The Big Survey 

What you told us… 

Who you are

The majority of you have been to one or more of our events. Some 5% come every month. A couple are still to try. 

How you know us

Most of you hear about us through the emails we send and social media - mostly Facebook, some Insta, and quite a few rely on friends to remind them. Meet-up groups are a growing thing. 

Where are you?

We are going to try to contact you about geographically relevant events in future, we note people in Manchester and London want us back…

What do you think? 

We know this is a slightly self-selecting sample - but a whopping 90% thought our events were Brilliant or Good. Thank you to the one person who took the time to tell us that it wasn’t their thing and why. 

What can we do better? 

When it came to how we can improve things - there were some great suggestions …

• We are going to look at the accompaniments we offer - in general we spend every penny on the cheese and as a result are less able to offer fabulous additional things every time - fancy bread, crackers, chutneys, olives, balsamic onions and the like have sometimes had to take a hit when the cost of cheese shot up 40%. But… we are working on something that should help… watch this space. 
  
• Butter - we have never offered butter - again as it is a not inconsiderable cost, but also because we wouldn’t want people to dilute or affect the cheese they are trying - we won’t be adding it. 
• We try not to run out of things like chutney, bread, crackers and fruit - honestly sometimes people eat it all - other nights there is loads left and we hate having to throw it away. Not such a problem with crackers and chutney, so we will look to try to make sure we carry surplus in future. 
  
• We tend not to suggest pairings - a lot of the appeal of our events is that people get to drink what they like, rather than get told to drink a specific wine or beer… we are exploring ways to do more collaborative events where we work more closely with drinks suppliers and will be looking at ways to offer soft suggestions for people to enjoy. 
  
• Most people want some way to get hold of the cheese we feature - either from us, or from local suppliers - we are definitely working on that! 
• Disabled access is clearly an issue - the venues we use are usually pubs, and often upstairs rooms… we are looking into finding solutions and will look at this when considering venues in future. 
  
• It’s clear we need to get back to London and Manchester - again, watch this space. 
• People love a quiz - but it can be an off-put for others who just want to sit and enjoy the event- we are looking at optional 'fun things to do' ... 

Who wants to help?

Quite a few of you (30%) have said they would be interested in helping bring more people along to events - we are looking at ways of rewarding people who drag (!) their mates along, recommend a friend or tell people at their work about what we do. We love your recommendations and feel we should make it more rewarding. 

Value/variety/info

Good news - almost everyone thinks we are good value, with interesting cheese and reasonable info… but we will always work hard to make sure those are priorities in everything we do. 

Why you don’t come along…

A significant group of people found the timing tricky - regular dates work well for us and our venues - keeping it consistent etc. But we understand. We are very aware that some people find some themes less interesting than others, and we are committed to ensure people know a little more about our themes and in particular know that we are always trying to find new cheeses whatever the theme… we accept that we need to make sure that we ring the changes each year… 

Who wants to host?

Quite a few people (30%!) were interested in hosting their own events - we will sort out more info for anyone looking to get involved! 

What you invest in cheese…and what is your fav?

And finally - you all seem to spend a reasonable amount on great cheese every month, and have a rather eclectic mix of favorites…