In our latest interview, we spoke to Karina Swann, whose new barbering business, The Dandy Cat, is taking Petersfield by storm with its sounds, style and spirit…

“Our company is very community focused, we love where we live and feel that the only way to make it better is to invest in it. It’s the old adage - shop local and you help build a better community. ”

Who or what is the inspiration behind The Dandy Cat?

The Dandy Cat has been inspired by our own search for style.

We've always admired the timeless elegance of the golden age of Hollywood and wanted to bring a little of that seemingly effortless panache into our life. In order to do this we often had to either travel to London or trawl the internet.

Whilst we enjoyed these searches and travel, we thought how nice it would be if there was a local place that could serve our needs - one that was friendly and affordable but still had that exclusive feel.

As such a place didn't exist in Petersfield we decided to meet that need ourselves. Thus The Dandy Cat was born; bringing a little bit of Piccadilly to Petersfield.

I've heard you serve cocktails and play vintage music at The Dandy Cat - what would be the perfect cocktail-sounds combination?

A double Cinnabar Rum on the rocks with a twist of lime listening to Voodoo Rhythm and Blues.

Which social media platforms do you use for your business - any top tips for fellow small business owners?

We use Instagram and Facebook and our advice is, do it regularly and have fun with it - don't take yourself too seriously, and be careful of latching on to every Insta whim; trying to cram a message into a trend won't work.

What's the best aspect of running a small business and why?

Definitely the freedom; the ability to work with other local businesses and artisans - we've just commissioned some small batches of bespoke products from local producers, if we were a franchise or big company we couldn't do that as we'd have to buy in bulk.

Our company is very community focused, we love where we live and feel that the only way to make it better is to invest in it. It's the old adage - shop local and you help build a better community.

CONTACT

Visit The Dandy Cat’s website

Follow The Dandy Cat

For our next small business story, we met up with Jenny Mitchell, owner of Hampshire-based Wild Wren Brownies, to discover how her baking hobby evolved into a fully-fledged business offering homemade brownies made to order.

“There’s a great satisfaction when I hear such positive feedback on my brownies... they’re all made by me and I love making each and every one. ”

What's the inspiration behind your business?

I love chocolate and for years I've made brownies for when friends came over - any excuse to cook with chocolate!

Every time we would take the children out for a hot chocolate they would choose a brownie to go with it and my husband always used to say “Your brownies are so much better”. Biased I’m sure... but he gave me the confidence and that extra push to make it into a business.

The name came about as my friends from when I was at school call me Wren and where we now live, there's always a wild wren flying around by the front gate...

And what's behind the flavours and concept?

For years, I used to make plain chocolate brownies but then felt one chocolate was not enough so why not have triple chocolate!

Having a sweet tooth, I wanted to create something gooey and indulgent which would be perfect to enjoy on any occasion and make a special pudding.

I then experimented with making my own salted caramel sauce and once I got this right, I went on to create an indulgent brownie with a layer of salted caramel running through the middle.

Then one day I was talking to a friend who loves cooking with spices, which made me think of experimenting myself with spices and the combination of orange and cardamom worked so well together. The citrus tangy orange with the fragrant cardamom within a chocolate brownie was a winner.

I have lots of ideas and there is lots of experimenting going on in the kitchen - much to the delight of my family and my ‘guinea pig’ friends!

How do you use social media day to day for the business - any tips you can share?

I currently use Instagram and Facebook - it's a great way to let people know what I have to offer and for customers to communicate with me. It's instant, current and effective.

My tip is to update regularly on social media sites, post photos to attract attention and make use of the hashtags to widen your audience.

What's the best aspect of running your own business and why?

Having the freedom to choose my hours which fits around home life is important for me. When the children are at school, I get to bake with chocolate!

There's also a great satisfaction when I hear such positive feedback on my brownies... they're all made by me and I love making each and every one.

CONTACT

Wild Wren Brownies Facebook page

Follow @wildwrenbrownies