Achieving change in a period of uncertainty
“They really listened as we outlined our situation and concerns for the future. With their help and advice, we are now able to see things clearly and visualise how we will grow the business.”
− Annarita
Overview
Fazenda is a family-run, Italian café, located in Spitalfields, London. For more than a decade, their focus has been on providing an authentic Italian experience where customers can enjoy top quality food and coffee, in a setting that caters to both families and creatives from the local arts scene.
The challenge
Due to changing market conditions, the owners of Fazenda had realised they had to change their business model. Unfortunately, before they could enact this change, Covid-19 came along and forced them to close their café at short notice.
The owners, Annarita and Antonio, had already identified new opportunities to remodel the business. These included selling products such as coffee beans and deli products online, in addition to offering a new delivery and takeaway service to the local community. Their goal was to reshape their offering while retaining the original character of the business.
Whilst the owners recognised they had established a strong brand, which they were passionate about preserving, together with a loyal group of customers who loved their café and its unique culture, they acknowledged that they had a number of weaknesses and skills gaps which were preventing them from moving forward.
In our initial discussions with them, a number of issues were identified:
- A fear of what the future might hold, particularly in light of Covid-19.
- A lack of clarity on how to move forward.
- A gap in technical skills and knowledge, especially in terms of marketing through social media and e-commerce.
- Uncertainty around the market: What would the post Covid-19 market look like and who would their customers be?
Our approach
EwC had two initial calls with the owners, where they gave us a deep insight into their business and outlined their concerns and plans for the future. This allowed us to tailor a bespoke strategy workshop to address their needs.
The key objectives of the workshop were to:
- Establish the current state of the business and identify future objectives.
- Identify what was important for Annarita and Antonio – what were their goals?
- Increase their confidence in taking the business forward.
- Look at who their current customers were and who were they wanted to target as future customers.
- Identify their key strengths and weaknesses and agree a suitable strategy to address any gaps.
- Establish a social media communications strategy to enable them to market their new offering.
- Create a high-level, realistic and achievable roadmap for the next six months.
From the outset, it was apparent that Annarita and Antonio had thought a great deal about what needed to change with their business. They offered us valuable insight into what was important to them (retaining the character of the business) along with a very honest appraisal of their strengths and weaknesses. Working closely with them, we were able to establish their key objectives and provide suggestions to overcome potential obstacles.
What happened next
A follow-up session was arranged to run through the findings from the strategy workshop. What soon became apparent was that Annarita and Antonio had already taken on board our advice and modified their way of thinking. They were far more confident about the future and had already begun to implement several of our suggestions. Furthermore, they were looking at reopening the café as soon as possible.
Summary
One of Fazenda’s biggest concerns was the volume and complexity of the work required to achieve their goals − and this was affecting their confidence and ability to move forward. Working with them, we agreed a managed approach to changing their business. By breaking the work into a series of defined steps, one area of change could be targeted at a time.
It was clear from the start that Fazenda’s identity was very precious to Annarita and Antonio. We were able to show them that they could change direction and grow the business whilst still retaining the character of the business. What was once a potential blocker to change and growth could now be leveraged as a strength.
Other key concerns centred around e-commerce and social media. Fazenda had previously identified these as potential hurdles and taken steps to address them −identifying companies that might be able to offer support. We helped them by recommending specific ways they could communicate to both existing and potential new customers.
Moving forward
Annarita and Antonio’s business has entered a new phase. Uncertainty and fear of the future has now been replaced with a desire to push forward – moving Fazenda into an exciting new period of change and growth.
“A big thanks to David, Chris and the rest of the team at EwC. They really listened as we outlined our situation and concerns for the future. With their help and advice, we are now able to see things clearly and visualise how we will grow the business.”
− Annarita