“We undertook quite a lot of research visiting different markets and looking at what other retailers were selling and we wanted to sell something that was a bit different and that generally you can’t get in any other shop.“Everything we now stock is something that we have tried in our own home. We have worked on the principle that we can then recommend each product to our customers wholeheartedly because we have tasted it and like it.
Julia said the growth of the business has come organically and that by learning more about their customers is being put back into how they will operate in future.“We’ve had an encouraging response and continually receive lovely messages from those who have found us and have experienced the produce. We started with a soft launch rather than a grand opening and we’ve built our trade up through word of mouth and social media.
“We have the capacity to take on more produce and that’s what we are doing while feeling our way and finding other new product lines. The pantry grew organically from a little hut we made out of spare parts from the chicken buildings into something more substantialRichard warns that what started Pantry in the Paddock may not be around for much longer though if the current dilemma facing egg producers continues.
“We’ve now got massively increased costs. My electricity bill tripled last month and my feed has gone from £220 to £400 per tonne. Labour costs have also increased and agricultural inflation, referred to recently in the national farming press, is running at about 30 per cent, whereas consumer inflation is around 10 per cent.“We’ve been exposed to these increases in costs for a period of time now and it is really starting to show.