Leisure and hospitality newsletter

Leisure and hospitality newsletter

scruttonbland.co.uk

HOSPITALITY

• How local businesses are thriving • Digitising invoices and expenses

About us

If 2020 was the year that tourism, leisure and hospitality businesses had to respond to sudden and unprecedented change in order to survive, then 2021 was about using those lessons to keep going, amid some stop-start economic and political decisions. And 2022? The post-COVID world has brought new challenges, with labour shortages, rising prices and, most recently, rail strikes which have disrupted travel plans for many. These are undoubtedly serious problems, but it is worth remembering that there are huge numbers of people who are now desperate to get out and about, to immerse themselves in the real world once again. Whether you are a family run hotel business, a large leisure chain or a corporate sized tourist operation, our team of hospitality specialists can help you to make your business more efficient and advise you on mitigating your financial and insurance risks.

Running a leisure and hospitality business can bring its own set of risks, from sorting out public liability insurance in case a member of the public is injured or harmed on your premises, to ensuring that you have your payroll and tax payments set up correctly. Our in-house teams are here to support you, helping you to get your financial obligations under control, advising on ways that may bring operational efficiencies and leaving you free to create a wonderful hospitality experience for your customers.

Our aim with these newsletters is to provide interesting and relevant information to businesses operating in the leisure, tourism and hospitality sectors. We already work with many clients in these industries and have extensive knowledge and experience of the issues they are currently facing across our region.

2 | SCRUTTON BLAND | LEISURE AND HOSPITALITY

How many stars? Using reviews to build your hospitality brand - and why negative comments can be good news

Having a strong reputation for your hospitality or leisure business is one of the most important ways of building and maintaining your brand. But how does that work post- Covid? And what do you do if someone leaves a stinker of a review?

Improve your online communication Having a good website is fundamental to building your brand. However, the previous two years have seen an uplift in digital traffic generally, as more and more people have got used to interacting online rather than in person. As a result, it’s become vital for leisure and hospitality businesses to have an interactive online presence on social media and to utilise the review options on Facebook, Google and Trip Advisor, to actively encourage customers to leave your business a review. These sites are often the first place your customers will look to see if other customers have enjoyed their experience and whether it’s somewhere they’d still be interested in visiting. As well as this, it’s also a way for you to show your business’s personality - it’s important for you respond to any reviews left quickly and to respond to any questions asked. Respond to comments and reviews Speaking to your customers through social media can be challenging. There are a few fundamentals to bear in mind:

I’ve had a negative review – help! Online reviews are a fantastic way to help potential customers get an idea of what you do best, but there will almost always be a dreaded one-star review that pops up. But this doesn’t have to be a disaster. Reviews that include a critical comment on the customer’s experience should be taken seriously. Is it an issue that can be addressed? For example, a meat product which has been bought in that customers are saying is too salty can be easily rectified by talking to the supplier. Or an issue with reserving a table may mean that your online booking system may need improvements. A business that has purely five-star reviews can sometimes look a bit contrived. Having a balance of reviews shows you are authentic, especially when customers can see that you have responded promptly and sensitively to negative as well as positive comments. If it’s a really unpleasant review, then check the history of the reviewer: there are plenty of keyboard warriors out there who want to trash reputations. If they have a history of leaving only poor reviews, you are entitled to be suspicious. Alternatively, and if they had a genuinely poor experience, then why not invite them back and encourage them to leave a better review? Showing you have listened to them and handled the situation professionally will enhance your brand reputation.

Measure the customer experience Just as the numbers of people using social media has spiralled upwards in recent years, so the metrics and analytics have become more sophisticated. A good place to start is Google reviews which encourages people to leave comments and not just stars. Trip Advisor ratings are another obvious metric which can be measured and benchmarked against other similar businesses. Customer surveys is another route, and questions can be tailored to your own requirements – although it’s best to keep your questions brief and direct if you want to encourage feedback. Customers want to be heard What your customers are saying to you can help you to strengthen your business offering and ultimately your success. Talking to an independent business adviser will help you look at the key business metrics – such as sales and retention – and they can use their professional expertise to advise on improving your systems and processes, as well as ensuring you are compliant with financial regulations. Get in touch with a member of our hospitality and leisure team to find out more.

•

Be alert to comments coming in from all online locations. Having a question or comment hanging about on a social media platform like Twitter for several days without a response looks like you don’t care about feedback from your customers. Reply to the comments. If they’ve had a good time, thank them for getting in touch, and pass their comments on to your team. If they didn’t, then empathise and explain what you’re doing to put it right. Try to be personal, and not to look like it’s an automatic response. If it’s a serious issue then take the conversation offline, and don’t get into an argument on social media. It never ends well.

•

•

LEISURE AND HOSPITALITY | SCRUTTON BLAND | 3

Two for Joy – how Two Magpies are conquering the bakery world

It’s a hot day in Darsham, where the staff of some of the Two Magpies shops and cafes have been attending a bakery school, to learn more about now the products are created. One of the biggest leisure and hospitality success stories in our region, Two Magpies Bakery was founded by Rebecca Bishop with her then-husband in 2012 and joined by co-owner Steve Magnall (previously CEO of St Peter’s Brewery and deputy MD of Greene King) in 2018. They now have over 150 staff working for them, with 60 in production crafting a range of delicious products including hand- laminated croissants, sausage rolls filled with locally supplied pork and appetising pain au chocolat made with French butter.

4 | SCRUTTON BLAND | LEISURE AND HOSPITALITY

W e spoke to Two Magpies about their business journey, and some of the wisdom they have gained along the way. Firstly: the origins of that memorable name? It is Rebecca’s choice and comes from her love of collecting things and taking ideas from a variety of eclectic sources in order to create a product that’s exactly right. And of course, there’s the old English rhyme in which two magpies are ‘two for joy’.

Customer feedback This ethos of ‘right product, right place’ has given the business a great reputation as well as a cluster of prestigious awards for their bread and bakery products. “We know that people can easily go to a supermarket and buy a packet of six doughnuts for a pound,” says Steve. “Our challenge is always to create something extra special, as well as a place where people keep coming back to. We also really listen to feedback from our customers. We had lots of people coming into our Darsham shop asking when we would be opening in Woodbridge, and when a suitable site became available, we didn’t hesitate.” Economic pressures So how have they dealt with the current economic issues facing the leisure and hospitality industry? “There are undoubtedly major concerns in the market,” comment Steve. There’s the cost of living increase, and inflationary pressures on every aspect of the supply chain. Our objective is to balance the rising costs and trying to keep the high quality of the product without eroding the margin.” There is also the issue of the skills shortage in the sector. “One of our core strategies is to focus on our staff,” Steve continues. “We know how valuable they are, and we try to look after them as well as we can. We pay above the minimum wage, and we’ll happily take on people with no experience and train them up. We try to be flexible and accommodate people’s needs: we have bakers who used to be van drivers, and there are several generations of families working for us. Training is so important, like today’s baking school for our shop staff. We train our front of house staff to teach them about our products, which will inform them about what they’re selling and improve their engagement with our customers. It’s all about creating the best experience: building a positive journey for our customers which will keep them coming back to us.” Two Magpies is clearly succeeding in the upmarket bakery market, so what is next for the expanding business? Steve says they’re looking for more sites. “Ideally Bury St Edmunds, possibly Sudbury, Hadleigh and Dedham. We’ve got very good at kitting out a shop in a matter of weeks, although opening a new bakery and cafe isn’t cheap, and averages about £200,000 per site.”

Location, location, location The original Two Magpies was set up in

Southwold in 2012, after a long search across the country to find the best location for a bakery business. Their search criteria still applies today when looking for new sites for their cafes and shops. “We look at the high street to get a feel for the kinds of businesses that are there, to see if Two Magpies would be a good fit,” says Steve. “If there’s an independent butcher, a florist or a greengrocer then we know that’s a good start in determining the kind of location that will work.” Their analytical approach to the siting of Two Magpies branches has obviously been successful as there are now branches in Southwold, Aldeburgh, Blakeney, Holt, Norwich, Darsham (where their cookery school is located) and most recently, Woodbridge. They’ve also recently moved their bakery production site from Darsham to Walpole where they now have 11,000 square feet, which will – they hope – be large enough to accommodate the needs of up to 20 cafes and shops.

It can’t have been easy growing the business so quickly over the past decade – how did they manage it? The key, says Steve, is to manage your cash flow. “Cash is king. You must always make sure you can pay your suppliers and meet the wage bills. We underestimated the success of the new sites, but I’m happy with our business journey. We now have Scrutton Bland’s Sarah Healey Pearce assisting us as a business adviser, and she’s quickly become part of the Two Magpies team. It’s crucial to have a trusted financial adviser if you are planning on expanding the business. They can help with things like locating sources of funding, as well as some of the time consuming but necessary work to ensure you are meeting your compliance obligations.” Finally – how does Two Magpies come up with new ideas for their product ranges? “We have a group called ‘The Sixth’ who meet every two months to look at ideas for concepts and flavours. We always try to use the freshest local produce and to make use of what’s in season. The temporary product lines are changed every two months - we had twelve new product lines for the Queen’s Jubilee - and we’re already planning ahead for Christmas.”

LEISURE AND HOSPITALITY | SCRUTTON BLAND | 5

Coping with the invoices – is there a digital solution?

Managing the invoices and expenses side of any business can be a significant burden on its finance team but with some professional advice, modern technology can be used to help streamline this area of a business. Fresh from his presentation at the Digital Accountancy Show on the topic, SB Director Ryan Pearcy looks at the many recent developments in this space and how a tech- focused business can optimise their operations by selecting the right software to use.

The issues Expense management can be a horribly manual and time- consuming task. Traditionally it involves collecting paper invoices and expenses from multiple areas of the business, getting approval from various individuals, manually re-typing the information on these documents into a finance system and then selecting some of these for payment which often means using a separate manual process. If there are queries these tend to be put to one side and not processed until resolved. In some businesses the information does not end up in the finance system until payment has been made, which can significantly impact the time frame for internal reporting. The time all this takes results in finance systems never being up-to-date and a heavy reliance on the finance team to process payables with accuracy and consistency. Multi-site operations make the process even more difficult as where goods are received may differ from where the order is held and paper documents, collected by non- finance individuals, have to make their way to the central finance team before verification and processing can commence. Add multiple entities of a group into the mix and documents will inevitably get misplaced or put on the wrong system. >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12

www.scruttonbland.co.uk

Made with FlippingBook Learn more on our blog