Founder of eco-conscious cocktail bar Forage in York reveals further possible locations

Callum Houston, 29, launched Forage Bar and Kitchen, an eco-conscious, sustainable cocktail bar, as a pop-up concept in Little Stonegate in York last September.

It creates theatrical cocktails using what it calls 'urban foraging'. For example, discarded banana skin can be transformed into a banana oil, and features in its, “Dolce & Banana” drink. Offcuts of fudge from the local Fudge Kitchen are repurposed into a Fudge liquor.

What initially began as a three-month trial has now turned into a permanent fixture after chef Danny Victory joined the business last month as a director to create Japanese street food under the Shori brand to complement the cocktails.

The 105-cover venue now employs 16 people and is always fully booked at the weekend, according to Mr Houston.

He said: “Shori already had a reputation in York so it’s really helped to grow our business. The food is phenomenal so it’s been really popular.”

He added: “The aim for Forage is to slowly move into its own food entity but it will probably take some inspiration from the food that Danny has cooked.

“We want Forage to become a staple in York - one of the best places to eat and drink - and then potentially open up another site depending on how things go. We’ve looked at Leeds as one space and Manchester as another.”

The rapid growth of the business, which is on track for a £850,000 turnover this year, is in stark contrast to a difficult period during the pandemic.

Mr Houston was the owner of premium mobile bar company Yorkshire Bartender, which he founded to pay for his fiancée’s wedding dress. After reaching £500,000 turnover in two years he was forced to close the business when the events industry dried up in 2020 and he went to work in a marketing role for an IT firm.

Mr Houston relaunched the business last June, delivering about 200 events in the space of three months.

He also set up the Yorkshire Explorer distillery as part of the Yorkshire Bartender business, which supplies Forage and 30 other businesses in the region with its gins and spiced rums.

He said: “We take the waste from Forage, such as chilli and mint, and distil it into alcohol. We have about 120 different flavoured spirits at the moment.”

The other thing that Mr Houston is passionate about is changing people’s perception of the hospitality industry as a viable career option. He invests in his staff by paying for specialist training courses and also provides mental health support by investing in counselling sessions for staff.

“Hospitality is always seen as a stopgap rather than somewhere that you want to work permanently but there are a lot of people who love it and never want to leave but they feel they have to because there isn’t an obvious career path,” he said.

“I want to try to keep those passionate people who are great at what they do and give them jobs for as long as they want to have them.”