Refurb and Interiors: Table service
ANDREW GORDON was nervous. He was in a basement with five other contestants awaiting his turn on hit BBC show Dragons' Den. Standing at the bottom of the infamous stairs, a countdown began and atmospheric smoke billowed from the walls of the tight passageway as he made his entrance.
His only prop in his pitch to the panel of fearsome business experts was his product Stabletable, a plastic device designed specifically to prop up pubs' wobbly table legs. It did not go well. The Dragons rejected his idea with howls of laughter. "What are beermats for?" sneered one.
That was 2004. Three years later, it is Andrew who is laughing. Stabletable has made him a millionaire after orders from over 2,000 pubs. He is in negotiations with Laurel Pub Company and Fuller's to supply nationwide, and Bacardi is interested in putting its branding on the products to use them as promotional items.
Like many successful ideas, Stabletable was born over a couple of pints in Andrew's local. He explains: "We'd seen a guy on TV the night before who had made a million quid from selling ringtones on the internet. We were all sitting round a pub table, thinking 'c'mon, we're intelligent blokes, we must be able to come up with something'. This table was wobbling and I shouted out the word Stabletable."
Making it happen
So he began to develop an adjustable set of discs pinned together and designed to adjust to various levels of wobble. At first, it was as simple as experimenting with staples and cut-up cornflake packets. "I used to sneak into bars at 8pm and try different designs on tables," Andrew says. "My friends thought I was an absolute fool."
After many failed approaches, Andrew found a plastics company prepared to make some samples and got his first sale from a pub after sending out 500 free Stabletables for the licensed trade to try. Then came Dragons' Den. Says Andrew: "They just didn't think there would be enough interest. They said it would never sell enough."
So he reassessed his product. "The critique in the Dragons' Den was a critical point," he bravely admits. "Ok, if they think it's a poor idea, what do I have to do to make it better? And that's when the idea for attaching a key ring and getting them sponsored came about.
"Now, looking at Laurel Pub Company, we've forecast sales of 50,000 units a year. And that's just one client."
The product - which pubs can buy for as little as 40p each in a bulk order - has also found a market in school exam halls and for retail through major supermarkets. But it won't be for everyone. "The Dragons still say it's a crap idea!" says Andrew.
