On-Trade BDE West London, Surrey & Thames Valley

🌱 Who we are

Mother Root is the fiery ginger non-alcoholic aperitif. We harness the power of apple cider vinegar to serve up a dose of good feelings. Our mission is to redefine the evening ritual of drinking well and feeling good, with drinks that are complex, delicious and rooted in nature.

We're the UK's fastest-growing drinks brand and the number one non-alcoholic spirit. We were a £7m business last year and we're on track for more than £20m this year. Next we're accelerating that growth, and becoming one of the leading non-alcoholic brands in the US as well as the UK. Small but mighty team, big category, plenty still to build.

We're building a team where ambitious people do the best work of their careers, supporting each other and making something they truly believe in. We believe work should be joyful, purposeful and full of flavour.

🚀 The Role

We asked our regular customers where they'd most like to order Mother Root when they're out. They didn't name cocktail bars in town. They named their local pubs, gastropubs and casual-dining spots, up and down the country. Very few of those places stock us yet. This role exists to change that, one venue at a time.

We're looking for someone who already knows the on-trade in west London, Surrey and the Thames Valley: the GMs, bar managers and owners who'd take your call. Your patch runs from Fulham, Wandsworth and Richmond out to Guildford, Farnham and the Thames Valley towns of Maidenhead, Marlow and Henley. It's where our customers are most concentrated in the country. You'll build it fast, from food-led pubs, restaurants and hotels to small independent groups of two to ten sites. You'll start by March 2027, report to our Head of On-Trade and work closely with the wholesalers to gain listings with them and ensure they deliver the orders you win. You're our first field hire, and what you build will shape how the team grows.

This is a field role, so most days you'll be out in venues, and not every door will open, even with good contacts. Orders start small, a few bottles at a time, and the real wins come from reorders rather than the first handshake. If you'd rather manage a handful of big national accounts from a desk, this isn't the role for you.

📋 What You’ll Do

• Open the right venues, starting with the people you know

  • Turn your existing relationships into early listings, then build out from there

  • Map the rest of your patch, starting with the pubs, restaurants and hotels

  • Pour a Mother Root & Soda and get us on the menu, both as an aperitif and in the no-alcohol section.

  • Qualify venues properly: food-led, with a drinks menu

  • Win small independent groups and roll the serve out across their sites

  Make every listing stick

  • Use our clearly prescribed sales proposition to land Mother Root without the need for additional commercial support.

  • Train bar and floor teams on the perfect serve, so it's poured the same way every time

  • Go back at week 4 and week 12 to check the menu and how it's selling, then fix what isn't working

  • Use our customer support where it earns its keep

  Run the route to market

  • Work hand in hand with our wholesale partners and their reps, since venues order through them rather than direct from us

  • Keep our On-Trade Accounts tracker up to date, so we can see every venue, order and reorder in your patch

  • Bring back what venues and staff tell you, so we keep sharpening the serve, the pricing and the support

🧭 Your first year

• Month 1: learn the brand and the serve, walk your patch with the Head of On-Trade and agree your target list

• By month 3: around 45 venues listed and trained, with the first reorders coming in

• By month 6: around 85 active venues, at least one small group rolling out and a clear read on which kinds of venue sell best

• By month 12: around 130 active venues, each selling 15 or more serves a week and most reordering without a nudge

🎓 What You’ll Bring

• You've spent approx two or more years selling into pubs, restaurants or bars in west London, Surrey or the Thames Valley, with venues you've opened and kept

• You have real relationships in the local on-trade: people who'll pick up when you call

• You've opened accounts from a cold start, not only looked after existing ones

• You can walk into a busy venue, read the room and know whether to pitch now or come back at 3pm

• You talk a GM through the numbers simply: what a serve costs them, what it can sell for and why it deserves a spot on the menu

• You plan your routes, log every visit and follow up when you said you would

• A no doesn't put you off. You learn why, and you go back

• You hold a full UK driving licence

• Have used AI support platforms in everyday work

Useful, not essential: experience in drinks, especially no- and low alcohol or premium spirits; relationships with wholesaler reps; strong opinions on a good Sunday lunch.

💫 How we work

Four values, and we use them to make actual calls.

• Be human. Warmth first, with each other, customers and suppliers. The person stays at the heart of every decision. We're straight when it's hard, and we lean on each other.

• Bring the heat. Energy, hunger, momentum. We're ambitious and we don't settle. We back ourselves and we test and learn rather than get stuck in debate.

• Keep it simple. Fewer things, done properly. The simplest version wins. Simple is harder, that's the point.

• Stay original. We lead, we don't follow. We made the category, and staying original means never stopping there.

🌟 Why this is a brilliant job

• You're first in. On-trade is our newest channel, so what you learn on your patch shapes how we grow it across the country.

• People already want it. You're not creating demand from nothing: we are already the No. 1 No & Low Spirit in Grocery so prospective customers will have heard of us.

• An easy serve to bring to people you know. Two ingredients, no technique, quick to pour on a busy Friday and good for a venue's margin

• Pay that rewards what you build. A bonus tied to the venues you open, the ones that reorder and the serves that land well

• Your patch, your call. You'll plan your own weeks and have real say in how we support venues

✍️ How to apply

Send us your CV and, instead of a cover letter, a short answer to one question:

Name three venues in West London, Surrey or the Thames Valley that you know well and that should stock Mother Root. Tell us who you'd speak to there and how you'd get it on the menu. A few sentences each is plenty.

💛 Benefits & Perks

• Share Options Programme

• Hybrid working: 3 x a week in office (Mon, Tues, Thurs) & 2 from home

• Annual Leave: 25 days per year

• Summer Hours: Early finish Fridays (June–August)

• Work From Anywhere: Up to 2 weeks per year

• Pension: Up to 5% matched contribution

• Cycle Scheme: Bike or Lime/Forest Pass

• Personal Development: £300 annual allowance for approved training

• Wellbeing Support: Access to Spill app & Heka allowance (£40/month) + birthday/work anniversary boosts

• Annual Team Trip: Gastronomical & wellbeing-focused team away trip

• Parental Leave: Competitive maternity/paternity package

• Lots of free Mother Root