Inspirational Cheese Retailer 2022

We’ve Got Community Spirit

After a day in the deli on what was our fourth anniversary, we sat down at home to read our copy of Speciality Food Magazine.

A lovely double page spread appeared in front of our eyes. There were photos of our cheese counter, the deli, and the two of us.

The article is called Community Spirit.  We’ve put the community at the heart of everything we do, making sure we listen to what our customers want and how we can best work with our local businesses to provide a great service and wide variety of products.

It discusses our aims in opening the deli, how things have changed – especially during Covid – and what our priorities are now. It’s part of a section highlighting ‘Inspirational Cheese Retailers’ and ‘Independent Heroes’. Gulp. Needless to say, we were a tad emotional, especially as our anniversary had led to much reflection and remembering how hard we’d worked not just to open those four years ago, but to stay open!

Speciality Food Magazine is the beacon for independent food and drink retailers and producers. It’s the know-how and the how-to and the inspiration for newbies. We’ve read all its articles on our favourite retailers and producers over the years and looked to it for guidance and inspiration ourselves. So to be in the company of other businesses which we admire and respect in this publication is just amazing.

The section highlights “some of the UK’s most innovative independent cheese businesses to learn how they built success despite the challenges of the past couple of years, how they utilised their position as indie cheese experts to benefit them and their community, and uncover their plans for the future.”

It was very fitting that the article appeared on the day of our anniversary as it really did make us reflect on where we are now. We are very proud of our achievements and how far we’ve come and are so grateful for the support from our local community, customers, suppliers, partners, friends and the food and drink community. Of course, it hasn’t been easy, but we’ve overcome all of the challenges and opened up new opportunities we would never have considered in 2018.

Debbie’s tips for success as included in the article include:

Be able to constantly adapt
Build up strong and positive business partnerships
Support local
Give the personal touch
Do what you love
Never be afraid to try

It’s working so far. But in line with our own tips, we’re not resting on our laurels, we’ve got exciting plans that we can’t wait to tell you about… but first, to re-read that lovely article again with today’s cheese samples and a cup of tea (ok it’s a bottle of beer).

Thanks Speciality Food Magazine!

Debbie and Simon