With Christmas over, I can sit down and breathe and look back on what a fantastic year 2013 was! As my first year of business, I think it went pretty well. Did I mention that I sold out of Christmas stock? That was quite a welcome surprise! Hampers were delivered, gift boxes galore have been sent far and wide across the country, and hundreds of jars were hopefully opened, shared and enjoyed by all over the Christmas period. We certainly tucked in to our fair share of chutneys on Christmas eve with roast pork and Oscar's Kitchen pickled onions. Delicious!
Over the next couple of weeks, I will be giving the Kitchen a well deserved break (and myself) and a thorough sorting out. There are a few things on my to-do list: clean the stock room from head to toe and give it a new lick of paint; re-shuffle the cupboards to I can get a little more space in there; build work surfaces and new storage boxes etc; sort out all my packaging and labelling. In the new year I am hoping to be able to start welcoming customers into the Kitchen in order to buy products straight from the stock room, which will hopefully be somewhat more of a mini-shop.
Talking of shop, I have started looking into opening Oscar's Deli! This is very exciting news, although it will take a lot of work and planning so hopefully I will have my own premises by summer of 2015. It will sell my own preserves, chutneys and pickles etc, but I will be bringing in other local producers' products, such a meat, eggs, honey, milk, cured meats, breads, olives and anything else I can find which is Welsh and Wonderful. WATCH THIS SPACE.
As I mentioned earlier, it's been a very busy Christmas period and a very busy year. I've watched by business really take off, and I feel as if I've made a name for myself now and a permanent place in the food business. Onwards and upwards as they say! However, none of this could have been possible without the continuous support of my parents, who have homed me, fed me, built things for me, peeled and sliced things for me, and have overall helped me the whole way. Thank you parents.
I also owe a huge thank you to my wonderful boyfriend and best friend, Ben, who has the patience of a saint and has always encouraged me throughout the year, when I'm tired and grumpy, to keep on going, and for his encouragement to go on and do bigger and better things. His faith in me and my business is the best pick me up. Thank you.
But, most importantly, I owe the biggest thank you of all to my customers who have truly made this year a success. Thank you.
I'm sure that 2014 will be even more exciting!
Ruth and Oscar
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