After a short half term break, the students were back in action yesterday preparing for the second trade fair which is taking place at the Mall, Cribbs Causeway this Saturday (24th February).
As there were many elements to finalise, Billy kicked off the meeting with a round table discussion to find out where each manager had got to with their respective tasks.
Tom, the IT manager, was up first and provided a full website and social media update. After several months of building work, the website officially went live last week (https://phonicfarm.weebly.com/) and has plenty of features to shout about including a blog section and links to the extended versions of the children’s stories.
Following Tom’s update, Theo and Tom from Finance stepped up to give the team a full overview. At present, the company have broken even, so they need a strong cash injection to get them into profit. This isn’t the outcome the company were hoping for, but it has given them the motivation to sell hard this weekend!
Joe and James, the two Operations Directors, were up next updating everyone on the whereabouts of the stock. The printing and laminating of the recipe cards have all been organised, the utensils all ordered but it is the cookie cutters have been proving a little mischievous. One set is with us, one set is still on route from China, one set is on order ready for collection and the final set is available in parts from various stores across the region. It will be such a relief once Saturday comes, but it’s going to be a bit of a logistical headache to get everything beforehand. The bags, following some confusion hadn’t been ordered, so once this had come to light James and Joe used the remainder of the meeting to rectify this situation. The bags are now on order and will be with the company by Wednesday.
After this eventful update, it was the turn of Hannah, the Marketing Director to give a visual presentation of her stand layout ahead of the fair. She came with some fantastic ideas from ‘setting the table for tea’ using teapots, cake stands, mixing bowls and colourful table cloths and runners to producing ‘stage signs’ to visually represent the ‘pick-n-mix’ concept to customers. She also had the brilliant idea to use the remaining Christmas cookbook stock as a ‘free gift’ to each customer who purchases a recipe card pack.
Lily then updated everyone on the plans for the trade fair by reviewing the rota and finalising the dress code. Enis then provided an update on the sales pitch which he had written. He ran through this to ensure fully understood it and highlighted the key sales points. It was great to see the company’s organisation and enthusiasm for the product they’ve produced.
Finally, it was the turn of CSR Directors Nick and Dan. As they had previously implemented their CSR plans for sustainable printing, they used the half terms break to focus on the business plan. They ran over what they had produced and everyone added comment to what else they could include. Max, the Company Secretary, who has been working tirelessly on putting the business plan together then pitched in updating everyone on the sections that have been completed and the sections that were still missing. It was good to see the business plan coming along, and that Max had taken the proactive approach to distribute the remaining tasks.
With the full company update complete, each Director was aware of where their responsibilities lie and what needed to be done before the weekend. As their Business Advisor, I am looking forward to seeing the finished product come together and be shown to the public. They deserve a successful event after all the time and effort they have put in.
Don’t forget to visit Phonic Farm from 9am on Saturday at the Mall Cribbs Causeway. Their stand will be located near the Prosecco bar on the first floor.
The company and I look forward to seeing you there!