Growing your business through COVID-19 may appear at best a contradiction in terms and even a little misleading, so before going into the detail of how we have not only maintained but increased our growth potential, we should start with a little background to set the scene.
Background
Since 2006 we have been running Farm Stay Experiences from Oaks Barn Farm in Warwickshire Close to the home of Shakespeare in the nearby Stratford upon Avon. Our business since this time had grown year on year and expanded. Typically our guests are both international and domestic, family groups and friends meeting up to escape to the country. In 2019, returning guests made up 26% of our customer base.
We manage our own Website and social media channels, our aim in life is to do what we love and do it well. Like many businesses COVID-19 was not in our plan, indeed we had spent much of the year hard landscaping our Garden areas to each of the three guest properties, we had installed an electric car charger point powered by our Solar Pannels, and just taken delivery of 2 Salt water Hot Tubs taking us up to 3 one for each property.
Oaks Barn Farm Properties Use for Channel 4 Come Dine With Me
Whilst in Egypt we took a booking for Channel 4’s Come Dine With Me, to film on site for A group of British Paralympian contestants, Arriving back home to a film crew and the final being filmed in our Farmhouse.
Buying a Dog for Christmas
We then had a new addition to the family in the form of Red Skye going against all traditional advice we had a Puppy for Christmas with the intent of socialising her with our guests from the start turning her into a true family farm dog. After an amazing family Christmas, much of January passed by and then in February we collected a couple of pigs, just to complicate life a little further.
Large Group Bookings and a Pizza Night
Now with our infrastructure in place, we realised the potential for all site bookings, where groups of up to 20 could meet. We designed a commercial Pizza Oven and started to market this as an additional experience to complement our Breadmaking workshops and air rifle shooting sessions. March started to unveil the first of many to come cancellations, with the closure for hospitality being announced on the 23rd March. Like many others, our income dried up over night, our days were taken up with cancellations and refunds which seemed never ending.
Enforced lockdown for us, was not that different, we still had a farm to run, Dan was Building a Nurse Tank for his Slurry Irrigation Business, lambing was just around the corner and the weather was particularly favourable. We turned our attention to maintenance tasks, the garden and in particular our vegetable growing as food security and toilet roll were in question. both our runner bean crop and our toilet roll seedlings proved to be a failure this year however potatoes, tomatoes, chillies and Peppers would flourish. We collected our Lazer cut profiles for our Pizza oven and Dan and I worked on its assembly and welding.
Planning Our Way Forward
With Dan’s Business expanding, we had a good case for increasing our machine and feed storage, and so put in for planning permission to develop a storage shed.
News started to trickle through of a planned re opening for early July, We heard of the AA COVID-19 Confident accreditation scheme and also Visit England’s Good to Go programme. Both involved risk assessment of making the premises safe for both staff and guests and implementing processes for our cleaning methods to embrace all aspects of the emerging COVID-19 virus.
Fortunately my background lay in risk management from my time spent with Stoke on Trent College. we gained accreditation from both schemes and were able to benefit from their social media branding to communicate this with our future customers.
Through lockdown our local pub, provided a takeaway service to the local community, we were able to provide excess produce which would normally be used with guests.
Open For Business
Throughout lockdown we were able to refund or transfer all of our cancelled bookings, we re opened on the 4th July and thankfully saw a huge upturn in bookings, over the coming months further measures were introduced, the magic number of 6, household restrictions, localised lockdowns, support bubbles and of course 2m apart Masks and of course the all important washing of hands.
Large groups were no longer possible but each of our properties could accommodate up to 6, Our Pizza evenings are growing in popularity and our Hot Tubs would prove to be really popular with our guests.
Key Factors In Future Business Strategy
- Focus on Green Energy Initiatives, not only is it the right thing to do, consumers given time will align their buying power with your Green business values.
- Buy British and Buy Local, many will have learnt through lockdown the importance of the local economy and its place and vital role in the supply chain. Integrate this into your ongoing purchasing strategy.
- Value key worker roles, we have always fostered relationships with delivery drivers, give positive reviews without being asked to do so, giving them surplus eggs, tomatoes, or apples from the orchard will never change the world, but it will make the world a better place for you having been in it.
- Your postman, bin men, Pharmacist, Doctor, local shop keeper and local farm shop will forever have a special place in your heart going forward, no matter what their profession, chose to value service going forward, remember with kindness and look for new ways to repay with gratitude.
- Learn to trust your heart, by doing the right thing. The long term impact will repay you time after time, far greater than your initial investment.
- Know and trust the value of a few sincere words and a smile, seek opportunities to deliver them freely.
- Learn and respond accordingly
