18 Jun 2020
CaffèInsights - Episode Twelve
Heather's cafe was a classic "fall through the cracks" business in terms of government support. After a couple of weeks of extreme stress she re-opened with an innovative and dramatically cut back offer. Since then she has continued to innovate and is now very profitable with a number of new income streams.
In this interview, John and Heather discuss:
- How she built a very strong and profitable business in just seven months - pre-COVID
- The initial dark days thinking she would lose everything
- How she is now doing as much in sales in three days with two members of staff as she was previously in six days with five staff
- The importance of her strong social media following and how this effectively saved the business
- The need to be flexible and "keep trying things"
- The unexpected revenue streams that will almost certainly continue into the future
- Her predictions for the next phase and some of the problems that this will create for most operators
- Her plans to keep innovating and grow the business - despite limited seating areas
- Why she increased her prices when re-opening and the reaction from customers
- Key lessons for other operators who are re-opening