Developing the business further….

Well it has been a busy week! Market is going well and the last two weekends have been good for generating interest for Christmas. I have orders for Christmas puddings and a possible dinner on Boxing day. Hopefully more inquiries will come through the market.

I delivered canapes for an event in Goring on Saturday. It was a good opportunity to reach more potential customers in the area. I also had a lead through an internet directory which I hope will become a firm event, dinner for 10 celebrating a 65th birthday.

With all of this going on and a few leads for events in December I am looking at how I can develop the business further. I stopped by a couple of village shops yesterday and I have got the opportunity to put some product on the shelves this week. Great stuff! It will be interesting to see how the food goes in a different environment to the stall at the market. Both shops are in very different villages so it will also be interesting to see which of the food products go best. I am planning on quiches, apple tarts, some meat dishes for one shop and quiches, apple tarts and other snacks for the other.  So fingers crossed these two opportunities will spread the word further.

I have a couple of other opportunities developing, one is not at a stage I can talk about yet. It will show how local business and public sector can work together successfully . The other project is in early discussions as well but could be really exciting if it happens.

I am also presenting at the next PRIME Starting your business events in Birmingham on the 28th October at the Central Library in Chamberlain Square. Check this link http://www.primebusinessclub.com/2010/08/starting-a-business-in-birmingham/

If you are thinking of starting a business these events are really good – but then I would say that wouldn’t I.

So lots of things going on and they all have the potential to positively impact the business. This is bring the last quarter of the year to an exciting conclusion and I am also looking forward to 2011 with great anticipation! Bring it on!

Press coverage and other ways to promote what you do

Having worked in large corporate environments, marketing to both external and internal audiences, and now for my fledgling business,  I would argue that the same basic principles apply in the small business world as well. Press coverage is tricky and can backfire if you aren’t careful, however, in my experience I have be fortunate to generate more interest and real business through press and media coverage than through any paid advertising.

Examples of this are the profile that Maggie Hartford of the Oxford Times wrote, http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/business/4853344.A_happy_chef/ .

Plus the articles on Pork Pies!

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/archive/2010/03/21/Oxford+news+(om_oxfordnews)/5074579.Pork_pie___s_a_cut_above_the_rest/

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/business/5052447.Traditional_pigs__make_perfect_pie_/

Plus the radio interview on BBC Radio Oxford on Jo Thoenis Afternoon Show earlier this year, which was a lot of fun to do! I was on the show again recently to promote the birthday celebrations for the local market I sell my product at.

Recently, I have made a big effort with the social media thing to start building an online presence which will expand the awareness and potential business opportunities for me. I continue to concentrate on the market and doing local events which will get my product in front of as many people as possible.

There are other ways apart from press, social media etc,  to extend the reach of the business. One example is getting involved with other organisations such as the local district council and business support organisations like the Federation of Small Businesses, BusinessLink and others like the PRIME Initiative.

The PRIME Initiative is a charity set up HRH Prince Charles to help over 50s set up/start and grow their businesses. I first came across the organisation on the web when I was looking at starting The Late Chef. I read through articles and guides on their website www.primeinitiative.co.uk which helped me with planning and how to go about getting started.

I have been invited to present the story of The Late Chef at a PRIME event at the British Library on the 30th September. I am extremely excited about this as I hope I can explain my experiences and the benefits I have found being self-employed.

I also hope that this opportunity to promote the business will allow me to reach a wider audience and generate some new business opportunities.

Will let you know how it goes.

What makes a week?

The business is running and the work comes in, you plan for other activities and the unexpected happens. All part of a normal week. The weekly routine was established fairly quickly but still surprises pop up from time to time.

Chef in native habitat!

A typical week is market on Saturday deliver orders etc, cleanand tidy kitchen Sunday. Monday is admin and paperwork, ugh! Tuesday planning and marketing – looking for new ways to promote and spread the word, responding to customers with quotes etc. Wednesday is planning for the market, orders and any other customer requirements, shopping, ordering meat, fish and other ingredients. Thursday is prep day and some cooking, Friday is cooking and packaging.  The Saturday is market. Then we start the week again.

That is a typical week but it can be added to with customers placing  orders, or discuss quotes, menus etc. I do try and take some time for networking with other businesses and attend seminars, breakfast networking sessions and other events. Just to get the business known and generate some opportunities. A recent seminar I went to pushed me to revisit my blogging, Tweeting and Facebook marketing. So it was a useful morning for me.

The biggest challenge of the week is balancing the work for the week and the potential work for the future weeks. It is a tricky thing to do as you get focussed on the most immediate task ahead.  Which means time management is important! I am finding that out in spades and so far I have been pretty good on that. My cooking training especially “mise en place” has been a great help in planning and getting the preparation done before carrying out the task.

I think that cooking is probably about 35% of my time. The rest is all the other stuff that needs doing. So there you have a week in the life of a chef. The best bit is the customer feedback at the market or after an event. I am fortunate that I have great customers who offer honest comments and keep coming back for more. Thanks to them I enjoy the work I do. Love it in fact!

Marketing a small new business

The fun of setting up and running a new small business is enormous. The satisfaction when you do something that encourages a customer to buy is great, especially when you have made the product yourself. However, it is easy to get sucked into the making of the product and forget the marketing.

I have tried a number of different ways to market my business and so far the most successful ways of doing so has been online, press coverage and the market where I have a stall, each Saturday. I have found that paid advertising, both online and hardcopy, has not delivered the results. The companies that sell advertising space over rate their reach and the reality is, that for my type of product, food, people want to see it and taste it. What disappoints me is, these advertisers use a range of propositions to get you to advertise which really don’t make sense if you analyse them carefully. You learn quickly!

The press coverage I received earlier on this year in the Oxford Times Business section and BBC Radio Oxford made a huge impact in getting me going with interest and I had a number of clients contact me because of this publicity. I have now become adept at writing press releases!

I love the www.wallingfordlocalproducersmarket.com for many reasons, not least the great people who use their talents to produce a wide range of things. The market has a great feel to it and the customers who follow the market have developed a highly attuned sense of what is good quality and support the goals of produce being local. The true meaning of the word market comes out when you get involved in a market like this. It has been a great way for me to develop my own customers and spread the word about my products and services.

I have an IT background which tends to pigeon hole me for the website side of things.  I have built my own website and now the markets website in the last few weeks. I am really pleased with that site and it is gradually getting more content on it. I am now working with Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn to grow the awareness on both my business and the market.  This is fun and I am enjoying the quirks of each social media site and how to get the best from them. These things again will impact the business opportunities for both the market and www.thelatechef.com . Blogging and Twittering is going to be a key way to spread the word and develop a wider audience.

So what else is there? Well there is networking which I do through a couple of groups but I do find that there are some that have come over from the USA or base themselves on those models and I find the way they work is just too forced. I just think that networking is about meeting people and building relationships. This referral groups seem to me to be about generating income through some fairly high membership fees. I found the entry fee for one network to be over £500! Difficult for a small business to justify!

My LinkedIn profile is up to date and 100% and I have engaged in a number of groups there which is a great way for me to get some help, ideas and exchange views.

So Twitter and Blogging are my next little mountains to conquer. Hopefully my skills will improve over time and the tweets and blog posts will become more interesting.

Meantime, must go and do some cooking!! Catch you later……  Paul aka TheLateChef

Wallingford Local Producers Market

A key element in starting my new business is the Local Producers Market in Wallingford, Oxfordshire. This market started three years ago and has grown with over 30 different stall holders. The goal of the market is to provide an outlet for quality local produce, be that fresh vegetables, meat, food or crafts. The market has interested talented people who are committed to producing product that people want to by locally.

Celebrating the 3rd birthday this weekend the occasion was supported by the Mayor of Wallingford and the symbolic opening of the market, cutting a specially made cake, was performed by Angie Best.

Angie Best and Bernard Stone, Mayor of Wallingford

The morning was very busy as I have been involved in setting the event up. I have acted as pr manager, marketing manager, website manager and with help I produced a booklet celebrating the market. I also had to prepare my own produce for my stall on the day. So I was extremely pleased with the success of the morning and the number of new faces we saw coming to the market.

The market is regularly held inside the Regal Centre and one of our new stall holders designed the decorations for the hall on the day. The effect was amazing. The comments from both stall holders and our customers was that the hall looked great and the atmosphere was just like a street market!

A new look and colourful feel to the market

The effort that everyone involved with the market paid off and it was great to see the market looking bright and there was a buzz all morning. This celebration market 3 years but more importantly it marked the opportunity for the market looking forward.

For me the market has provided a great way to not only sell my food but also sell my business and it has generated a good number of catering engagements. On a wider point there has been a rise in the cost of food especially in the supermarkets. How much of that is generated by the cost of “food miles”, packaging and other issues is difficult to identify but I believe that local producers markets have a great future based on the talent of the people and the need to have access to quality local produce that has travelled the minimum miles and created with a greatly reduced impact on the environment. The bottom line is that a growing percentage of money spent locally stays locally, benefiting the local economy.

Make sure you take advantage of your local market!!!

A day off!

Well I had a day off yesterday. I was invited by a good friend to go to Silverstone and spend the day watching the final Le Mans Series race. 1000 kilometres of racing. Teams included Nigel Mansell and his two sons, Jean Alesi and a number of ex-F1 drivers. The weather was dry and sunny but as per normal a cold wind swept the whole of the circuit.

We arrived and had a much needed hot breakfast. Enjoyed eating this whilst watching the LMS cars tear past with great speed and huge noise! The paddock was open and we wondered through there looking at the cars used to transport their occupants to the track. TVR Tuscan, Mustang, Porsche, Audi, Noble, and many more.

The LMS race started at 12 ish but before then I was lucky (!!!) to get a hot lap in an Audi R8 V10 round the new Silverstone circuit. Boy!!! What and experience! 580 BHP ridiculous acceleration and the ability to pass the other cars on track, apart from the other R8s.

Audi Hot Lap event at Silverstone LMS meeting

My "hot lap" - what a machine!

The lap was amazing! Thanks to Peter and Audi for a great day out. It was a real treat to get away and do something like this. Now to sort out all the other pictures I took!! Ugh!

The First 8 Months have been fun!

I have been a bit remiss in the blogging world. I had hoped to do more but the challenge of starting up a new business has been greater that I expected and no less fun for that! I have now had time to come up for air and organise myself a bit better I hope.

The last 8 months have been a whirlwind of markets, events and catering for small parties. They have all had their issues but the end result has been generally successful. I have become more involved with the Wallingford Local Producers Market, which is held every Saturday in Wallingford. I have created a new website for the market and I have put together a 3rd birthday celebration which is on the 18th September at the Regal Centre in Wallingford. I have co-ordinated the marketing including a booklet of recipes to sell on the day and I have secured Angie Best to open the market!

So far all progressing well although I have not had much feedback from the various press/tv and radio that I sent the press release to. I hope that my efforts get the relevant level of response from them!

Working on updating my Social Media efforts following a session on social media yesterday at an event in Reading (Keeping Business Local). It inspired me to review my Twitter/Linkedin and blog status. Hence the start of the blog!

Will spend a regular amount of time each week on the blog with current issues or recipes or kitchen or cooking or other related topics.

Look forward to your comments!

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