The single mum who started her own food business
Jenny Mccarley turned tradegy into triumph by bringing ‘grazing platters’ to our second city, as Molly Dowrick reports...
WHEN Jenny Mccarley was 22, she experienced something most of us can’t even bear thinking about – the tragic loss of her fiancé. Bradley Webster, then 23, was seriously injured after his vehicle crashed into a tree in Powys one afternoon in January, 2014. He was rushed to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff and spent nine days in a coma, with medical staff doing everything they could to save him. But, sadly, he passed away.
At the time, Jenny and Bradley had only just signed for their first home together – they’d picked up the keys the week before – and Jenny was seven months pregnant with their first child.
Jenny says having her child, who she named Bradley Junior after her beloved partner, saved her life. While battling through the pain of her loss, she strived to create a life that she and her child could be proud of and, while she never expected to be a single mother, she refused to let her sad situation define her or hold her back in any way. As a result, over the years she has built up a successful business from the ground up.
Since she was a teenager, Jenny had always loved working in hospitality. As a youngster, she enjoyed waitressing and, in her 20s, she juggled working as a manager at various hotels and restaurants with being a mum to a young son. Intense and a challenge at times, she loved it and hoped one day to run her own business.
Jenny, now 30, has “always been a foodie”, she says and, just before Covid, she began exploring ‘grazing platters’ – aesthetically-pleasing displays of cheeses, meats, breads, chutneys and other appetisers that people can nibble, or graze, throughout the space of an evening or event.
She really enjoyed making these platters for special events and family parties and soon realised there was a gap in the market in the Swansea area for a grazing platter business.
Gradually, she built up her repertoire of grazing platters and began offering them at more and more events and parties – and, when Covid hit, she began offering delivery grazing platters to customers around Swansea. This is when her business really started to take flight.
I never thought I’d have to navigate through all the challenges I’ve been through. But they’ve built me into who I am... I used the grief to try to be strong
“I’ve always loved good, honest food. Just before Covid, I would always sort the food for special events and family parties and I loved making grazing boards – I’d heard of a business in Cardiff that made them, but there seemed to be a gap in the market in Swansea for them,” Jenny said.
“In May, 2020, I launched Full of Graze as an outside catering company. It’s really strange, but the business actually grew during Covid – we were offering deliveries and people would order a graze box or a cheeseboard for an evening at home.”
Jenny credits social media as a key factor in her business’ growth during the pandemic. As people searched online for something to order in, they came across her grazing platters.
“During the lockdowns, people were on social media showcasing what they were doing at home and what they were eating – and they’d see the platters and then get in touch to order their own.”
At the time, Jenny was making them in her kitchen by herself and delivering them too, but she now employs three full-time members of staff.
“I started doing NHS giveaways, asking people to nominate an NHS hero to receive a gift from me and people started to hear about Full of Graze a bit more,” she added.
Around the same time as her business really taking off, unfortunately her marriage broke down and Jenny found herself single again with a young child, Aurora, unsure what to do. But, again, she wouldn’t give up. Earlier this year, she and her children relocated from their previous home in Sketty in Swansea to Mumbles – and it wasn’t long before Jenny noticed a restaurant unit available for rent near her new home.
Initially, Jenny planned to rent just the kitchen area of the restaurant unit – as a new base for her catering company – but soon thought she’d just “jump in the deep end” and turn her catering business into a restaurant.
“Originally, I was just going to rent the kitchen and do all my grazing platters from there as I didn’t have the space to do it at home. But I spoke with the landlord and the restaurant-part was available and I thought, ‘You know what, let’s just go for it!’” she said.
“It used to be an Indian restaurant, but it had been empty for two or three years, so I started renovating it and turning it into a neutral, classic kind-of rustic place for my restaurant.”
Earlier this year, Jenny opened Full of Graze lunch restaurant on Mumbles Road in Mumbles, which seats around 30 to 35 and is currently open from 10am to 4pm Thursday to Sunday, but Jenny is in the process of expanding the opening hours.
“We’re busy for lunches and we’re available for private events as well. We’ve just started offering pop-up events too, like live music evenings and wine and cheese nights,” Jenny said. “We use local and Welsh produce and lots on our menu is completely homemade.
“We are passionate about what we’re serving and how it’s served – I would only ever serve something I’d be happy to be served it myself!”
On the menu at Full of Graze, you’ll find breakfast and brunch meals, sandwiches, toasties, sourdough topped with various ingredients, soups, homemade sausage rolls, cheese scones, cakes and muffins, afternoon tea – and, of course, grazing platters of meats, cheeses and breads, as well as a vegetarian grazing platter and a children’s grazing platter.
“One of our most popular items from the menu is the homemade banana bread, it’s served with Greek yoghurt, peanut butter and berry conserve – I want customers to come here and feel like they can try something new!” Jenny said.
“Another of our popular meals is the y Fenni, pear and pecan on sourdough. Y Fenni is a type of Welsh cheese, it gets its name from Abergavenny, it’s amazing.”
Reflecting on her challenging journey from grieving heavily-pregnant 22-year-old to 30-yearold successful businesswoman and mother-oftwo, Jenny said: “I never thought I’d have to navigate through all the challenges I’ve been through. But they’ve built me into who I am and I’ve become independent – I used the grief to try to be strong.”
Full of Graze can be found at 696 Mumbles Road, Mumbles SA3 4EH. It’s currently open from 10am to 4pm Thursday to Sunday, with the occasional evening event