Some great ideas are born from hours and hours of research, whilst others are developed over a cold can of craft beer, between two friends, over their garden fence. Ceri and Daniel had always dreamt of owning their own company and just like many others, their passion for a unique craft beer and the fact they had to travel into Cardiff to find a good selection helped find a gap in the market locally. The Society of Independent Brewers said “Beer drinkers increasingly want genuine craft beer and to them that means beer from relatively, small independent producers”
With the support of Business Wales, they started compiling a thorough business plan, which found there were no other similar businesses within a 20 mile radius. They worked tirelessly throughout the summer of 2020, investing in training, applying for suitable licenses and start-up funding to make their dreams a reality. In November 2020, 2-Dudes Beer Company set up on award winning UK Highstreet of the Year 2019 Treorchy and opened their doors to their first customers, with people travelling from all across South Wales to visit this gem in the Valleys.
Pen y Cymoedd recognised the level of planning that went into 2-Dudes business plans and supported the start up costs to re-fit their shop space, with a small Micro Fund grant of £3,160. They used local contractors and suppliers, where possible, ensuring their support was shared locally.
Pen y Cymoedd are committed to supporting the development of more entrepreneurial communities ensuring start-up funding is more easily available to those projects that have been well thought out and can clearly evidence the need.
The business has continued to trade throughout the National lockdown restrictions, stocking over 66 different breweries from as far away as Japan! Expanding into running a micro-pub, they renovated their space at the back of the shop, offering a space for people to try more exotic craft beers on draught with vintage gaming machines. Introducing a clothing and accessories range has really helped them build their brand, which is being talked about across the whole of South Wales.
Pen y Cymoedd are proud to have supported 2-Dudes Beer Company Ltd, a business that started in the hardest of times, but identifying the niche in the market and working tirelessly to develop their plans, the business is going from strength to strength and have been able to offer local employment opportunities through the Government Kick Start Scheme. Craft beer is not the cheapest drink and this has been one of their biggest barriers for people to try new drinks, however it is very much the old saying “you get what you pay for” with many returning customers after their first sip. The business plans to widen their reach even further, with the next big milestone taking 2-Dudes online.
2-Dudes Beer Company are a great example of how a relatively small amount of funding, can support much bigger plans and help people achieve the vision for their business and we with them every success as the business grows.
“Opening 2-dudes has been a challenge, but a challenge we have enjoyed, we have never worked for ourselves let alone run our own business, we enjoy every day working at 2-dudes and look forward to where the future will take us. We have plenty of ideas/dreams that we believe will be well received as the bottleshop and tap room was, on this note we would love to thank the local community for their continued support, the shop owners on the high street for welcoming us with open arms and Pen Y Cymoedd for believing in us and giving us the start we could have only dreamed of, without the opportunity you provided we would never have been able to make our vision a reality, providing quality beer to the local community.” Ceri and Daniel Directors 2-Dudes