Jenny, who had an analytical corporate background, could see that her well-placed café was not delivering all it could for the investment she and her family had sunk in it.
During the accelerator, she confirmed two current limitations.
First, she understood that utilisation could still be increased. How to do this?
Second, she had a seasonal downturn during the June-August period – what could be done about this?
The accelerator pushed her to analyse the margins for each part of the business. She matched these to existing utilisation rates to understand where the best opportunities existed. Then for each opportunity, she identified the relevant customer segment/s and their buying reasons. Once this was established, the relevant promotional work was commissioned to drive/attract customers to the highest yielding opportunities. This would alleviate the issues with utilisation rates and profitability.
The seasonal downturn problem was also considered and she started to search for additional customer segments which could be attracted during winter.
Significantly, she involved the café staff in the process and drew the development process together by asking them – if the café were a person who would they like it to be? They settled on Daniel Craig as both smooth and exciting.
Follow-up Findings
Riparian calculated the impact accelerator participation had on its turnover and profitability and projected a 10% improvement pa.
REGIONAL NEXT STEPS CASE STUDIES:
HELPING SMEs CREATE NEW REGIONAL JOBS AND GROWTH
Case Studies (normalised)
Case 1 – Action This Day (Carnival Catering)
Case 2 – Family First (The Garibaldi Group)
Case 3 – Go with Daniel Craig (The Riparian Café)
Case 4 – The Boys and the Brew (The Bush Distillery)
Case 5 – The Sun King (Dynamo Real Estate)
Case 6 – Caravans Galore (The Big Caravan Park & Resort)