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Heddon Communications
Over twenty years of marketing communications & PR experience |
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B2B Thames Valley:- Hard grind and fun are the secrets of succes
Delegates to the B2B Thames Valley Exhibition heard an inspirational talk from the co-founder of Coffee Republic, Sahar Hashemi, on Tuesday 26 September 2006, as she described how she had turned her ignorance and lack of experience in coffee, catering and retail into a multi million pound success story.
Sahar declared that “anyone can do it. Eleven years ago I would not have believed that I could be an entrepreneur. I had an uneventful childhood and qualified as a lawyer. I spent five years working as a lawyer, becoming progressively more frustrated with my job as I could see myself becoming a mindless automaton. I can see now that to be content and fulfilled you must have fun at work and do something you love.”
“My wake up call came when my Dad died in 1993,” she continued. “It was a jolt to me and I took some time out to visit my brother Bobby in New York. On arrival in New York I was jet lagged and needed a coffee. There on Madisson Avenue was a coffee bar called New World Coffee. There was nothing like it in London at the time. It turned drinking coffee into a fantastic experience. At that time Starbucks was operating out of Seattle, but had not spread any further.”
“I could immediately see a gap in the market in London and to my surprise my brother offered to pay for me to carry out some research in London to check out the possibilities. I believe that part of the reason for my success was that I acted immediately on my idea. Many people have good ideas but hesitate to act. My first research was simple. I hopped on the Circle Line in London and got off at every stop to look at the options for a coffee bar – that’s 27 stops. I was horrified at my experience – there were only greasy sandwich bars serving dreadful instant coffee. People were buying this insipid drink in ghastly polystyrene cups. I could see the gap in the UK market.”
Sahar saw the next step as being the crucial one for entrepreneurs – taking that ‘Leap’ into the unknown. She is convinced that if you take that ‘leap’ – the safety net will appear.
“I had my doubts,” she continued. “But I believe that anyone can be an entrepreneur if they take that step of turning an idea into action. I had no knowledge of my market, but I carried out market research. In many ways I believe that being ignorant and having no baggage was an advantage. I call it the ‘importance of being clueless’. It meant I was inspired and motivated to drive my idea forward. I knew that coffee was the second largest commodity in the world and also that in France 10% of the population drank instant coffee and 90% real coffee. In the UK it was the reverse, 10% drank real coffee and 90% instant. There was significant room for growth in the UK. Even though the UK is traditionally a nation of tea drinkers.”
“My research included blatant lifting of ideas from the New World Coffee bar in New York. I liked the décor, the uniformed employees, the way the cakes and pastries were displayed and the bar seating. But I had a vision as to how the coffee bars should look and how the business should progress and that visualisation is key to any new business.”
The first major challenges for Sahar were to produce a business plan and to raise £90,000 finance to set up the first store. “I found the business plan quite straight forward although I had been daunted in advance. Raising the finance was more of a challenge. Bobby and I contacted 40 banks. We were offered 20 interviews and the first 19 said ‘no’. We were told that we were a nation of tea drinkers and that the idea would never take off in the UK. But it was interview number 20 that turned the corner for us. The bank manager said ’yes’ immediately even though we were convinced on first sight that he had never had a cup of coffee in his life! But it was the break we needed.”
“Anyone who has tried to implement a new business will know that the setting up stage can be a nightmare. Suppliers were unhelpful and we had to battle for every little thing we needed. I didn’t want polystyrene cups but no-one was willing to make what I wanted. Eventually we found the cups we wanted but had to stick branding on every single one by hand! We had to nick employees from Pret a Manger because we had no experience of training staff. Despite this, we had enormous fun setting everything up.“
“Eventually, in November 1995, the first Coffee Republic opened in London – the first of it’s kind in the UK. There are over 2500 coffee bars now, but at the time it was the only one. The first six months were a disaster in many ways, but we persevered, finding that the key to our marketing was branding and giving our customers the personal service of coffee any way they wanted. We opened our second store in 1996,” continued Sahar, “and a further seven in 1997. By 1998 we became a Plc and encountered the arrival of Starbucks. By 2001 we had 110 stores across the UK. At this point, for me, the company had become so large that I became disillusioned with the hierarchy and the chains of command and felt the fun had gone. So I sold my shares and left the company. Looking back now that was probably a mistake. I had made my dream come true and then I had turned my back on it and it felt like a bereavement.”
Since 2001 Sahar has recaptured that entrepreneurial feeling and the fun that goes with it and is setting up a new business, Skinny Candy – sweets with no sugar. “I have rediscovered the fun – everyone should have fun and enjoy their work,” she concluded. “For anyone considering setting up a business, I say ‘do it’. Have the courage to ‘Take the Leap’ and run with a good idea.”
Sue Heddon
Viney Communications
01344 752093
07774267280
sue@vineycommunications.co.uk
26/9/06
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