Looking Back, Forging Ahead Q&A: Robert Maynard, Chanctonbury Wines

By Harpers Editorial

Published: 13 December, 2023

Following another eventful year for the drinks trade, we hear from Robert Maynard, partner in Hove’s Wild Flor and now director of Steyning’s newest indie, Chanctonbury Wines, on the highs and lows of 2023, plus hopes and plans for the year ahead.

How has business been for you across 2023 when compared with 2022 (and pre-pandemic)?

It’s taken a lot of thinking and action to keep an even keel this year. Post pandemic, like many restaurants, at Wild Flor, we moved to a more fixed price system and regardless of value, became a more expensive offer. That couldn’t last – we clocked that towards the end of last year. From 1 January we moved back to à la carte and introduced a cracking three course menu at £25 on all but Saturday nights. We streamlined the wine list, while not necessarily shortening but adjusting our scale and pool of importers to allow a lower stockholding (at the expense of flexibility and of course having every new exciting bottle possible, but we had to be realistic).

On the food side, we made changes to working almost solely with whole animal butchery, allowing us to keep pricing really keen while not compromising our offering. As a result, we’ve seen just under a 10% revenue dip that looks to be recovering. It’s not the most promising, but given everything that’s happened, I’d class it as a victory.

What, for you, were the specific highs of 2023?

Opening Chanctonbury Wines has been a huge project and seeing that begin to work and come together is really exciting. Stepping away from the day-to-day at the restaurant has let me really embrace how incredibly talented the team and my partners are, and there’s a real sense of pride there that’s hard to fully blossom when you’re in it every day. Of course, the arrival of our second son has been a sensation, albeit the same week as the shop opening was a challenge.

And the lows?

Professionally, the aforementioned economic struggles have meant there’s been a huge amount of work for not much gain, but the reality is that we have to push on. After the pandemic and in this current climate, I think the concept of ‘the good times are coming’ is wearing a bit thin. It’s been a really tough year in our personal lives with family and that's been underlying throughout.

More specifically, how has the cost-of-living crisis impacted and what have you done to help mitigate the effects for you and your customers?

The crisis of the past couple of years has wiped out the middle class – people who might have shopped or dined out two to three times a week – and has heavily impacted town centres. In the restaurant, it’s not a question of a few ‘cheaper’ mains, it’s got to be a cracking price while also offering the high-ticket luxuries to those who can still afford them. In the shop, we’re in a somewhat affluent area, so things are a bit different. Regardless, we maintain a strong selection sub-£20 making up over half our range and constantly open things to taste so customers feel like there’s less of a punt being taken.

How much of a concern are the duty hikes, will you have to alter the way you do business moving forward?

Aside from the scandalous messaging, we luckily opened after August and so there was less of a significant ‘leap’. If anything, large retailers being forced to raise pricing more in line with independents has narrowed the gap. The frustration is that the public have absolutely no idea why their wine became more expensive and there’s no vehicle to explain that. The wine industry is very good at making graphs and shouting about various things, but it’s done in a completely reductive manner and nobody outside can hear it.

As a business, what goals have you set for 2024 and how do you expect to achieve them?

The first job is to consistently break even at the shop. We’re seeing web traffic increase and ideally, we will double that. We aim to launch a wine club in the spring and host at least two in-house tastings every month from January. In the restaurant it’s about consistency and consolidation.

More generally, how do you predict the drinks landscape will look this time next year?

Ignoring the tooth pulling annual trends lists, I think we’re seeing a real boom of small independents being opened up mainly by professionals moving out of larger settings. There’s a drive to shop local and there’s a surplus of property outside cities, so long may that continue.

Quick fire questions:

Go-to Christmas tipple?

Palo Cortado.

And New Year?

Champagne.

Fire-side drinks or out on the town?

Fire-side.

Rioja or Mendoza?

Rioja.

Orange wine – yay or nay?

Yay, as long as it doesn’t smell of shoes.

Dry January or Try January?