William Sitwell is a writer and broadcaster, restaurant critic for The Telegraph and long-standing judge on MasterChef.
He founded William’s House Wines in 2019 to solve the problem of choosing wines online from the wonderful yet vast and perplexing choice.. His shop only ever stocks eight wines at any one time, chosen by William and as he says: ‘If I love it, I list it.’
- Tell us a little bit about your business…
William’s House Wines is the world’s smallest wine store. The main shop stocks just eight wines tasted and recommended bv me. And I tweak and change the list very few weeks. So if you trust what I say about food, maybe you’ll take my advice on wine. I only stock wines I love and in my main store they are priced around £12 a bottle. Delivery comes in three to five days if not sooner.
- How did you get into the industry?
I love great food, I love good wine, I hate wasting money on a poor bottle. As someone who eats out – and in – for a living, making the choice of buying wines simpler was a natural progression for me.
- What are the biggest opportunities and challenges in your industry?
To acquire more customers. I have no marketing budget so use Instagram and occasional ads to networks/neewsletters. I have tried leaflets and events and just keep plugging on.
- How would you describe your leadership style?
At WHW I’m the only employee…I’m a great leader. I tell myself what to do and do it.
5. How do you get the most out of the people who work for you?
See above
6. What are the most crucial elements to your business running smoothly and being successful?
Fast response to customer queries, generous responses to customers who have problems
7. How has the past 12 months been for you?
My new business has really taken off and gained lots of interest and traction. It’s great to have another string to my bow of writing and broadcasting, particularly during a year when my travel writing, restaurant criticism and events planning were knocked sideways, off a cliff and plunged into the choppy and bitter seas.
8. Is there anything you’ve learnt during the pandemic that you’ll take forward in your business?
That online events are the way forward…I don’t think they will disappear if and when life gets back to normal. So I’ll build my online tasting events…
9. What will the next 12 months look like for your business?
More pushing to gain more customers
10. What are the highlights of your career so far?
Away from wine, winning awards as an editor and writer, writing books and seeing some of them translated (A History of Food in 100 Recipes was translated into nine other languages).
11. What’s the biggest business mistake that you’ve learnt from?
That posting 5000 leaflets around Notting Hill didn’t result in a single customer enquiry or sale!
12. What’s the best piece of business advice you’ve been given?
Keep innovating and never write something in an email that you wouldn’t want read out in court.
For more information go to: williamshousewines.com.
