Find out how TasteBed has helped clients turn challenges into opportunities

 
 

Real world examples in the words of real business owners and managers

 

Premium Coffee Shop Chain, Regional, UK (40 units)

The Issue:

Successful artisan coffee brand looking to extend premium coffee credentials to food range, to grow food sales, profits and customer repurchase rate.

TasteBed Activity:

Part-Time Head of Food package: 2 days per week over 2.5 years, from contractor to employee

  • Customer/ store team research

  • Category analysis

  • Financial modelling

  • Product (re)development

  • Supply chain review

  • Pricing review

  • Product launch implementation

  • Store team support/ training

Value Add:

  • >10% gross margin growth in all categories

  • Greater focus on food range in social media

  • Highly positive store team feedback

“Jasper’s skill base encompasses creative food development, supply chain and logistics, a strong commercial focus and good communication which allows him to operate equally effectively at Board level and at the rock face. He has been instrumental in developing the food offer, repositioning the range and driving the Commercials.

”

Gourmet Burger Restaurants, Regional, UK (4 units)

The Issue:

Privately funded successfully piloted business seeking crowdfunded growth capital to accelerate expansion into attractive market niche

TasteBed Activity:

CrowdFunder package: advisory retainer over 16 weeks

  • Crowd-funding strategy
  • Financial modeling
  • Marketing collateral
  • Project management
  • Sales tracking
  • Sales support

Value Add:

  • Best in class marketing collateral
  • Streamlined team process
  • Reduction of owner time commitment
  • (Campaign closes July 2016 – results to follow)
“Jasper has been an invaluable resource in the development of our young business. His vast range of skills have helped give us the confidence to branch into areas we perhaps would not have considered. He brings great energy, a wise head and a voice that commands attention. We would not hesitate to recommend him to others and look forward to involving him in future projects.”

Online Food Delivery, London, UK (<1M turnover)

The Issue:

Private Equity Investor looking to plug the gap between convenience meals and recipe boxes

TasteBed Activity:

  • Start-up services: 4-5 days per week over 10 months
  • Concept development
  • Food development, production, technical information & food marketing content
  • Business strategy
  • Operational pilots
  • Offline marketing pilots
  • Accounting set up, inc cashflow mgt

Value Add:

  • Multiple ‘product market fit’ iteration
  • Multiple operational models trialed
  • C 100 menu developed and de-bugged
“Jasper is a creative genius who has food and the business of food in his core DNA. He is super fast, comes up with 10 new ideas a day, and always demonstrates great empathy with customers and colleagues. At a personal level, it’s been a pleasure to work with him and I look forward to doing more together.”

Salad Bar Chain, London, UK (now 13 stores, going nationwide)

The Issue:

HOW TO FUND, LAUNCH AND BUILD A BUSINESS THAT offered BUSY LONDON PROFESSIONALS A TASTY, FILLING HEALTHY ALTERNATIVE TO SANDWICHES FOR lunch. 

Activity:

  • Concept development
  • Business strategy & planning
  • Fund-raising (High Net Worth Individuals)
  • Financial analysis, forecasting & cash management
  • Operations management, reporting & performance management
  • HR strategy, recruitment, induction & performance management
  • Property search, negotiation & landlord relations
  •  

Value Add:

  • £4M turnover business established in 3 years
  • At least 60 jobs created in 3 years
  • Solid business model, team and operating model as foundation for subsequent rollout to 13 stores within 8 years
  • Vision – one of the earliest healthy eating pioneers
  • Conviction – convinced key stakeholders to take risks: investors, team, landlords
  • Inclusion – all store managers received share options, all team members received personal appraisals throughout the year
“At my time at Chop’d I worked closely with Jasper from day one. He has always been a highly driven, passionate, relentless and creative person who gave a great deal of belief and support to all members of the team at any level. I had the opportunity to observe him at different levels and aspects of his job and always admired him for his perseverance and strength in going forward with his ideas. He always looked like nothing was impossible. Jasper is for me somebody who never stops, he always seems to be driven forward”

Boutique Ice Cream Parlour Chain, UK/ International; <2M turnover)

The Issue:

HOW TO TRANSFORM A TRADITIONAL UK SMALL BUSINESS INTO A MAINLY FRANCHISE BUSINESS IN HIGH GROWTH INTERNATIONAL MARKETS 

Activity:

  • Financial analysis, forecasting & cash management, funding presentations, covenant delivery
  • Business strategy & planning
  • Business development, sales & marketing
  • Franchising sales, marketing, negotiation & account management
  • Operations management, reporting & performance management
  • HR strategy, recruitment, induction & performance management
  • Property search, negotiation & landlord relation

Value Add:

  • Tripled franchise revenues over 3 years
  • Doubled franchise estate from 5 to 10 stores in 3 years
  • Diversified franchisee base from 2 to 6 in 3 years
  • Diversified franchise markets from Middle East core to include SE Asia, Central Asia and Africa
  • Franchise IP – know-how, manuals, TM and URL registrations – all significantly upgraded to support franchise marketing, store openings and to mitigate IP risk
 
“Jasper and I worked together developing Morelli’s Gelato through the Middle East and North Africa. Jasper was always extremely supportive and generated excellent ideas for improvements across the board. Despite time zone differences he never hesitated to make himself available and if problem solving was required he seemed to revel in it. He’s a talented, hard working and warm person with a very strategic approach to business.”

Health Food Retailer, Regional, UK (<1M turnover)

The Issue:

Loss making legacy retail business sinking potentially more profitable service business

TasteBed Activity:

Reboot package: 6 sessions over 4-6 weeks

  • Owner interviews
  • Customer anonymous survey
  • Staff anonymous survey
  • Sales & stock analysis
  • Financial modeling
  • Action plan

Value Add:

  • 60% stock reduction – excess stock generating immediate cashflow
  • ‘Back to basics’ action plan put immediately into effect. Immediate cost reduction.
“We found ourselves in need of some assistance, our sales had flat-lined and our costs were increasing. We were looking for new ways to revive the business. We engaged Jasper and he swiftly flung himself into our business. We were initially considering opening a cafe, and Jasper’s brief was amongst other things to assess the viability of the cafe idea.

Through his detailed analysis of our business our course of action quickly became apparent - which now did not involve a cafe at the present but moved us in other directions.

Jasper carried out a thorough cost and profit analysis of our business, which has since resulted in considerable savings and moved the company to a much more positive position for the future.”