27th May, 2011…. Our first event.
No logo and No name.
We all had jobs in the city, but something was missing. Deep down, we knew we wanted more, something meaningful, something of our own that we could share with others.
It started as an idea between my brother, a friend from school, and me: to create something bold, something that would turn heads and offer people a unique experience.
We figured, why not build it all around an iconic vehicle? One day, we stumbled across her on eBay. We placed a bid, not entirely sure what we’d do if we actually won. Then came the notification - we had.
Later that week, we met the couple selling her. They were eager to travel the world and wanted a quick sale. As they handed us the keys, they said, “Her name is Gracie.”
By the end of that week, the real work began. My brother dove into YouTube tutorials, teaching himself how to weld and handle an angle grinder. Meanwhile, Harry and I hit the ground running, reaching out to wedding venues, car shows, and festivals.
Within a few weeks, our calendar started filling up. Beetle Juice Events was born!!!
After a packed summer of events, we quickly realised one van wasn’t enough. One became two, two became four—and it kept growing from there.
It didn’t take long to realise we couldn’t be everywhere at once. At one point, we were driving all the way to Cornwall for a wedding booking with a minimum spend of £500. Lesson learned!
That’s when the idea for a franchise model was born. We decided to divide the UK into regions and offer people the chance to run their own bar business—using a proven concept and our established brand. We’d already built great relationships with companies like Live Nation, and word about Beetle Juice Events was starting to spread. By 2019, we had 10 franchisees covering Kent, Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham, Edinburgh, Bristol, Cornwall, Devon, and several in the Surrey/London area.
Then came 2020 and with it, COVID. Events shut down overnight. Our franchisees couldn’t operate, so the vans came back—16 of them. Panic set in. We had a large loan to pay off and no idea what the next six months would look like.
But then, something unexpected happened. Our creativity and concepts started catching the attention of major brands. As the world slowly returned to normal, we kept running our cocktail bars—but behind the scenes, we were pivoting. Brands began using our vans and setups to activate their products. What started as a mobile bar business was now also a marketing agency and today, we do both.
We still have a thriving franchise in Cornwall, run by Mark, who operates multiple vehicles to meet demand. Across the UK, we now manage over 20 vehicles and work with a growing portfolio of brands on both short- and long-term campaigns.
What began as a drunken idea, one that miraculously survived the hangover—has become our livelihood for the past 14 years.
If you don’t shoot… you don’t score. And when the market shifts - Pivot!!!
