William Chase is a successful entrepreneur, who swapped his life as a bankrupt potato farmer for a producer of luxury vodka and gin. Famed as the founder of Chase Distillery and the producer of Chase Vodka, William is considered an expert entrepreneur who turned his fortune around. Now booked as a speaker for corporate events, William shares his success story with audiences, inspiring future generations of entrepreneurs and successful businesses. From potato farmer to luxury distiller, William’s story is like no other.
Aged 20, William persuaded a bank manager to loan him £200,000 to help purchase his father’s potato farm. For the years that followed, William’s business peaked and troughed as the cost of potatoes changed drastically over time. After years of success, William was hit by hardship in 1992 after rainfall left him unable to harvest potatoes. Unfortunately, William’s business crumbled and he was left in bankruptcy. Fortunately, he was later able to borrow money again, reclaiming the potato farm and this time being savvier- buying and selling potatoes from other farms to sell to supermarkets. After his potatoes began to be rejected for not being perfectly uniform in shape, William made the decision to begin manufacturing crisps- founding Tyrells Potato Chips in 2002.
Tyrells became a huge success, with large supermarkets stocking the ‘posh crisps’. William, unfortunately, ran into trouble with supermarkets, with supermarket giant Tesco buying his Tyrell crisps and selling them for less than the recommended retail price without William’s permission. After expanding the business and bringing in a management team, William sold his shares in the business for £40m. After selling, William founded Chase Distillery, making vodka from the potatoes on his farm. He is also the producer of Williams Gin and the founder of Willy’s Probiotic Live Foods, a company producing fermented food and drinks.
Now booked as a speaker for corporate events, William shares the success story of his three businesses and how he made them into the profit-making businesses they are today. Extending his wisdom to budding conference guests, William describes how he dominated the crisp market with his ‘posh crisps’ and how he marketed them to some of the UK’s biggest supermarket brands. Whether he be sharing how he made a success as a crisp maker or a vodka distiller, book William Chase today for an engaging speech on successful business.
- 2021 - Golden Fork Award at the Great Taste Awards for Willy's Apple Cider Vinegar portfolio
- 2021 - Sold Chase Distillery to Diageo
- 2018 - Transitioned Chase Distillery toward carbon neutrality by installing a sustainable biomass boiler system
- 2015 - Chase GB Gin was named Gin Taste Master at The Global Spirits Masters
- 2010 - Won the "Best Vodka Award" at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition
- 2008 - Launched Chase Vodka, pioneering the UK's first single-estate potato distillery
- 2008 - Sold his majority stake in Tyrrells Potato Chips for a reported £40 million
- 2007 - Regional winner in the Bank of Scotland's Corporate Entrepreneur Challenge
- 2002 - Founded Tyrrells Potato Chips
How to hire William Chase
Contact the Champions Speakers Agency to provisionally enquire about hiring William Chase for your next event, today. To get in touch, simply call an official booking agent on 0207 1010 553 or email us at [email protected] for more information.
** We do NOT accept requests for autographs, signed merchandise, fan mail, birthday messages or any other non-commercial contact with the speakers or acts. Each speaker on the website may not have necessarily worked with Champions in the past but are known to perform such engagements within the industry.
