did come in spent a lot of money. It just takes time. When we opened our second shop in St Paul we made some forecasts and were totally wrong. That shop ended up being a sandwich shop that sells cheese instead of a cheese shop that sells sandwiches.


GOOD TO KNOW IT’S NOT JUST ME THAT GETS FORECASTING WRONG. WHAT HAVE YOU FOUND TO BE THE HARDEST PART OF RUNNING YOUR


OWN BUSINESS? l Managing personalities is by far the most difficult part. Is that a clichéd answer? When I started the business it was just myself and one other employee. 8 years later there are forty plus people working for me. Scaling up and growing the culture has been incredibly difficult. We have so many smart, passionate


people within the business that it’s


only natural for there to be conflict. The majority of my time now is spent making sure we’re all moving in the same direction.


NAME 3 THINGS YOU KNOW NOW THAT YOU DIDN’T KNOW WHEN YOU


STARTED? l Keeping things cold is incredibly expensive. Our yearly refrigeration repair bill is astronomical. Selling expensive cheese is easier


than you think if you can just provide a great story. You can be astounded by how


much employees can care about your business. They’ll treat it as their own if given the right motivation.


WHAT WOULD YOU DO DIFFERENTLY


IN HINDSIGHT? l I totally would have worked on a mission statement from day one. I don’t even think I knew what that was when I started. I would have outlined our core values and really begun embedding them and codifying them


from the very beginning. HOW DO YOU COPE WITH COMPETITION FROM OTHER INDEPENDENTS, AND ALSO LARGE SUPERMARKETS? WHAT CAN YOU


OFFER THAT THEY CAN’T? l I’ve never felt that supermarkets are our competition. We provide a level of service, knowledge, and quality that the grocery stores in our area simply cannot compete with. Also our logistics are such that we are always bringing in incredibly fresh cheese.


HOW DO YOU PROMOTE YOUR


BUSINESS? PRINT MEDIA/RADIO/ETC.? l We rely mostly upon word of mouth. We recently opened a whole animal butcher shop and we’ve been spending a good amount of money on Facebook advertising. To my surprise it actually seems to be working!


WHAT ELSE DO YOU DO TO INCREASE


SALES AND REPEAT BUSINESS? l For sandwiches we have a punch card that gives them a free sandwich for every 10 purchased. That’s huge! In Minneapolis there is a club membership at the wine store that works in the cheese shop as well. You pay a one-time fee and then receive rebates on all of your purchases. That’s also an enormous program.


WHAT ARE YOUR 3 BEST-SELLING


NON CHEESE ITEMS? l We take our day old bread and make garlic crostini. We sell enough of those to fund a small country! Also lots of chocolate, and cured meat.


WHAT’S THE LONG TERM AIM FOR


THE BUSINESS? l To stay in business and keep all 40+ employees gainfully employed. The


Adrian Beale, Co-owner, Buckley & Beale. W: www.buckleyandbeale.com T: 01454 219445.


The Delicatessen Magazine 11


new butcher shop is taking up much of my time and we’re working very hard to integrate this new business into our existing businesses. There are so many part of an animal to utilize and our plan is to make something interesting and delicious with them.


WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO A UK CHEESE SHOP OR DELI OWNER, THAT THINKS THE US DOESN’T HAVE


GREAT SPECIALITY FOOD? l I lived in Scotland for 6 months and my flat mate ate Bovril for breakfast every morning and I lived around the corner from a chippy that claimed to have invented the deep fried Mars bar. I don’t think I really need to say much more than that.


OK, FAIR ENOUGH. HOW DO YOU


RELAX OUTSIDE OF THE BUSINESS? l My son is 2 years old and he is the most fun thing in my life. I keep my work and life well balanced so I can spend as much time with him and my wife as is possible.


YOU HAVE A DINING ROOM FULL OF ALL YOUR FAMILY AND BEST FRIENDS, AND YOU’VE ALL ENJOYED A BEAUTIFUL HOME COOKED DINNER. WHAT DO YOU SERVE TO


END THE MEAL? l Oh, maybe you’re looking for cheese as an answer but that’s not it. At any given moment I have about 10 different kinds of bean-to-bar chocolate in my cupboard. There’s a tiny chocolate maker I’m friends with, Rogue Chocolatier in Massachusetts, who makes some of the finest chocolate in the world. I’d probably serve a few of his bars and some ripe fruit and call it good.


ANYTHING ELSE YOU’D LIKE TO ADD THAT YOU THINK WOULD BE USEFUL FOR A UK BUSINESS


OWNER TO HEAR? l Be on the lookout for amazing cheeses being made in the USA. We really do make some incredible cheese here that can compete with the best in the world. Our sense of history and terroir may not be as well defined as Europe but that doesn’t mean we can’t produce something worthy of exporting.


Thanks Ben. Although I’m still not sure I can quite forgive you for having a pop at Bovril. l


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44