By Deirdre Huston

Jasvir Kumar took over Hassocks Food and Wine in Spring 2017. He was already familiar with the shop as he’d done some shifts for the previous owners, relatives of his wife, Ketal Patel. Ketal works in finance, dealing with PPA claims, but she helps in the shop when needed. The previous owners were distant cousins who the couple saw regularly at the Hindu temple in Crawley. Jasvir is a Sikh, but accompanies his wife to the Hindu temple as a social thing. Jasvir has always worked in customer service, as a chef, in an open kitchen and in a staff canteen, and he likes to talk with lots of different people. He enjoyed filling in at the shop during his relatives’ holidays. Around then, he was working three jobs and wanted something more convenient. Living in Crawley, he was aware of a variety of shops setting up for business and Jas decided he would like to have his own shop.

The shop already had a good customer base. Some regulars from the time of the previous owners are still customers. Jas was drawn to the fact that Hassocks is a smaller place with friendly people. “My regular customers are all good and very supportive.” People tell Jas what they would like and he picks up items from the supplier with specific customers in mind.

He is keen for new customers to pop in too. “It’s a shame people don’t come in and see what we offer. We stock beer from Harveys and Hurst Brewery, a local supplier.” Jas stocks best-selling wines such as Barefoot, Blossom Hill, Oxford and Hardy, Jacob’s Creek, Casillero and Yellowtail. “These wines are popular all year round.” He also stocks better wines like Siglo: the bottle is covered in hessian, making it popular to purchase as a gift. Ketal enjoys Pinot Grigio or Sauvignon Blanc so, of course, those wines are stocked and plenty of others too.
To read more about Jasvir and his shop find the full article inside this months (March) issue of Hassocks Life.