NatWest - Helpful Banking

How I did it - Hospitality

B&B: 'Converting my property'

Louise Brickstock runs Fiftyeight, a B&B in Swanage. 
"We opened our B&B in June 2009. My husband and I bought this property with the money from the sale of our former home, so we didn’t need to find additional funding to start the business.

Our main expense during the conversion was having a hot water cylinder fitted, as we did most of the other work ourselves. We only have two guest rooms, so we didn’t need to make a planning application for change of use on the property, although our home insurance now includes liability. Our utility bills have risen by a third, and the other big ongoing expenses are our credit card machine and registration with the VisitBritain scheme, which costs around £400 per year.

Most of our business comes from referrals via the Swanage Hospitality Association, from other B&Bs that are full. But we’re now starting to see our first repeat bookings."

Publican: 'Choosing a managed pub'
Alex Dal-Santo runs the Shakespeare’s Head pub in Brighton. 
"This is a managed house, which means that the pub company owns the pub premises but I run it as my business. This has been a great option for me as I didn’t have to put up any money and I’m on a fixed percentage of the takings – as the pub was already profitable, it meant I made money from day one.

The company takes care of buying stock and maintaining the building, and I pay for staff and public liability insurance, so the business is relatively stress free. Obviously, the more successful the pub is, the more money I earn. But I have had great support from the company if I’ve ever needed guidance."

Bakery: 'Increasing profits'
Rob Clarke and Nigel Holmes are the owners of Kemps Bakery and shop in Eckington. 
"We bought Kemps five years ago. The initial thought was to let out the premises to a craft baker or convert the property to another use. It didn’t take us long to realise what a following Kemps had and that it was potentially a little goldmine. We doubled our takings in the first year purely by expanding the range of choice we offered, introducing new and improved products, changing opening times and listening to our staff and customers."

Sandwich bar: 'Reducing wastage and maximising profits'
Richard and Jill Willis run Taste, a sandwich bar and café in Romford that won Best Independent Sandwich Bar in Britain in 2009. 
"We didn’t have any catering experience before opening Taste, although we both have an interest in food and healthy eating. We chose to open a sandwich bar because of the business model – upfront costs are relatively low and cashflow doesn’t tend to be an issue, because you buy food fresh and sell it quickly. We funded our start-up with a mix of savings, private loans and a bank overdraft."

"Wastage is the big killer in the food industry – you have to monitor everything you buy and sell. We know roughly how many of each type of sandwich we sell each day, so we can purchase stock accordingly. We’re also prepared to sell out of a sandwich filling occasionally, rather than see food go to waste. For any sandwich bar owner, gross profit margin should be between 60% and 70%. Any sandwich business should be busy between 12pm and 2pm, but to increase your profits you need to look at how you can use your other business hours effectively. We offer sandwich delivery rounds and sandwich platters for meetings, which increase our turnover."