The challenge
The ambitious hospitality company behind Barnsley’s popular Barista coffee bar and a number of other unique local venues, needed a hygiene and catering supplies company that could keep pace with its expansion, and help it emerge stronger in the aftermath of COVID-19.
Fortunately for them, and us, they got in touch with us here at Elliott’s and we’ve been working hand-in-glove ever since, helping them establish the right foundations and find solutions to problems as they’ve arisen. With their newest venue, Barista, which opened its doors in August 2020, we’ve helped them source the right cutlery, crockery and – when lockdowns forced them to close their café doors and move to takeaway service only – food packaging; as well as setting them up with the right hygiene processes and equipment to keep them and their customers safe in these uncertain times, and training their team in COVID-secure cleaning best practice.
The Solution
This team are so innovative and creative, they’ve really kept us on our toes and we’ve loved every minute! As well as the more standard requirements that we’ve helped them cover – we’ve been delighted to help resolve little conundrums like sourcing a high-quality coffee bean labels, milk shake blenders and waffle machines, all with lightning-fast turnaround.
We just love being part of a vision like this growing chain of outlets, and are relishing the opportunity to help the team get everything ship-shape in time for the opening of their latest new venues, in July. Once again, we’re acting as trusted advisors on everything from kitchen hygiene layout to hygiene processes and equipment in general – as well as helping to identify high-quality crockery, cutlery and glassware, and even staff uniforms, that reflect their quality brand.
The results
Operations Manager for Barista and the rest of this growing chain, said: “We’ve basically gone to them and said ‘right, we’re planning to offer this new meal option. This is what we need in terms of packaging – can you get it for us?’. The answer is always ‘yes’ and they’ll come back to us with three or four different options, then the actual items are with us within a matter of days once we’ve made our selection.
“Another example was when we decided to sell our own coffee beans. We asked Janette if she could help us get hold of branded labels and, even though this wasn’t something she’d been asked for before, she said ‘yes, I’ll see what I can do’, went away and pulled together all the options, costs and samples. She’s an absolute diamond and the company, as a result, has become our one-stop shop for everything.
“When it came to crockery, we started off offering hot chocolate and then the weather changed, so we asked Elliott’s, at five o’clock on a Friday, if they could get us the blenders we needed to start serving milkshakes instead.
“The blenders were with us by the start of the following week, because they understand the commercial reality and our need to act fast.
“Not only that, but their expertise is second-to-none. On the cleaning and hygiene side of things, Janette and her team planned and supplied us with everything we needed prior to 17 May. Along with her son Chris, who is also well-known to us, she is coming over to conduct our staff training, ensuring everything is ‘ship shape’ for reopening. In terms of the heightened requirements of COVID-security, she’ll tell us ‘this is the product you need in order to be compliant, and we know that you can trust that advice 100 per cent, and the company will never just sell us something for the sake of it.
And Karen and her colleagues feel assured they can rely on getting the best possible deal from Elliott’s, as well as outstanding support.
“The really comforting thing is that we don’t ever feel as though we need to waste time looking elsewhere or shopping around, because we just know that Elliott’s have a constant eye on trying to save us money and time, and will look after us and make sure that, whatever we need, we get for a fair price.”
Read our in-depth blog about our work with the Barista team. If you’re inspired by what you’ve read in this case study, and would like to know how Elliott’s can help you with your business venture, email us or call us on 01482 327580.
