A Day in The Life of An Online Shopkeeper ~ Lists, Licenses, Liqueurs and Love

Lists

There are so many challenges to overcome when you set up an online shop. The list is frightening.

Creating the right website, organising the photo shoot, uploading lots of information, dealing with accounts, paperwork, social media, trademarks, insurance, branding…Then there is finding a good courier company {how hard is that!}, buying cardboard boxes, wrapping paper and string. Don’t forget attending fairs, meeting artisan producers, deciding what stock to buy, where to store it and ensuring that all the admin is kept up to date and all the figures stack up. You live life making lists: what to do, when to do it, how to do it…..Just managing the lists is a job in itself.

License

Then there is the alcohol license. In order to sell any form of spirits you need to pass a licensing exam and spend a day learning the ins and outs of the licensing trade. Whether you want to set up your own restaurant, run a pub or sell wine, you need to get a license. And today we got ours. Hurray! This means that we will looking out for British artisan gins, brandies, wines, ciders and so on. We are also looking to open our own high street shop, and if you want to be updated on that launch we can send you a Newsletter.

Liqueurs

The first four liqueurs we decided to stock are both artisan liqueurs created by inspiring, intrepid, intelligent British women.

Blackcurrant grower Jo Hilditch was inspired to create her own version of British Cassis after tasting Kir Royale. Her family farm in Herefordshire now produces a range of liqueurs, including British Poire, a Herefordshire pear liqueur made with rosemary.

Heavenly Hedgerows liqueurs are created by forager Chris Westgate, who rambles across the land around her Keynsham, Somerset, home to collect wild berries.  She uses the blackberries, sloes, rosehips, crab apples, hawthorn berries, wild plums and lavender she picks to create delicious, award winning liqueurs and preserves in her kitchen.

Love

I love that time of the day when you can reward yourself with a great cocktail or cake, or both! These liqueur mixers are ideal for adding to Champagne, Prosecco, white wine, gin, tonic water or vodka. They add fruitiness and fragrance to cocktails, ice-creams, sorbets, granitas, cakes, puddings and jellies.

You have to love this job to do it: you have to love seeking out great British producers and stocking their work. Despite the lists, the setbacks and the challenges, it is all worth it when you love what you do. And when you meet great producers you get to eat and drink really well!

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