November saw the opening of Mouse & Grape in Pinner, north west London.
This is the first bricks-and-mortar store for the business that Jessica Summer started developing in 2020, and she is confident the model she’s building could be replicated to ensure steady future growth.
In March 2020, just 10 days into a new job in the property industry, Summer was made redundant. “I’ve always been quite entrepreneurial,” she says, “and I knew I wanted to have a lifestyle business where I could do something that I loved. I was very inspired by people like Holly Tucker [co-founder of Not on the High Street], and when my partner, Charlie, asked ‘what makes you happy?’, I said, ‘cheese and wine’. That’s how it started.”
Summer bought the domain name Mouse & Grape and registered the company before deciding what the business would do. She made good use of the first lockdown by completing her WSET qualifications up to Level 3 and working part-time at Dalling & Co, the indie in Kings Langley. “They were brilliant and it was a good opportunity for me to learn from Jeff [Folkins] and see how a small independent is run,” she says.
Mouse & Grape began with Summer developing a following on social media for her cheese and wine recommendations. She sent out her first hampers in December 2021 and that’s when she decided she needed to learn more about cheese.
“I had been so focused on getting my alcohol licence and doing the WSETs and I was like, ‘it’s fine, I know about cheese’, but the first time I ever cut and wrapped a cheese was my first Christmas order,” she says. “I quickly realised I should probably get some experience. I started working at Fromagerie in January ‘22 and I was there for 10 months. During that time I was still growing Mouse & Grape and started doing corporate tasting events as well as private events.”
Was a physical shop always on the cards? “Online was really important for me because I want to have a big business,” Summer says. “I was a bit worried about how a bricks-and-mortar shop could tie me down to an area, but I realised it’s really good marketing to have a shop. If you have a space that people can see, they can understand who you are and what you’re about.
“It’s so competitive online, especially with the amount of money that you have to spend on ads, on SEO, on top-notch photography. Unless you’ve got a lot of money behind you that you can just keep investing, then I think a bricks-and-mortar shop is really helpful to have alongside an online business. Really, you need both to be able to succeed.”
In terms of suppliers, “Jeroboams have been very kind to me”, Summer says. “They really helped me with my wine selection and let me order very small quantities to get things going. It was nice to be taken seriously straight away. I think you need those people at the beginning who are almost like angels throughout your business journey, and there’s quite a few of them who have helped me.”
Ben Franks, co-founder of Novel Wines and director of Canned Wine Co, has been working with Summer for the past 18 months. “He’s been really instrumental in helping me with the business side of it. Getting everything onto Xero, forecasting, thinking ahead, being strategic.” She is also being mentored by Kim Wilson, founder of North South Wines. “She has been really great to me,” Summer says.
“I’ve got big vision and goals,” she adds. “I know what I want to achieve creatively, but the financial side of things has been a big learning for me. I’m really conscious that to open another location we first need to be profitable and in a strong position.”