John Capper & Co. helps to grow plans for a winery, events venue and tourist attraction
John Capper & Co. is working on an exciting project to develop a winery and events venue in North Staffordshire.
A unique project to build a German style Weinhouse is moving forward on land at the Trentham Retail Village and is expected to attract thousands of visitors a year.
The project was the brainchild of local entrepreneur Sean Canavan and his German business partner Willi Reitz. When Sean died in 2016, his son, Daniel, took on the plans and called on John Capper for support.
Daniel said: “I knew that my dad had spoken highly of John and that they were both volunteers with the Let’s Do Mentoring scheme which supports growing businesses in Staffordshire.
“My dad owned land at the Trentham Retail Village along with Willi and, at the time of his death, they had begun planting vines. The project had great potential but I needed business advice and support and John has many years of success behind him as both a business coach and finance director.
“I needed to put a business plan together. John’s guidance was excellent, he initially looked at options to finance the business and, where income would flow from. He also studied the options for how the business could operate: Should we develop it then sell it, lease it, or go it alone?
“He identified and demonstrated practical matters such as the time lag in getting VAT back and how that needed to be factored in to cashflow.
“John’s advice was clear and precise and he laid out all the possible options.”
Finance is in place and the plan is to develop the Trentham Weinhouse and to bring in expert caterers and venue managers to run the business.
Daniel even has the initial bottles of Trentham wine in storage, made with grapes from vines planted by Sean and turned into wine at the Halfpenny Green Wine Estate, South Staffordshire.
The business now has planning permission for a development which will include a wine tasting area, a shop, kitchens, a restaurant and an events suite. The winery will be licensed for events, including weddings.
“Our vineyard is growing, under the watch of a local farmer, and we will soon have 2,800 vines with a potential to produce 10,000 bottles of Trentham wine a year,” added Daniel.
“John’s help has been invaluable and we won’t hesitate to call on his expertise in the future.”