Q&A: Follow Leisure: The District takeover

Can you tell me a bit about the history of Follow Leisure? 

We are a multi-venue hospitality operator with a portfolio of 10 brands comprising some of Northern Ireland’s most loved casual eateries. Many of our customer base dine with us seven days a week across multiple brands.

Behind the scenes, we operate a central kitchen and bakery that services the brands and a head office function with a finance, design, marketing and management team predominantly made up of individuals that have worked their way up through our business to form a team that often assist in the day-to-day operations in each of our sites.

Why did the group decide to acquire District?

I would have viewed District as a competitor to some of our brands. The previous owner viewed the business as more of a financial investment. However, we are a hands-on operator. I believe we can bring our creative ideas and enthusiasm to the brand, to improve and expand the offering, giving customers more choice, quality and value.

What stands out about District as a brand? 

District is a well-established independent local brand that we believe surpasses any of the big chain coffee operators. We will continue to operate District as a standalone brand with an improved food offering and the ability to be agile changing with consumer trends without the corporate bureaucracy.

What further advantages do you believe District will bring to Follow Leisure?

We have doubled our café footprint in Belfast with the acquisition of District. This gives us an increased market share, increased buying capabilities and an opportunity for us to progress some of our existing staff by furthering their career with the company, through our management training program.

I noticed one District branch will be closing due to underperformance. Following the acquisition, are there plans to open more District sites in different areas? 

Our initial area of focus is to ensure all District locations are in line with our back of house operations such as changing procurement processes, Epos and management systems. This alone will bring about efficiencies that will assist in the day to day running of the sites and financial reporting. We recognised District has some good processes and procedures that we as a group have now adapted and are rolling those out across the wider group.

The biggest change District customers will notice is a new menu focusing on freshness. Alongside our executive chef, I have developed a menu that’s on trend and good value for money, which I believe to be crucial in today’s market. With customers tightening their belts and perhaps reducing their spending it’s imperative that we give customers a reason to spend with us.

You’ve mentioned the importance of fostering a community-based feel across your sites. How do you plan to do this?

I view each of our sites as more than just a restaurant, coffee shop or café. We achieve this by looking in granular detail at things like our music playlist for example,  which is planned out in great depth, right down to what we are playing at what time of the day. Someone coming in and hearing the right song at the right moment brings a smile to their face. They might not be able to pinpoint hearing a particular song and often things like this go unnoticed but combined with how they are greeted, and their food is presented, we can have a real impact on their day. Customers may just think they are coming back because they like the coffee, but I believe it to be about much more. We aim to make all of our locations destinations, a relaxed escape from the crazy real world for a moment in time.

How do you plan to overcome rising food and energy costs?  

Energy costs are largely out of our control and apart from the day-to-day management and ensuring we aren’t “burning money” we are looking at all areas of the business where we can save money to try and offset these rises.

With food costs, we are now looking at purchasing on a group level daily. We are currently in the process of implementing a new procurement system and working with key suppliers to review the needs of the business and the marketplace.

Alongside this we are doing some internal “housekeeping” to ensure our locations aren’t unnecessarily stock holding and ordering inefficiently. We are streamlining the product lines that we use across the group. Currently we are using approximately 1200 lines and we aim to reduce this to a target of 450 through menu engineering and creativity, in turn this will help us to minimise wastage and drive profitability.

What immediate plans do you have for District following the acquisition? 

Get to know the District team and ensure that they have everything they need from me as a leader to do their jobs to the best of their abilities.

Are there any future plans for the group that you can tell us about? 

Following the acquisition of District, we are going through a period of consolidation and efficiency review. We are preparing for a winter that might propose a difficult trading pattern with the increased cost of living.

However, we are ensuring we are in as strong a position as possible to maximise any opportunities in the New Year. We currently operate 1 franchised location under the Slim’s Healthy Kitchen brand, and we hope to expand our franchise portfolio with some of our other brands. As things become increasingly difficult for hospitality operators, such as VAT rate, I believe we will be able to use our experience and the strength of our brands to support franchisees so that they can operate a viable and profitable business.