Made In Ely - Episode 26 - Martin Meredith at Ely Grazing Co

WEBVTT
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Made
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in Ely, where we chat to local business owners about what they're building and how
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they're doing it, recorded here at Ely Work Collective. Today's guest is Martin
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Meredith, owner of the Ely Grazing Company. Welcome, Martin.
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Welcome also for me. Lovely, amazing building you have, and thanks for
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having me. It's a pleasure to be here and meet you guys. Yeah,
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likewise. Thank you so much. Um, so first of all, we'll kick off before
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any— so if people that don't know you, don't know about Ely Grazing Company,
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um, yeah, tell us who you are, where you are, and what you do in
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Ely. Uh, well, my name is Martin Meredith, originally from Birmingham,
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as you may be able to hear. Although I have been in Ely
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for, oh my gosh, 25 years. Oh wow. Which is,
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yeah, a long time. Uh, we have the little Ely
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Grazing Company on Butter Market. Yeah. Um, little cafe bar,
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and we've a I think one of the best outside seating areas in the
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summer, certainly. But then we're very small in the winter, a very narrow business
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there. Yeah, yeah, it's a lovely, lovely little premises though, isn't it?
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Gorgeous building. Yeah, the old Watchmakers, uh, sign above.
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Yeah, as well. Yes, lovely. Um, right,
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before we get into the Ely Grazing Company, we're going to talk all about that.
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Um, take us, take us back. So we'll do a little rewind.
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Um, take us back to sort of before, before Ely Grazing Company, what you were
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doing, what your, your sort of journey to, to the business and how
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you ended up there. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, well, um,
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originally from Birmingham. Yep. And we ended up in
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Ely because my wife is a professor of music in
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a conservatoire in Belgium. Oh wow. And she commutes every
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week for a couple of days, so we needed to be somewhere where she
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could get to the Eurostar quite quickly. So we ended up in Ely, and I've
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been a musician Um, since I was 12 years old. Wow.
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And then a professional musician since 20.
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And then of course COVID arrived. Yeah. And we had, I think, 50 shows
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booked and they were all canceled. And so
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that was the first year we're at home doing some DIY, doing some writing,
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things like this. And, uh, and it went into year 2. Yeah. And the
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tickets were all sold for the shows, but year 2 then they were extended
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again. Yeah. So, um, well, I can't just sit around
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and, and not work. Yeah. Um, and people said, well,
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maybe do some teaching and things like this, but we were homeschooling our
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lad, and, um, that was from 8 o'clock till 4 o'clock.
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Yeah. In front of the computer every day. Yeah. And, um,
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so I didn't feel like then teaching. Yeah.
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The rest of the time. So I, I always
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wanted a bar Yeah, so I was looking around, um, of what
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to do, and I saw this fabulous business that was for sale, like a mobile
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bar business. And it came with, um,
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lots of events at Sandringham, Excel in London.
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So, oh, sounds good, I'll buy that business.
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So I did, and then COVID extended and all those events,
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oh God, they got cancelled. So the bar sat on the
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drive at home and not able to go out anywhere.
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Oh no, what should I do now? You know, so I thought, well, not knowing
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how long COVID would be going on for, I thought I need to
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set something up, but it needs to be something that we can't get
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in Ely. Yeah. And so I just had the idea when we were in Australia,
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which we go every year or so, every couple of years, when we have a
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sound check between gigs, we'd always go down to the Sydney Opera House
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and we'd have what they had then, because I think that's where it started,
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grazing in Australia. We had have grazing boards like cheese,
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charcuterie, crackers and chutneys, and we'd sit there at Sydney Harbour.
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Right, it's time to sound check, off we go. So I was at home
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and I was thinking what I would really love now during COVID because obviously we
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were getting bread delivered by the, the bake shop, which was great, and all sorts
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of things. I was thinking I'd really like a grazing box.
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Yeah, or something. And I thought you could, you could get sausage rolls and Scotch
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eggs and, you know, the usual great stuff that people offer around Ely, but,
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um, I thought, I can't actually get a grazing box. Yeah.
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So I made one at home, put it on the plate, and, you know,
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it was fabulous. And my wife said, why didn't you just, you know,
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have a go online for Valentine's Day? It was. So we,
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um, I can't even remember how we managed to reach, reach the
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people, but we got, I think, 75 boxes delivered for Valentine's
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Day. That's amazing. Wow. Of course, it was COVID, so it wasn't necessarily
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a true figure of the business potential. Yeah, yeah. But yeah,
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I delivered them all myself, made them at home. Oh my gosh, it was such
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a juxtaposition from, you know, playing the saxophone. I can imagine chopping
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up figs. And yeah, I always did. I always had a love
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for food. Yeah, you know, and, um, and that, and that's how it
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started with, you know, it just, um,
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people loved it, got great feedback. Didn't make any money. Yeah,
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because, you know, of course. Yeah, I'm used to, um, earning money from playing
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music, not from, you know, calculating the cost of a
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box. You know, these boxes were loaded with probably £50 worth
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of product and being sold for £20. Yeah, yeah. But they were fabulous and
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I really enjoyed it. And, um, it gave me a 360-degree vision
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of, of the business because I delivered them and wanted to meet the
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people that were actually buying them and chat to them and to explain to them
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what, what the plan was. Um, yeah. Even though I was making it up as
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I was going along. I didn't really know what the plan was, really. We,
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we all fake it till we make it. Yeah. And that kind— and then it
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just, um, it just— we outgrew the house, you know.
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The council came around for the, um, food hygiene.
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Yeah, yeah. I said, yeah, everything's perfect, but you realize you're going
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to run out of space quite quickly. I'd already put a couple of fridges in
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the studio at the back. Yeah. And, um, And it
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was taking over the house. Yeah, there were boxes of takeaway boxes being delivered to
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the house, but it was just becoming huge,
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really. Yeah, yeah. But that must have been so, so useful,
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especially in those early days as well. If you were kind of doing every single
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element to do with that, you kind of then very quickly learned what worked,
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what didn't, you know, and getting that direct feedback from, from customers to
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you. So it was sort of like, yeah, what was working with them in,
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in that early days as well. Yeah, I mean, since I've been— I've worked starting
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on the markets when I was 11 and 12, and every time I've
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worked, always given 110%. I wanted to look at every aspect
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of the business. And same with the grazing. I really wanted to see— I
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didn't— I knew it was going to grow, and I didn't want to be unaware
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of any areas that, you know, I hadn't touched on myself. So obviously it was
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important for me to, you know, research the boxes, the logo,
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the Ely Grazing shop talk to. I decorated that from top to bottom
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myself because I just wanted to do it. And, um, the same with
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the delivering of the boxes. I wanted to see how they transported and how
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they needed to be transported, meet the people and get some feedback. And yeah,
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that was an important part for me.
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Wow. You're also quite ahead of the game with, with the grazing concept.
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Like you said, obviously you were doing it in Australia when you first go on
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holiday, and then you kind of brought the idea back here. But they've the
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whole concept of that kind of charcuterie board has become really popular in the last
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kind of a couple of years, I think. And before then it was still quite—
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oh, this is quite new and novel. Like, so I think you really were ahead
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of the game in that respect to bring it over here. So that must have
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helped kind of with, with growing the brand and the awareness and things like that
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as well. Yeah, we— I was aware that I didn't want to
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not tread on anybody else's toes, but I didn't want to, you know,
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blast into the market and say, hey, we're doing cakes or we're doing
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coffee or we're doing something like somebody else. You know, I really wanted
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to have something new and original. And I believe we were the first grazing
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company, yeah, in Ely offering that. And there have been more that have come,
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some that have gone unfortunately. And, um, we made a lot
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of friends online, yeah. And they, as, as we
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were emerging from COVID a lot of the grazing companies online
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who we made friends with sharing ideas, was it really slowed down for you,
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Martin, the online boxes? And I, I was aware that
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once we emerge from COVID that it
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would drop out, the takeaway service, which is why I started to then think early
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about premises. Because it got to the point where the takeaway, once things,
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businesses started to open up and you could go out and eat again, yeah,
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it was great. It was a false— the COVID time was a false business,
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yeah, success in a way. It was not going to last,
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yeah, for a very long time. Yeah, it was, it was a strange
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time, wasn't it? Because I ran an online business during COVID same thing.
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And I knew that the minute the doors reopened and we were all allowed back
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outside again, that, that was probably going to be the time to think about the
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next step. And it was literally overnight for us. It was the, the, the— we
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were let out to go run wild again, and I was like, right, okay,
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different business. It's not going to work. Yeah, it did catch a few
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people out. I'm aware of that. A few businesses did, did not make it over.
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Yeah, because I think it's also like that, is having that,
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um, I guess that, that foresight to think, okay, well then what's the next step?
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So constantly sort of trying to be ahead of it as well. Definitely, you know,
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and just, and just be, be driven as well, really. I think, I mean,
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I always say to the team at the shop, you know,
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life first, business afterwards. Yeah. And I, I give that
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advice, but I'm terrible for it. Yeah. I think I can't sit still, and it's,
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it's a really bad trait. I think, I think all business owners are the same
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though, that we all, we all kind of fight to create this perfect work-life
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balance for our staff and everyone else. But then as a result, it tends
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to be us who are the ones that are going, well, yeah, but I'm still
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living every day thinking about it, going through the maths and all that
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kind of stuff. But it is kind of part of the package, isn't it?
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Unfortunately, it's quite interesting because my friend— I hope you won't mind
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me saying— James Stevens owns Cambridge Commodities.
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Okay. Yeah, he once said to me, he said, it's a really lonely business,
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Martin, being self-employed, being a business owner. Yeah. And it—
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and when he said it, it was like I realized it actually, because you have
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all the team and staff around you, but ultimately when you go to bed or
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you've got things to think about, things are piling up on you, you're kind of
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having to, yeah, you know, it's all on your shoulders, in your own head.
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Yeah, 100%. We're so lucky that we went into this together for that exact reason.
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We've said it a few times, haven't we, that if it was just one of
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us doing it, and from say running my own business on my own many years
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ago and my at the time partner not kind of working in a full-time employed
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role, it was very difficult to explain or kind of,
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um, yeah, kind of explain the difficulties I was going through, the things I was
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thinking about, the things that were keeping me up at night, or things I'm kind
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of constantly going through day to day. Whereas because we say we started this together,
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we, we live it together, we breathe it together, so we've got that— we can
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kind of lighten the load slightly. Um, but otherwise, yeah, it is quite difficult.
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Do you find— is there any way you found to kind of combat that
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yourself, like that sort of that lonely element? Like you say,
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when it's sort of that feeling that it's all on, all on you, all of
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those elements you have to kind of do yourself. Is it? I'm okay,
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really. I mean, you have to, you have to solve that, like your own company.
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A few times when we've been on the road, come back into the hotel and
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some of the band was, where have you been? I've been to the cinema and
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then went to the Thai restaurant. And they've looked around going, who did
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you go with? On my own. That's exactly the reason.
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But you went on your own to the cinema and sat in that restaurant on
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the table for on, you know. So yeah, have a bit of alone time.
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That's it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know very often sometimes we'll do now and I'll
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just say, I'm just gonna nip out just for a coffee, just, just, yeah,
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for that exact same thing, just to have a minute, have a bit of a
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breather. Yeah, just to sort of, yeah, just on your own, to, in your,
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with your own thoughts for a little bit. Yeah, I mean, it's not for the
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faint-hearted running your own business, that's for sure. You have to be nimble and,
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yeah, you know, yeah, be sure to take it steady. I mean I
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joined a few coffee shop forums on
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Facebook or other platforms, and it is full of,
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I've given my whole life over, I'm shattered, I've got no time left,
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I sold it last year and I'm so glad that I did.
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It's certainly a tough business, hospitality, that's for sure. Yeah, absolutely.
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A couple of guests we've had on here previously that are in a similar,
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you know, doing something different but in a similar sort of hospitality role, and they
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said, first and foremost, you've really got to love the business and love what you
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do because there are a lot of tough times and you've
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got to have that something that kind of drives you through that time when you're
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sort of like, oh my God, why on earth did I set this up?
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It's that passion, isn't it, that keeps you focused and keeps you persevering.
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Exactly. And just kind of thinking then that sort of next step.
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So you talked obviously about the lovely shop that you're in now. Just explain
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to us a bit about how that came about. Obviously you'd had the idea of
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what's next, the premises is the next space. How did that
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come about? Uh, well, we knew we had to— we
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couldn't carry on at home. It was taking over the house,
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so we knew we'd have to, um, expand. And as I always wanted,
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I fancied the idea of a bar or a live venue. Yeah, yeah. I looked
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at a live venue, but, um, I didn't
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think I could make it work financially on Monday to Friday. Yeah, yeah.
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And Saturdays— Friday, Saturdays maybe, but the rest of the week I just— I wanted
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like a Ronnie Scott's Yeah, and it's to support local bands
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coming through and give them a platform in Ely. So you don't need to go
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to Cambridge or— but that was a bit of a risk.
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Um, we looked at Tom's Cake— well, the business that was Tom's Cakes before Tom's
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was there. Yeah. And that was again a
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bit of a risk. It was an expensive premises. And but we really wanted the
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outdoor space. That was important for me to have that kind of summer
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sitting chatting because I'm from the start, I've always been,
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um, service over money. Yeah, yeah.
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Probably not the best model of my accountants going on about,
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but it's always been service first. Yeah. Money afterwards. So if somebody's
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at our table and they're sitting enjoying themselves and chatting, that's, that's the thing that
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gives me the buzz, are the reviews. Yeah. And seeing people come
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back. And when, you know, when your customers become friends and people
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you care about, you know, for me, that's, that's, that's the big payoff. Yeah.
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Yeah. And, um, so we knew we wanted somewhere with outdoor seating. And Butter
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Market, even when it's full in the winter on
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the inside, it's, it's just
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about okay because we have 8, 9 seats inside.
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Oh wow. And that's all. And I knew, and people advised us,
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that's risky, um, because the interior
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is so small. Yeah. Um, but we went for it because the outside space is
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so into Nancy and James, who— the gin company. Yeah,
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they kindly gave us first offer on that business there. Wow.
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Because they were looking to, um, move into other business
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ideas and careers. And so we jumped
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on that. Yeah, signed a lease. I signed the lease and I wasn't worried because
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I know that it's such a beautiful building that, yeah, we couldn't make it work,
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we could move the lease on. Yeah, without it being empty.
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Yeah. So we, we got a beautiful place. I still look back at some of
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the original photographs, it's just like, oh my gosh, it's incredible.
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I will post some one day so people can realize what it was like before
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we had our full pavement license and before it was fully decorated.
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And that would be great. Yeah, because I think sometimes as well, when you're— when
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you've come so far with it, with the premises, and you've been in there for
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such a long time, you almost sort of forget that, that sort of early phase,
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don't you, of what it looked like? What it, you know, was that blank canvas?
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Yeah, it's always a bit like when you look clothes from 1980. Did I
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really? Or your hairstyle, you know, during COVID Oh
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God, I know. Mine was very long during COVID
15:56.790 --> 15:59.730
Yeah, and you, as you touched on, so also that earlier, so once you had
16:00.230 --> 16:03.110
the shop, a lot of that was you setting that up, you, you know,
16:03.610 --> 16:06.510
getting in there with a paintbrush and getting it all up and running.
16:06.710 --> 16:10.150
Yes, I had an idea of how I wanted it to look and
16:10.650 --> 16:13.946
we had some money for, um, for it to be done, but I just
16:13.978 --> 16:18.019
wanted to— I had the time, so I just
16:18.519 --> 16:21.996
decorated and have it how I wanted it. And that was an important part for
16:22.496 --> 16:25.139
me, just to get a feel for the flow. Yeah, I mean, it's changed a
16:25.639 --> 16:28.154
lot since then. Some of the team say this is much better like this and
16:28.654 --> 16:30.784
this is better like that. And Scott, who works for us, who's been with us
16:30.880 --> 16:34.264
for 4 or 5 years now, this is much better
16:34.764 --> 16:37.631
like this because he's at the front end. Yeah, and knows how it works,
16:37.695 --> 16:41.076
but Yes, it was all— and we get a lot of comments, which is really
16:41.140 --> 16:43.848
lovely again, and people come in and say, we just so love the feel of
16:43.880 --> 16:47.181
this, the decoration and this here, and the picture choices.
16:47.245 --> 16:50.514
And when you change the wallpaper and the colors— and we get a lot of,
16:50.610 --> 16:54.071
um, people from overseas and foreigners that live in Ely.
16:54.376 --> 16:57.693
Yeah, so it's just such a continental Europe, a Parisian feel
16:57.805 --> 17:01.282
to it. It's so nice. It's got such a— yeah. And then lots
17:01.346 --> 17:04.054
of people, you know, from the council and visit Ely come back and say,
17:04.070 --> 17:07.240
don't forget how much you've a gem this is indeed and how much of it's
17:07.740 --> 17:10.680
an asset. So when you do have some low points and some points when you're
17:11.180 --> 17:14.430
very tired, yeah, just those little things that people perhaps don't realize.
17:15.240 --> 17:18.840
Yeah. The, you know, the power that those words have.
17:19.440 --> 17:23.560
Yeah. Oh no, absolutely. And I think, like you say, especially that outdoor concept element.
17:24.060 --> 17:26.240
I mean, like you say, yeah, in Europe or places like that, it's kind of
17:26.740 --> 17:30.210
a given, isn't it? Every cafe, bar, that culture.
17:30.460 --> 17:33.320
Oh, it's gorgeous. Sitting out and taking your time as well. Yeah.
17:34.163 --> 17:36.984
One of the things I notice, if somebody arrives and they order a bagel and
17:37.484 --> 17:39.739
they sit down and I see it arrive at the table and then I'll look
17:39.804 --> 17:42.946
around to me and they've gone, oh, what a shame. Yeah,
17:43.268 --> 17:47.035
just, you know, just take your time. And when someone's there sitting reading the
17:47.535 --> 17:49.949
paper, I love it. It's really nice. As I say, it's not the best,
17:50.271 --> 17:54.184
yeah, business model, but for me it's, you know, it's, it's what's
17:54.296 --> 17:58.466
important. I think, I think the whole cafe culture thing is something that I
17:58.547 --> 18:00.962
think, I think England needs it as a culture. We need to kind of start
18:00.978 --> 18:03.528
embracing it from, from Europe and places like that because we, we've been lucky enough
18:03.576 --> 18:07.120
to travel around Europe quite a bit last year and things like
18:07.620 --> 18:10.080
that, and it is, it's a wonderful way to live. It's lovely just knowing you
18:10.580 --> 18:13.760
can take a nice gentle walk into town, grab a coffee, sit outside, and actually
18:14.260 --> 18:17.750
just take a minute and have good service. Yeah, have really great service.
18:17.800 --> 18:20.500
You appreciate it, you appreciate the customer. Yeah, they're not trying to get the food
18:21.000 --> 18:22.740
into you, get you out and get the next person in the seat and have
18:23.240 --> 18:26.160
that kind of customer churn. It's, it's a much more kind of relaxing, but it's
18:26.660 --> 18:29.060
good for the customer as well to just every now and then just take a
18:29.560 --> 18:32.687
bit of time. Like, we don't need to do everything straight away and rush our
18:33.187 --> 18:36.426
food, rush our drinks, rush through life. We can every now and then just sit
18:36.796 --> 18:40.696
and breathe and, you know, absorb, soak up the surroundings and
18:41.196 --> 18:44.002
things like that. And what you've done at Eataly, a grazing company, is a really
18:44.502 --> 18:47.292
great example of that kind of— yeah, always a cue to just slow down for
18:47.792 --> 18:50.888
a minute and just enjoy things. I think it starts also from,
18:51.465 --> 18:54.691
from like investing in the staff as well. Yeah, you know,
18:54.707 --> 18:57.356
for me, if you go— we've got such— I'm so proud we've got such a
18:57.500 --> 19:01.170
low labor turnover. Yeah, we've got girls and lads
19:01.670 --> 19:05.010
that have come in, been with us from the start of university. They come back
19:05.510 --> 19:08.690
every single summer and work with us. And say Scott,
19:08.770 --> 19:11.890
who's the manager, has been with us 5 years. And I think it makes
19:12.390 --> 19:15.290
a difference to the people that come in because, you know, you build a relationship
19:15.790 --> 19:18.810
really, don't you? Well, you can if you— if the staff are there and you,
19:19.290 --> 19:23.560
you know. So that's— yeah, it's important as well. Yeah, that's a really lovely segue.
19:24.060 --> 19:27.248
I was gonna say, in terms of staff obviously for that business, especially when you're,
19:27.714 --> 19:30.105
you know, all of them are front of house there. Like you say, they're dealing
19:30.137 --> 19:33.282
with customers and that sort of thing. Was that something really important to you to
19:33.330 --> 19:36.042
find the right people that were going to be in there? Had you got an
19:36.138 --> 19:39.347
idea in your mind of, you know, the types of folks that you would want,
19:39.428 --> 19:42.781
you would want working there? Not really. We just, just,
19:43.150 --> 19:46.472
I think people that really cared really. And I think that comes from because
19:46.584 --> 19:50.099
hopefully they know that we are, I care about the
19:50.599 --> 19:53.549
staff, which I do, you know, I care about them more than I do the
19:54.049 --> 19:56.598
business, if that's fair to say, in terms of their well-being. And they need to
19:57.098 --> 20:00.032
be happy. And yeah, I always say to them, if you don't say anything,
20:00.129 --> 20:03.579
you know what happens? Nothing. Yeah. So, um, all we say,
20:03.595 --> 20:06.259
and, you know, and we listen. And we— I think there's been one or two
20:06.564 --> 20:10.191
days that we haven't managed to honor a request to have a time off
20:10.691 --> 20:13.930
in 5 years or something. So, God, that's just people that's,
20:14.171 --> 20:17.894
um, you know, care about the business, care about quality.
20:17.975 --> 20:21.646
They listen about consistency. It needs to be built this way, this needs to
20:22.146 --> 20:25.459
be done like this. And because it, it's, it's tough when
20:25.475 --> 20:28.536
you're not at the business. Yeah, that's, that's for sure.
20:29.097 --> 20:32.333
I was going to ask, how early on when you first moved into
20:32.381 --> 20:36.131
the premises, obviously with your, your main career and
20:36.631 --> 20:38.567
everything else, you know, you a lot of time away, a lot of time kind
20:39.067 --> 20:43.005
of touring and traveling the world, how did you find that balance between
20:43.358 --> 20:46.390
I've got this new business that I'm setting up and I'm trying to get the
20:46.890 --> 20:49.970
right staff in, trying to get it working, but I'm also, you know,
20:50.470 --> 20:53.590
performing all over the place and trying to focus on my, my career as such.
20:54.090 --> 20:58.070
How was that kind of for you? It's very tricky.
20:58.570 --> 21:02.109
It still is. A lot of alarm clocks in America and
21:02.609 --> 21:06.210
Australia. A lot of, you know, waking up and looking at a phone screen at
21:06.710 --> 21:10.110
3 AM and then going back to sleep at 5 AM after because the
21:10.610 --> 21:13.050
shop is open at 9. So yeah, we're stuck in the hotel going, all right,
21:13.550 --> 21:16.942
just make sure everything's working. Yeah. But again, lean on the staff there,
21:16.958 --> 21:20.640
and Scott's brilliant, and the team, the kitchen team, are fabulous.
21:20.834 --> 21:24.710
But it's, um, still always a lot to do. I remember the
21:25.210 --> 21:29.098
one year I took virtually a carry-on suitcase full of
21:29.147 --> 21:32.873
paperwork. Gosh, yeah. Oh, because you
21:33.373 --> 21:35.859
do, don't you? Well, I was just so busy at the time running around and
21:36.359 --> 21:40.206
doing so much, um, uh, work, and our
21:40.222 --> 21:43.906
lad was very poorly as well, so that took a lot of time. Office.
21:44.436 --> 21:48.450
So, um, I was getting all these letters and it was like I
21:48.950 --> 21:52.704
was at the hospital and things like this for months. And, um, so that took
21:53.282 --> 21:56.124
a lot of time. Yeah, yeah. It's just, I guess, like that,
21:56.462 --> 21:59.592
it's trying to carve out that, that, um, yeah,
21:59.673 --> 22:03.253
the time where you can, you can do it and sort of, yeah,
22:03.301 --> 22:06.673
dedicate to it and be not distracted. It's, yeah, it's really
22:07.173 --> 22:09.990
difficult, isn't it, when you're exhausted and you've got all of these other Very important
22:10.490 --> 22:14.010
priorities. It's, yeah, it's hard to kind of find that time, isn't it?
22:14.510 --> 22:18.590
Yeah, it's the juggle. I know we're certainly, uh, yeah, still, still figuring that
22:19.090 --> 22:21.930
one out. I think everyone is, aren't they, as well? Well, I think that's the
22:22.430 --> 22:25.810
excitement of, um, being self-employed as well. You know,
22:26.310 --> 22:29.890
you've got multiple things. You never know what each day, yeah, it's going to
22:30.390 --> 22:32.850
have in store for you. Absolutely. Oh no,
22:33.350 --> 22:36.950
absolutely. Sometimes good surprises, sometimes not so good surprises, but that's all
22:37.450 --> 22:39.748
the roller coaster of the adventure, isn't it? Um, and one thing as well I
22:39.764 --> 22:43.036
would touch on, so obviously that the transition for from online and
22:43.536 --> 22:47.044
now the physical shop, do you still— what does that sort of the online— have
22:47.544 --> 22:50.107
you still got the online presence? Do you still sort of run that alongside the
22:50.607 --> 22:54.485
shop as well? Our website doesn't have an online booking system live
22:54.918 --> 22:56.409
anymore. Yeah, because,
22:57.884 --> 23:01.204
um, the, the web team are supposed to be reprogramming and they
23:01.236 --> 23:04.988
haven't, so it's still— we accept emails. Okay, but what would happen is,
23:05.100 --> 23:08.949
is we close at 4 o'clock. Yeah. And we'd have the orders ready for
23:09.449 --> 23:12.781
tomorrow. And then I'd get up 8 o'clock, do the school run, and then I'd
23:13.281 --> 23:16.549
see that somebody's placed an order for 40 boxes that day. Oh my God,
23:16.565 --> 23:20.012
20 boxes in Cambridge. And it was, it was, even though it's
23:20.512 --> 23:23.460
a great business and perhaps could have put somebody on the email side. Yeah.
23:23.941 --> 23:27.501
But, um, it was, it was a little bit too much more
23:27.613 --> 23:31.301
than I wanted to have an online order as you
23:31.381 --> 23:34.910
like. Yeah. So they're working on a quota system
23:35.410 --> 23:38.170
that we can try to let them know what we can manage, what the cutoff
23:38.670 --> 23:41.090
point is. So they're trying to program that at the moment. But yeah, we still
23:41.590 --> 23:45.110
accept email orders, you know. Yeah, because, because we're based on everything is
23:45.610 --> 23:48.850
you order it, it's made. Yeah, it's the same when you come into the shop,
23:48.990 --> 23:51.460
you order it and it's made. It's the same with the grazing. If somebody orders,
23:51.470 --> 23:55.450
we've got grazing for, I think it's 110 people tomorrow.
23:55.950 --> 23:58.470
Wow. And that'll be made tomorrow morning. Yeah.
23:59.558 --> 24:02.080
Um, so it was, it was too much for us to take,
24:02.466 --> 24:05.293
wake up in the morning, because we can't get the produce, you know. Yeah,
24:05.326 --> 24:07.800
we can't get it that much in. I was gonna say, it's not, it's not
24:08.314 --> 24:10.692
you, it's the, it's the supplies. That's right,
24:12.170 --> 24:15.400
logistical side of things around it as well. Yeah. And for
24:15.900 --> 24:19.416
me, it was also, you know, I really didn't enjoy saying, I'm sorry, we,
24:19.802 --> 24:22.742
we can't, we can't get that in today. Okay. Because then, you know,
24:23.096 --> 24:26.550
people aren't seeing our side of it, they're just seeing a You're saying no?
24:27.050 --> 24:30.250
We're saying no, we can't supply them, we won't get the call again. So it
24:30.750 --> 24:32.380
was much easier just to have it as email only.
24:34.230 --> 24:37.410
Yeah, I can imagine there's nothing worse like that panic. I can imagine that in
24:37.910 --> 24:39.750
the morning where you wake up and you're like, oh no, we're not gonna— we
24:40.250 --> 24:43.750
can't— yeah, we can't fulfill that. That's right. Sorry, this is late notice, but we
24:44.250 --> 24:47.890
really need, you know, 40 lunch platters for Cambridge Business Park
24:48.390 --> 24:51.770
tomorrow at 10 o'clock, please. And not doable. Yeah, yeah.
24:52.028 --> 24:55.764
So just kind of touching on your, your customers and everything, as we said
24:56.264 --> 24:59.596
before, kind of the whole charcuterie-style grazing board was quite a new concept when
24:59.773 --> 25:03.284
you set up your online business. So when you first opened the doors
25:03.621 --> 25:07.566
of the, the shop in town, how have you found the
25:08.066 --> 25:11.157
community in kind of Ely as a whole has been kind of accepting, kind of
25:11.657 --> 25:15.487
receiving a relatively new concept compared to bakeries, cake shops,
25:15.824 --> 25:18.710
fish and chip shops, things like that in town? And have you now got like
25:19.210 --> 25:22.802
a lovely base of regular customers that you see day in, day out, same weekends
25:23.302 --> 25:26.654
and things? Yeah, and that's actually growing, you know, and, um,
25:26.734 --> 25:29.976
and that's lovely. And I say to them all the time, that's what's actually kept
25:30.008 --> 25:33.828
us going. Absolutely. The tea here, the coffee there, the cake here.
25:34.679 --> 25:38.498
We see some people that come every day, um, and that's definitely
25:39.574 --> 25:41.596
kept us, kept us going.
25:42.366 --> 25:46.090
Um, but when the grazing
25:46.154 --> 25:49.652
opened, and then we got to our first winter,
25:51.048 --> 25:54.434
I realized that people were not going to be eating cheese and cold meats
25:54.964 --> 25:58.398
and chutneys. So that was a learning
25:58.430 --> 26:01.976
curve, you know. I remember the accountant said to me— the accountant, the Inland
26:02.024 --> 26:05.795
Revenue actually— where did all that, that money come
26:06.295 --> 26:09.277
from for grazing to, um, to pay all of that? And I mean, you see,
26:09.502 --> 26:13.353
I went to America, and he went from Martin Meredith Music straight
26:13.853 --> 26:17.269
into Ely Grazing. So I realized then we can't have another
26:17.769 --> 26:21.779
winter like that. So we had to be nimble and, and increase the
26:22.279 --> 26:26.353
menu offering. Yeah. So we went into toasties, and actually we
26:26.853 --> 26:28.760
went into a lot of the things that we had on the online business.
26:28.809 --> 26:31.778
So we had, um, bagels in our, um,
26:32.291 --> 26:36.015
brunch boxes online, and they were popular. But we had the bagel bar next
26:36.515 --> 26:39.995
door, the Silver Oak Bagel Bar. Yes. And I, when I went into Grace,
26:40.011 --> 26:41.985
I thought, well, I'm not going to put bagels on our menu in Grace.
26:42.050 --> 26:45.290
Grazing because it is almost like a diet, even though
26:45.354 --> 26:48.787
coffee and coffee— I don't know, but I didn't put the bagels on. Um,
26:49.541 --> 26:51.868
but then we had to be a bit more nimble for the winter, so we
26:52.368 --> 26:56.103
increased, um, our offering to soups, homemade soups,
26:56.119 --> 26:59.985
soups made on the premises, bagels, wraps, grazing.
27:00.033 --> 27:03.579
And that, yeah, that saved us. We wouldn't have survived if
27:04.079 --> 27:06.948
we'd stayed with the grazing. Yeah, not in the winter.
27:08.360 --> 27:12.100
No. And is that something you'd kind of anticipated? Was it until
27:12.600 --> 27:15.000
you got to winter and you're like, oh my gosh, okay, now we need to
27:15.500 --> 27:18.760
diversify and now we need to change that, the menu up? Definitely. I left it
27:19.260 --> 27:22.340
too late. Yeah, I didn't see that, or I may have been away. Yeah.
27:22.840 --> 27:26.480
And then just suddenly seeing everything drop down to coffees and no
27:26.980 --> 27:30.590
grazing cones being sold and no grazing bought in November or December.
27:30.700 --> 27:34.320
Yeah. But I think it's so different, especially when it's a new business, it's something,
27:34.820 --> 27:37.830
you know, a new concept as well. Yeah, I mean, we've had the same here,
27:37.870 --> 27:40.700
is, you know, for us, obviously summer holidays was our— this is our first.
27:40.850 --> 27:43.710
Everything's a first, isn't it, when you're, you know, you're new in the business.
27:44.170 --> 27:46.630
And so we were like, is it going to be quiet? Are summer holidays going
27:47.130 --> 27:49.290
to be quiet? Is it going to be busier? You know, until you kind of
27:49.790 --> 27:53.090
get to that period, you can, you can plan ahead, definitely, but actually you still
27:53.590 --> 27:56.870
don't know until you've kind of gone through those periods of time. It's true.
27:57.370 --> 28:01.520
I remember our first January after that winter in February and
28:02.020 --> 28:05.240
thinking, have we done something wrong? Has something happened? It's got— and now we just
28:05.740 --> 28:09.540
know January and February we play chess and have a chat together. Have a
28:10.040 --> 28:13.490
lovely time. Yeah, we're usually Scott and I sometimes in the shop, in the shop,
28:13.520 --> 28:16.660
or if I'm away, Scott, somebody else, and the chef. And yeah,
28:17.160 --> 28:20.860
it's just a chance to do a bit of housework and catch up. And yeah,
28:21.360 --> 28:24.000
you know, because it does go very, very quiet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's the thing.
28:24.500 --> 28:26.540
I think it's— yeah, yeah, it's like sort of January, February time, isn't it?
28:27.040 --> 28:29.750
Are you sort of getting that? Yeah, everyone's like, oh no, I'm just going to
28:30.250 --> 28:33.570
hibernate inside and yeah, not go anywhere. So it's adapting to that, isn't it?
28:34.070 --> 28:36.910
Yeah, I mean, we, we got through. I think we had— we were offering hampers
28:37.410 --> 28:40.990
and things in December. Yeah. And that, that was huge. We got a
28:41.490 --> 28:44.270
lot of corporate— yeah, of course. Yeah, it's going through.
28:44.290 --> 28:48.190
Yeah, that was a big help for us. Yeah, yeah. Oh no,
28:48.690 --> 28:50.910
it is. And is there anything else on the— from the food side, from the
28:51.410 --> 28:55.248
menu side as well, that you sort of— you've maybe tried on there and didn't
28:55.264 --> 28:58.974
work, or vice versa? Or people have said, oh, I, you know, I really love
28:59.022 --> 29:01.624
this, you weren't going to put it on, but actually it— and it's, and it's
29:01.913 --> 29:05.574
really worked really, really well. Yeah, we— I want— I've always wanted
29:06.074 --> 29:09.975
to, um, like a winter, traditional winter
29:10.039 --> 29:13.829
offering. So, and I make a beef bourguignon at home. Oh, lovely.
29:13.910 --> 29:17.539
So, um, and I do that a lot winter. And yeah, so I did bring
29:17.587 --> 29:20.863
that into the shop, and that was a big success last year. We sold
29:20.880 --> 29:24.350
out every Every, every time, every time we had batches
29:24.850 --> 29:27.390
of it. Yeah. Oh, lovely. People are coming back like, when's it, when's it coming
29:27.890 --> 29:30.990
back on? Is it coming back? Keeping an eye out, ready. That's good. Yeah.
29:31.490 --> 29:34.930
And there have been a few, uh, things that, shall we say,
29:35.430 --> 29:39.410
have been less successful. Yeah. Things that I've loved. Yeah. Again, when I
29:39.910 --> 29:43.440
was away, I think it was in France, Philadelphia, big block of Philadelphia,
29:43.850 --> 29:47.070
coriander and sweet chili sauce. And I absolutely love it,
29:47.570 --> 29:51.615
but we I just, I couldn't, couldn't get it to go in. Yeah, so unfortunately
29:51.631 --> 29:55.636
left the menu. Yeah, but not many. Most of everything,
29:55.813 --> 29:59.212
everything sells well. Yeah, but I guess it's also the beauty as well about it
29:59.712 --> 30:02.014
being, you know, your business is you can try these things as well.
30:04.060 --> 30:07.744
Yeah, it's just from things I like generally. Yeah, yeah.
30:08.051 --> 30:09.845
What's, what's your favorite thing on the menu?
30:12.094 --> 30:15.890
I would probably say,
30:16.390 --> 30:19.670
um, Harewood Bagel, which is— I went to the
30:20.170 --> 30:22.430
bagel company in New York when I was there. I was quite cheeky and I
30:22.930 --> 30:25.630
had a chat to them. I gave them some tickets to the concert and I
30:26.130 --> 30:27.610
said, oh, do you think you could just have a little chat? So they took
30:28.110 --> 30:31.770
me behind and showed me around. They knew that we were in a British company,
30:31.990 --> 30:34.430
so it was great. So, and they showed me their New York bagel, so I
30:34.930 --> 30:38.270
kind of lifted their idea. Yeah, yeah. What, what is in that bagel
30:38.770 --> 30:42.520
for people that haven't tried it? Pastrami, Gherkins. Yeah. Coleman's mustard,
30:43.020 --> 30:45.480
which is different to the New York mustard. It's a bit more of a kick,
30:45.500 --> 30:49.160
rocket, and it's on a seeded bagel. Yeah. Oh, sounds delicious, to be
30:49.660 --> 30:52.560
fair. Oh, why do we always do this at mid-morning? I haven't had breakfast and
30:53.060 --> 30:56.080
I'm like starving. Yeah, that's probably one of our most popular.
30:56.580 --> 30:59.840
And then named after Hereward the Wake, you know. All our
31:00.340 --> 31:03.780
products have names. We have a Cromwell, a Hereward. Oh,
31:04.280 --> 31:06.580
I love that. So that's kind of roots in, in with Ely as well.
31:07.080 --> 31:09.400
That's it. I mean, it's not my idea. Again, it's from Birmingham. My friend had
31:09.900 --> 31:13.720
a cafe And, um, he named all of his sandwiches after some
31:14.220 --> 31:17.180
of the roads, famous roads in Moseley and Birmingham.
31:17.680 --> 31:20.480
This was before we had the grazing. Yeah. And I always used to love it
31:20.980 --> 31:23.980
when they said, I'd have the Oxford please today. Yeah, yeah,
31:24.480 --> 31:26.720
yeah. I'd like to say it was my idea, but no.
31:28.220 --> 31:30.380
Um, one thing as well you touched on a little bit earlier on as well
31:30.880 --> 31:34.240
about that kind of, um, uh, that network and, and sort of chatting
31:34.740 --> 31:37.780
to people and getting, and getting that feedback. How have you found sort of general
31:38.280 --> 31:41.310
in terms of like like we said about the community, the business community within Ely
31:41.810 --> 31:44.810
as well, that sort of, um, like you said, you're— you seem very conscious as
31:44.842 --> 31:48.293
well of kind of not treading on people's toes and working with other folks
31:48.793 --> 31:52.130
as well, businesses. Have you found, you know, since when you started the grazing
31:52.630 --> 31:55.999
company, that people were really sort of receptive to, to working together?
31:56.722 --> 32:01.056
I mean, I've been, you know, astonished really by the
32:01.556 --> 32:04.668
kind of help and loyalty from the Ely community, that, that's the
32:05.168 --> 32:08.841
public, and, and business, really. And my, my nature is
32:08.857 --> 32:12.902
as well is to be, you know, you know, it used to be about exclusivity,
32:12.934 --> 32:16.641
and I think it's more about inclusivity nowadays, really helping people
32:17.141 --> 32:20.075
out. I mean, it's tough out there, and if you help people— and I think
32:20.575 --> 32:23.125
it was last year I got told off by the accountant. Do you realize how
32:23.141 --> 32:26.559
much you've given to charity this year? Can you not limit it
32:27.059 --> 32:30.555
to a quarter? You know, um, each quarter you give away 20, because every
32:30.587 --> 32:33.810
cricket club comes in or the So a young boys club or
32:34.310 --> 32:37.415
a football club, can you raffle, raffle, raffle, raffle? Yeah,
32:37.431 --> 32:39.807
and there's stuff going out in the middle of the road, like, you know.
32:39.953 --> 32:43.629
So, um, we support, and we've had a lot of support from,
32:44.449 --> 32:47.811
uh, the council, from fellow business owners,
32:48.229 --> 32:50.627
um, like I say, James and, um,
32:52.254 --> 32:55.669
uh, Michel Instruments, lots of companies that have used
32:56.169 --> 32:59.930
us and given us testimonials. Amazing. Been really, really helpful.
33:00.430 --> 33:03.250
And there have been many times when we've thought— when I've thought, this is just
33:03.750 --> 33:07.430
too much, and then something comes along that helps us, and it's like, you know,
33:07.930 --> 33:11.650
it's— yeah, makes it really worthwhile. It's a really strong community in
33:12.150 --> 33:15.550
that sense, certainly. And there's a lot of groups that help each other out,
33:16.050 --> 33:18.530
you know. There's an alarm going off here, or does anybody know this? Has anybody
33:19.030 --> 33:22.270
got any need for this? And yeah, it's really nice. Yeah, it makes you feel
33:22.770 --> 33:25.320
like you're not on your own. It does, yeah. Yeah, I think a lot of
33:25.820 --> 33:28.960
business owners when they kind of first get started are a bit cautious of other
33:29.460 --> 33:32.640
companies, other businesses, hoping they're not, you know, trying to take their ideas and things
33:33.140 --> 33:35.500
like that. And everyone gets a bit guarded about things, but there's definitely been a
33:36.000 --> 33:39.180
change in kind of the culture around that now. We're very much kind of promoters
33:39.680 --> 33:43.280
of the collaboration over competition type element of things where, like you said,
33:43.780 --> 33:46.920
we're all in it together. It's a tough, it's a tough game. It's, you know,
33:47.420 --> 33:49.760
it's not for the faint-hearted, and the only way to succeed is to help each
33:50.260 --> 33:54.565
other out. Is it? I mean, we have people
33:54.581 --> 33:57.948
pass comments to us that say, well, have you seen this is
33:58.448 --> 34:01.540
happening? Someone's doing this crazy or someone's doing this is very much like,
34:02.053 --> 34:04.796
I'm like, you know, if, as long as we're doing what we're doing well,
34:05.469 --> 34:08.933
we'll, we'll be fine. And, you know, if somebody else wants to do the
34:09.433 --> 34:13.086
same, then let them carry on. As long as you let
34:13.102 --> 34:16.806
everybody else do your promotion and you carry on, on your road
34:17.306 --> 34:21.120
and yeah. That, that for me, that's what's important. And, um, it's loads
34:21.620 --> 34:25.820
of times I've been in, uh, passing Sophie's Tea Room or
34:26.320 --> 34:29.160
another place and we see one of our regulars and they go, oh, sorry,
34:29.660 --> 34:33.539
we still do come to you, we do come to— and I'm, I'm overjoyed
34:34.039 --> 34:37.480
if they're an independent. I'm on for like going— I go to Sophie's,
34:37.980 --> 34:42.360
I go to Tom's, I go to Peacock's, all, you know, support everybody.
34:42.860 --> 34:46.140
Absolutely. Yeah, I'd be sad if they were not going to Sophie's, you know,
34:46.640 --> 34:50.239
you know, it's, um, or one of the others, you know. Independence. It's— yeah,
34:50.739 --> 34:53.359
yeah, I think that's the thing. And we've, we've certainly found with here, obviously,
34:53.859 --> 34:57.139
you know, completely different business, but, um, in the very early days, yeah, you sort
34:57.639 --> 35:00.219
of, you know, you're, you're getting things set, you're, you know, finding your feet with
35:00.719 --> 35:03.539
everything. And we've all— one of the things we've, we've tried to always stick to
35:04.039 --> 35:06.759
is like, as long as you, I think, are true to your values of why
35:07.259 --> 35:09.699
you set that business up in the first place, you know, like you— back to
35:10.199 --> 35:12.589
you saying about, you know, you had the, the dream of how you wanted,
35:12.659 --> 35:15.639
you know, the experience you wanted people to have. And we were very similar here.
35:16.139 --> 35:18.987
I'm like I knew sort of how I wanted people to feel when they walked
35:19.487 --> 35:22.001
in the door, the kind of greeting that they'd have, that they'd feel welcome,
35:22.017 --> 35:25.255
that they'd have great coffee, that they'd, you know, like they'd have a, they'd have
35:25.755 --> 35:27.339
a place that they could, they could kind of come to. And I think as
35:27.355 --> 35:30.978
long as you, I don't know, are confident and you, and you stick to that
35:31.331 --> 35:34.697
regardless if, you know, folks set up similar. Yeah, it's,
35:34.777 --> 35:37.358
you know, there's a place for everybody, isn't there? I think so. I don't think
35:37.858 --> 35:40.388
it's normal to be protective. Yeah. I think you can't turn that off. Yeah.
35:40.500 --> 35:43.001
And it's just, it's just, it's then about being able to go, okay, well,
35:43.049 --> 35:47.313
that's happening. Somebody's seen something that's working, so they're perhaps thinking,
35:47.330 --> 35:50.530
Yeah, we should try something like that. We should try
35:51.030 --> 35:53.830
a bit of that. Yeah, yeah. But if you— I think you'll fly through if,
35:54.330 --> 35:58.390
um, if you're consistent. Yeah, you've still got your vision and absolutely
35:58.890 --> 36:02.450
your original ideas, and you're always moving a little bit when you
36:02.950 --> 36:06.610
need to. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. So just quickly
36:07.110 --> 36:10.450
touching back on kind of the food element and food element of Ely as a
36:10.950 --> 36:14.190
city, um, obviously the last few years things like Foodie Friday are
36:14.690 --> 36:17.150
bringing in this whole new wave of food trucks and things like that to the
36:17.650 --> 36:20.833
market, and just the market in general on weekends is now becoming a really,
36:21.025 --> 36:23.638
a really good kind of thriving place for, for foodies,
36:24.071 --> 36:27.084
where it used to be kind of more traditional. Um, have you found that's been
36:27.100 --> 36:30.178
a really good thing for your business because it's getting— it's basically bringing more people
36:30.226 --> 36:32.711
in? Or have you found that when the market days are on, people tend to
36:33.211 --> 36:35.741
be more on Market Square, even though you are kind of perfectly placed, aren't you,
36:35.757 --> 36:39.540
just around the corner? Yeah. Um, I think it's brilliant for,
36:39.764 --> 36:43.515
for really— I think, yeah, what the market team have done, because it's
36:43.627 --> 36:47.314
no small undertaking. No, yeah, those, those hot,
36:47.427 --> 36:51.210
those hot ones. Yeah, it's, it's incredible.
36:51.306 --> 36:54.774
And I've heard from being in the shop, people come far and wide to
36:55.274 --> 36:59.254
see Foodie Friday and the markets. I mean, Foodie Friday is more like Foodie Festival,
36:59.334 --> 37:03.060
really. Yeah, I know how big it is. It's amazing. You should be very proud.
37:03.140 --> 37:06.592
It's amazing. It doesn't bring us business,
37:06.720 --> 37:10.173
Foodie Friday, as the shop, and I understand that,
37:10.269 --> 37:13.545
and I'm quite happy about it because everybody stays, yeah, on the square. And if
37:14.045 --> 37:17.960
I went to Foodie Friday, I wouldn't go to somewhere outside
37:18.460 --> 37:21.500
of Foodie Friday unless I wanted a bit of breathing space. Yeah,
37:22.000 --> 37:25.560
yeah. But I think it's amazing, I love it. And we have worked Foodie Friday
37:26.060 --> 37:29.720
on the market, and it's absolutely stratospheric. It's incredible
37:30.220 --> 37:33.080
the amount of people there, the feedback, the hum, the business.
37:33.580 --> 37:36.640
Um, and on the market days, that certainly brings more people into the shop.
37:37.140 --> 37:40.560
You see a difference on the market days at the grazing. That's really
37:41.060 --> 37:44.800
people sitting outside with a shopping bag or an old antique mirror
37:45.300 --> 37:48.958
or something. It's lovely. Yeah, yeah, really nice. Yeah, it's really It's
37:49.458 --> 37:52.272
good. Um, going back to sort of either side of things, so,
37:52.577 --> 37:56.083
um, for folks obviously listening to this that are maybe thinking about setting something
37:56.131 --> 37:59.489
up themselves, or, um, you know, are there any, any lessons
37:59.505 --> 38:03.009
you've learned to this point now from, from The Grazing Company that maybe you would
38:03.509 --> 38:05.719
do differently if you were gonna— if you were starting again?
38:07.146 --> 38:10.766
Uh, oh, differently. And it's okay if
38:10.960 --> 38:14.563
it— yeah, perhaps not differently because I think the only thing I could do any
38:14.595 --> 38:17.818
different, but maybe just delegate if you
38:18.318 --> 38:21.509
can. Trust, trust the team that you have. Yeah.
38:21.750 --> 38:25.040
And delegate, you know. But the team have started to send me away, which is
38:25.540 --> 38:29.389
really nice. We can do this, go home. And, and that's actually— I do
38:29.889 --> 38:33.626
need that. Yeah. But, um, delegate if you can and, and be
38:34.126 --> 38:36.771
prepared to ask for help. There is actually a lot of help out there,
38:36.803 --> 38:40.430
you know. We've had some help from the council, and sometimes it could just be
38:40.446 --> 38:44.180
an email away that can just make quite a few problems go away and yeah,
38:44.680 --> 38:48.200
just give the answers. Yeah, right. I, yeah, I can't believe I'm saying
38:48.700 --> 38:52.220
it, but AI is quite a good resource if you stop for things
38:52.720 --> 38:56.040
because you'll say, have you thought about this as well? Yeah, absolutely. No, I definitely
38:56.540 --> 38:59.640
agree because I think sometimes, again, like you said, I think being a business owner,
39:00.140 --> 39:02.800
you have that mentality to be like, I've got to do all of this myself,
39:02.860 --> 39:06.580
you know, especially like you say in the early days. And actually sometimes you're
39:07.080 --> 39:10.440
not necessarily the best placed person to do all of those things. When you realize
39:10.940 --> 39:14.030
that The sooner you realize that. Yeah,
39:14.530 --> 39:17.470
we're so emotionally attached to it, aren't we? It's very hard to kind of stray
39:17.970 --> 39:20.850
away from that, that vision that you have at the start. So it does take
39:21.350 --> 39:24.370
a second set of eyes to be like, well, actually, this might not
39:24.870 --> 39:27.330
be the best route for you. Look at this. And like you said, that's what
39:27.830 --> 39:30.950
delegation and having other experts is for. Like, we know we're not very good with
39:31.450 --> 39:34.510
the accounts. There are accountants that get paid to do that, right? Yeah, you know,
39:35.010 --> 39:37.270
and things like that. It's just, it's good to know what your strengths are and
39:37.770 --> 39:41.393
then know people that can deal with the other ones. Try. Yeah. Um, so just
39:41.893 --> 39:44.717
on the flip side of that then, um, what would you say up until now
39:44.943 --> 39:48.736
is the kind of the moment you're most proud of since you've, since you've
39:49.236 --> 39:52.761
opened? I don't think there's, uh,
39:52.777 --> 39:56.408
one moment. I don't think— I think, I think probably just
39:56.908 --> 39:59.845
the, the Google reviews. Yeah. And the TripAdvisor reviews.
40:00.200 --> 40:03.990
My lad is constantly saying, Dad, you're 5 on this and you're 4.9. No,
40:04.006 --> 40:06.598
I'm looking around, I can't find any other 5s or 4.9s.
40:07.390 --> 40:10.009
That's amazing. And then just seeing the regular faces,
40:10.314 --> 40:14.074
yeah, come in, and, you know, that's, that's a highlight for
40:14.574 --> 40:17.694
me really. Yeah. Before, before anything else, I think. And, you know,
40:17.711 --> 40:19.587
keeping the staff employed. Yeah. That's,
40:21.269 --> 40:24.148
that's really important. Yeah. And happy,
40:24.277 --> 40:27.410
of course. Yeah. I love it. Wow,
40:27.797 --> 40:31.681
we are, we're almost out of time, amazingly. Um, so, but we are
40:31.745 --> 40:35.612
at the end with our quickfire round. Now, we're notorious for for this not being
40:35.805 --> 40:39.996
that quick, but we will try our best to
40:40.496 --> 40:42.838
do it quick. So these are— so James and I are gonna, gonna fire these
40:42.934 --> 40:46.017
at you in, in turn. Um, just, yeah, some,
40:46.065 --> 40:49.437
some fun ones, some slightly— something slightly different. Okay. Um, so first
40:49.937 --> 40:53.210
one we're going to start with is sweet or savoury board? Savoury. Oh,
40:53.933 --> 40:57.241
okay. Absolutely. I'm not much of a sweet. Okay. Yeah.
40:57.385 --> 41:00.147
Okay. Um, are you a tea or coffee person?
41:00.516 --> 41:03.390
Used to be coffee, but now it's tea. Yeah. Oh,
41:04.129 --> 41:07.677
you've switched allegiance. I have indeed, yes. Just need to
41:08.177 --> 41:10.824
cut some milk out, I think. So yeah. Oh yeah,
41:11.435 --> 41:14.245
actually, just a very quick follow-up question on the tea, just because this is a
41:14.745 --> 41:17.167
contentious issue between James and I. Here we go. Do you put your milk in
41:17.231 --> 41:20.892
first or after? In tea? I don't have
41:21.165 --> 41:25.131
milk generally in tea. Okay. But if I go to Peacock's
41:25.259 --> 41:28.402
and I have tea there, yeah, then I'll put the milk in
41:28.450 --> 41:31.737
afterwards. See, correct answer,
41:31.993 --> 41:34.863
Martin. I'm gonna keep my opinions to myself for this.
41:35.119 --> 41:38.935
That's fine. Supremacy. So morning
41:39.031 --> 41:42.942
person or night owl? Both. Oh, because you kind of have to be. I was
41:42.958 --> 41:46.533
gonna say, yeah. I'm very— I
41:47.033 --> 41:50.124
don't want to say never, but never in bed before midnight.
41:50.461 --> 41:53.743
Gosh. Oh my gosh. Ever. Oh,
41:53.775 --> 41:56.686
and you switch from coffee to tea. That's, uh,
41:57.010 --> 42:00.309
yeah. One ingredient
42:00.809 --> 42:04.080
you can't live without? Music.
42:04.614 --> 42:07.979
Oh, I like that. I definitely agree there. Um,
42:08.659 --> 42:11.635
uh, best bit of Ely you'd send a visitor to?
42:14.279 --> 42:16.721
Um, do you have to— only one, or can I fire? You could give it—
42:17.221 --> 42:20.892
yeah, that's a couple. If it's a building, it'd be the Oliver Cromwell House.
42:21.809 --> 42:24.915
I love it there. If it's somewhere to eat, even though there are loads,
42:24.931 --> 42:27.974
so sorry everybody else, but it'd be Peacock's Tea Room. Yeah,
42:27.991 --> 42:29.745
love it there. Yeah, shop, it'd be Cattywampus.
42:32.509 --> 42:35.591
And if it was somewhere to work, it'd be here at the Ely Work Collective
42:36.091 --> 42:38.430
because you have a brilliant office space in there. I've seen it. Yeah, and your
42:38.930 --> 42:42.042
cheque is in the post. Thank you very much. I love that
42:42.542 --> 42:45.792
nice little array there. Um, so next one, cheese board or dessert
42:46.292 --> 42:50.014
board? Yeah, yeah. And then the final one is one word
42:50.514 --> 42:51.687
to describe running your own business.
42:55.535 --> 42:58.327
Exciting. Yeah, love that, love that.
42:59.473 --> 43:02.765
Lovely. Well, there we come to the end here. So for folks that, um,
43:03.201 --> 43:06.196
don't know, like I say, haven't, haven't been to see you before, how— where can
43:06.696 --> 43:10.151
they find you? How can they— how can they, yeah, support you? We're at
43:11.289 --> 43:14.574
the Butter Market, which is opposite
43:15.074 --> 43:18.773
the new Greggs. Yeah, yeah, uh, just off the Market Square. We're on
43:18.837 --> 43:22.042
Instagram, Facebook, um, and email.
43:22.122 --> 43:25.519
It's all the Grazing Company. Yeah, yeah, we'll pop all the links in as well
43:25.648 --> 43:28.388
when we go live. So thank you very much. Amazing. Thank you, thank you so
43:28.436 --> 43:30.423
much for taking the time. Thank you for having me. As we now realize,
43:30.519 --> 43:33.981
you are a very, very busy man, so yeah, we really
43:34.205 --> 43:37.135
appreciate it. Thanks for fitting me in. I'm in good company. I've seen the list
43:37.635 --> 43:40.920
of, uh, ones you've done already. Yeah, lovely. It's just been great having you.
43:40.968 --> 43:42.192
Thank you so much. Thank you.