“OUR KITTEN INSPIRED OUR NEW BUSINESS”
While most of us were watching box sets or gardening during the first coronavirus lockdown last year, this Manchester businesswoman was setting up a new venture — using inspiration from her ginger tomcat.
The cat who provided the spark for a pair to set up their own company.
Like most of the hospitality sector, Nicky Kong found herself placed on furlough in March 2020 when the country went into lockdown as Covid-19 brought the world to a standstill.
It was around this time that her friend, a cat foster carer, told her about a little ginger kitten who had found himself homeless.
“This kitten was only three months old and he’d been taken in by a family who had a dog, and the dog didn’t like him at all,” Nicky explained, “So they decided to get rid of the kitten.”
Nicky and Jen Hughes decided to take this tiny kitten in for a few weeks — and that was that.
Nicky said: “He completely stole our hearts and ruined our furniture, the little monkey!”
They named the kitten Wotsit and he settled into life with them in Didsbury straight away.
“He was so cute and tiny when he came to live with us,” Nicky said. “Now he’s really big and lean.
“He definitely rules the roost. He’s very vocal and goes out a lot to play, then comes in shouting for his food.
“He’s also got a girlfriend, a black cat who lives nearby and they’re always snuggling up to each other, it’s adorable.”
Wotsit is affectionate to Nicky and Jen when it suits him and will give them an affectionate nibble.
At the moment, he likes to bring his owners presents — live birds.
“He’s a little terror!” Nicky laughed. “But he’s just doing what cats do, we’ve had a few little surprises, it’s not what you want at 5am!”
Wotsit is also very inquisitive and likes to get his nose into anything that’s going on around the house, which is how Nicky’s new venture came to be.
A NEW BUSINESS
“I’ve managed a few pubs and when lockdown happened, I was furloughed. I’ve always wanted my own business so I thought, what better time to do it than during lockdown?” Nicky said.
Having been a lover of beers and ciders, and drawing on her expertise in the pub industry, Nicky set up her own online bottleshop with craft beer and artisan cider, starting out in her friend’s brewery, Beer Nouveau in Manchester.
“We started off with four pallets in the back and just expanded from there. I hope we’ll be able to open our own premises soon,” she said.
“We try to keep plenty of variety to our beers and ciders and offer something for everyone,” Nicky said. “Before I set it up, I’d seen so many beer businesses but not so many cider, so we try to offer a variety of ciders as well as beers.”
And, of course, the star of the show was Wotsit, and it was his inquisitive nature that led Nicky to become inspired to name the business after him.
Obviously, his name is already a global brand of crisps, so Nicky had to
Wotsit is such a little poser...
think outside the box.
“I was trying to think of a name for the business but couldn’t think of anything that hadn’t already been done,” she said.“I then found a photo of Wotsit trying to stick his head and paw into a glass and Cat in the Glass came to mind.”
Working under the company name Wotsip Ltd, this little ginger kitten ended up having a whole business named after him.
Wotsit is such a little poser that Nicky uses his likeness in their logo and branding on the company’s products and merchandising.
“He did this really cute pose when he was little where he’d go up on his back paws like a meerkat, he looked so cute!” Nicky said.
As yet, Wotsit hasn’t been to the brewery to see himself on the branding as Nicky is concerned he may run off, and he isn’t fond of wearing his harness.
Nicky has managed to not only set up The Cat in the Glass while working as an agency worker helping with Covid-19 testing, but also taking on Wotsit despite being allergic to cats herself.
“I do struggle in the summer as I have hayfever too,” she said.“But in the winter it’s not so bad and I manage with just one antihistamine. I just sneeze alot and have to do a lot of cleaning.”
Wotsit now also has his own Instagram account where fans can follow his adventures; you can find him at www.instagram. com/wotsitthekitten/