A Taste of the Region

With the (very!) busy and successful summer season coming to an end at the Winchelsea Larder cafe & retail outlet, we can turn our attention back to the time-consuming process of switching online store technology. Currently using the integrated webstore that is part of our "cloud computing" financial management system (ie. internet-based!), we've been sorely let down by the system's severe lack of an Australian shipping calculator. The last thing you need when buying online is to place an order and then be told there's a bit extra to pay because you're not in a major urban area!

So while this means ditching the ease & convenience of a single integrated system, practical reality requires the online shopping process to be straightforward and a place-your-order-and-be-done experience. All (!!!) we need to do is copy over all the products and items we stock into the new webstore. We're also going to put together a wider range of hampers, which requires photography. It's happening, but it's taking a while to get to!

Recent liquor licencing changes in Victoria have crippled a number of businesses eg. music venues and our own specialisation of retailing regional food & wine online. Our liquor licence fee jumped up by over 400% to a level that simply makes the economics of our small online business less worthwhile compared to other commercial activities eg. the Winchelsea Larder cafe/shop.

Our plan is to change over to a single "General" liquor licence at The Larder so that we can retail local food & wine online, in the shop, and with food. The trouble is, a General licence is a fight because the automatic assumption is that there will be a bar and drunks. We intend to 'lock down' licence conditions by hours, products, and other conditions of the licence, but even so there are a number of steps to get through to see if we can be granted a licence. We need a Surveyor to say how many seats there are in the cafe, for example! So easy for large companies, so hard for small business...

So for the time being, A Taste of the Region is not able to sell alcohol per se online, and all alcoholic items have been removed. Liquor licencing laws do permit the sale of alcohol where it is not the focus of an item, eg. a bottle of wine in a hamper or a bottle of beer in a hamper, each with a number of other items. Accordingly, our hampers will still offer the odd excellent bottle from the Geelong Wine Region or a boutique ale from a microbrewery.

The tips jar in the Winchelsea Larder (our shop & cafe outlet in the centre of Winchelsa, on the Princes Highway) has been converted to a Bushfire Appeal collection jar - $70 raised in just the first 2 days! All proceeds are being deposited with the Winchelsea branch of the Bendigo Bank to go into the overall Bushfire Appeal collection.

Winchelsea is located fairly centrally in the CFA's (Country Fire Authority of Victoria) "Region 7" area - the only region NOT to have an emergency call to a bushfire. We are still amazed at our escape, while the rest of Victoria suffered such devastation and loss.

Our condolences and our thoughts go to the victims...

Our shop and cafe outlet, Winchelsea Larder, will be opening 7 days a week from the start of February. We think closing on Mondays leaves quite a few customers disappointed, so for a couple of months we'll see how things go if we open all week - 9:30am to 5pm except Sundays when we have a small lie-in until 10am.