People First

Safety for our staff and customers will always be our priority.

By Austen Dack - Speaking to Rebecca Lord MD of Friars Pride

It has been a vastly different year to any other, what challenges have you faced and how have you overcome them?

It has been the most challenging of my 15 years in post – Brexit (remember that) then Covid 19. As the pandemic started to escalate and Boris made his lockdown speech – many of the 200 people who worked for Friars Pride were very apprehensive about the situation. This was the same for the majority of our customers, who were concerned about keeping their staff safe and as a result closed their shops. Friars Pride was quickly left with little trade and a concerned workforce; and as a responsible family business I made the difficult decision to temporarily place the business on pause to protect our people and their families. We are a strong independent family company and we had some fantastic support from our suppliers and the government’s job retention scheme.

Quickly, we had a small team of excellent people working and within a few days customers who had remained open or had re-opened again contacted us for goods. We quickly adapted our processes to adhere to the latest government guidelines and social distancing rules and opened a ‘Call and Collect’ service at each depot within days. This service became very popular and as more customers had the confidence to re-open safely we gradually re-opened our delivery service with updated processes according to government guidelines within weeks. As more shops opened, we increased our delivery routes and service across all seven depots and consequently brought more of our staff back to work. Doing our best to look after our staff has given them more confidence to return to work and provide our dedicated customer service as much as possible with the Coronavirus still prevalent. We kept communicating with our customers and gave a forum for customers to share ideas on how to re-open using social media, e-mail campaigns, post and telesales. Thankfully, trading has almost reached similar levels to last year.

Fish and chips is our livelihood – we put business on hold for health and life. We adapted our operation for safety reasons– putting people before profit.

What is the mood of your key suppliers now?

They have faced challenges but are thankful trade is coming back.

There were some challenges in the supply chain during lockdown, however most of our suppliers have now increased capacity as sales have returned, and on a positive note some suppliers have increased production and investment on certain products due to the increased business from takeaways. Packaging is a great example of where

we are working with a partner supplier to increase innovation and production, this includes the recent launch of the Hook & Fish branded corrugated tray.

What changes have you implemented during the covid pandemic, which benefit your staff and customers?

• A thorough risk assessment and the business is now proud to be operating as COVID Secure. • New processes for our delivery drivers on how to distribute according to the latest government guidelines and social distancing rules to keep our customers and our drivers safe. Our drivers have been given masks, visors, gloves, hand sanitisers and cleaning equipment to keep themselves and their vehicles hygienic and safe. • We have made it easier for customers to pay by card and updated our processes • We have increased home working where possible – with investment in new laptops and softphone licenses to enable sales, finance, marketing and purchasing departments to work from home on a rotation basis. To keep our people safe and also the business running in the event of local lockdowns. • We have Increased the use of Microsoft

TEAMS to conduct meetings with remote workers, depots, suppliers, and some customers, which has helped to bring us all closer together.

Fish and Chip shops have evolved during the Covid era, with click and collect and home delivery. How has that impacted Friars Pride?

As an increasing amount of shops re-opened many customers started operating with reduced menus and reduced hours. This had a positive impact by growing certain products like our 42nd Street Classic Sausages, 42nd Street Chicken Fillet Bites, Q Chicken Nuggets, Rammi skinless boneless tighter graded cod fillets, Promenade sauce sachets, Hook & Fish fold it bin boxes and takeaway bags.

We have had to adjust our delivery routes and calling times to contact the customers at the right times, which has been a challenge with shops gradually reopening at different times. Our increased telesales team are regularly handling over 1000 incoming calls from customers on a single day, this has been another challenge with all members of staff answering the phone, including myself!

I see you have launched your own collection app, please tell us more about the benefits to the fish and chip industry?

We have launched the Click & Collect App as an easy to use online ordering tool to enable our customers to order at a time that suits them and collect additional products from their local depot. There is a price advantage by using the App and our online service, and it will be updated with new products and promotions on a regular basis. It has been developed for ease of use and can be used on a mobile phone and via our website.

What did you think of the cut in VAT for the hospitality sector, and the dine out to help out scheme?

I believe the VAT cut is an excellent idea and fantastic support for our customers during difficult times. Through our Good Habits newsletter, we have given ideas to our customers to encourage them to use the cut in VAT to offer promotions to generate more trade at quiet times. I initially thought dine out was a good idea too however in reality it does not appear to have been as successful for our trade, as takeaways have reported a drop in business and restaurants have been ‘too busy’ on Mondays to Wednesdays with less business on Friday and Saturdays.

What is the key message from this testing time?

We are passionate about the fish and chip industry. However, the safety of our customers and staff is paramount we will always put people before profit. We adapted very quickly, and if the pandemic does come back at least we now have as a business all these processes in place for us to trade as safely as possible.

Contact

Friars Pride

Head Office & Peterborough Depot Oxney Road Industrial Estate Peterborough PE1 5YW T: 01733 316408 Fx: 01733 316425 www.friarspride.com