment began with him charging £3.00 each ($4.50 USD), and he changed the recipe each time. He used Instagram and Facebook to post photos and a description of each day’s egg, so he built anticipation and a group of fans.
He eventually fell out of love with scotch eggs, but then discovered pork pies which were similar but easier to make.
Notes from Chris
Episode 75
Not everyone should be an entrepreneur, but it's important to have options. In this story, a British pub manager draws on his love for cooking to make extra cash. The money he made ($5,000 a year) was important to him. His family has used it for one-off items like holidays, Christmas, a new washing machine, a rooftop cargo carrier for the car. He’s been able to provide for family days out and leave his salary for what he calls "all the boring stuff of life." Even better, all of these positive experiences gave Tom the confidence that his ideas could be profitable, and he decided to open his own pub. The Bumble Inn has been running for 7 months, and is going great. Naturally, he sells his own pies and bar snacks there and can sell over 150 of each a month—not just a side hustle anymore but now part of his own business, and something that he continues building for his family. MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:- The Bumble Inn Micro Pub: Tom's new pub in Peterborough. Stop in for a pint and a pie!
- Belgian Fine Chocolate Comes to America: a culinary feature on a man who runs a fine chocolate side hustle out of his home in Louisiana
