Of course I write with particular reference to our sector,speciality food, and am wondering whether the recentlong-drawn-out election result will make any difference to us?I am getting mixed reports from the sector at present. Some ourmy sales team are reporting that there is more caution around thanthey have seen so far this year, but on the counter-side our firstfew Christmas orders are considerably larger than last year’searly orders. One farm shop in Surrey that has been reportingnegative growth for 18 months has just started to see a slightuplift in sales – and that in what has been a miserable monthfor weather so far in May. (Better weather promised for the secondhalf of May, apparently.) Cotswold Fayre has had a record April andthe best ever take-up of our promotions.Despite the down-turn of sterling against the dollar, it doesfeel at present, as if there is a little more stability to theBritish economy with a new coalition government at the helm, buthow long this honeymoon period will last is anyone’s guess.However, let’s make the most of the slight wave of optimismin the air – and before VAT goes up to 20%, which it mostcertainly will!One thing not in question though is that hard work in the rightdirection will enable all of us to grow our businesses over thenext few months. I have worked with a couple of other businesses oflate and am amazed at the complacency there is in small foodbusinesses sometimes. It only needs someone to take their foot offthe gas for a short business and turnover tails away and soon thecompany can be in trouble. There is a constant need for all of usto be driving things forward the whole time. This doesn’tmean running around like a headless chicken, but strategizing andputting the right systems and people in place to get the job donemore effectively and profitably.Due to the recruitment of five extra staff since the beginningof 2010, my own staff’s wage bill is now more than 33% largerthan it was last year. And there is nothing like knowing that we asa company have to turn-over per month over £200k just to paythe wages – and that doesn’t include any other costs orme! Certainly helps focus the mind on the job at hand!Cotswold Fayre was started by Paul Hargreaves in the EarlyNineties originally as the distribution arm of a number of smallCotswold based companies.Links to the original article : http://www.cotswold-fayre.co.uk/specialitybites/2010/05/and-what-now-for-the-economy/
