Sarah and Andrew du Feu founded The Slow Vinegar Company in Somerset in 2019, producing handcrafted wine vinegars.
Who or what inspires your products?
We are committed to making the highest–quality, best–tasting vinegars – all made from scratch, by hand and every single part of the process is carefully looked after by ourselves.
How did you start your business?
Very slowly! Our first–selling events were in the middle of Covid, so quite challenging.
How did you choose the name of your business?
Each step in our process is slow and meticulous. We start by making wines, which need time to ferment and mature, then we ferment again onto vinegar. This also takes time and the vinegars need to mature and mellow, much like a good wine. Hence the ‘slow”…
What do you enjoy most about the creative process?
We love what we do. Even the bottling and the labelling!
What is the biggest challenge you’ve faced as a small business owner?
Cashflow, doing absolutely everything ourselves. Bottling and packing late at night is not fun. Neither is chasing invoices from big companies, who for some reason always call the shots!
What is your hero product or one that means the most to you and why?
The wild garlic vinegar outsells everything but the one we are most proud of is our ginger vinegar. It’s delicious and has won multiple awards.
What does a typical working day look like?
A complete mix. No two days are the same. We could be foraging and processing elderflower, packing up orders for a shop, bottling, labelling, picking blackberries, cleaning out fermenting generators or driving around delivering.
What tip (or tips) would you give anyone looking to start a small creative business?
Take lots of advice, get some business mentors and do your sums! If you can’t sell your product for the right price, when everything else is taken into consideration, you haven’t got a business.