Customer story: Sandwich Express

When Covid-19 hit in March 2020, this is the question that Sandwich Express owner Martin Drury asked himself again and again before dramatically idea of creating food boxes changing his business in order to keep trading

For Martin Drury, owner of Sandwich Express in Ellesmere Port – which operates a fleet of sandwich vans that deliver freshly baked food and coffee to local offices and a sandwich shop – Covid-19 was initially catastrophic.

When lockdown measures were imposed, Martin had to halt all the vans and close the shop door, and his loyal customers disappeared overnight.

“It all just stopped and we had to park all the vans,” he says. “We thought, ‘what do we do?’. All but three of our 36-strong team were furloughed and we had stock sitting there with nowhere to go, which was going to go out of date.”

After a lot of thought, Martin and his two team members came up with the idea of creating food boxes for customers to buy. They adapted the website and added online ordering, which proved to be a wise move.

“The food boxes were so hugely popular that we had to order more stock,” Martin says.

As they were such a hit, Martin teamed up with his vegetable supplier and offered veg boxes too. Fuelled by the success of the boxes, they diversified again by offering afternoon tea boxes, which flew out, selling 300 for VE Day celebrations alone.

LONG HOURS

When lockdown restrictions were lifted, the food box trade died off. As they had been able to continue trading through lockdown, albeit in a different way, and had been able to furlough staff and were eligible for government support, Martin was able to pay off creditors so the business emerged after lockdown in good shape.

“It nearly killed us though,” says Martin when thinking back to the long hours worked with just three staff, himself included. He admits that he also roped in his wife with the promise of buying her Airpods, which she’s still waiting for…

Martin was also able to get the vans back on the road, but to save costs he combined two van rounds into one leaving several vans sitting idle in the depot. Thinking ahead, Martin made the decision to sell three of the vans and put the money to one side for future van purchases. Until then, in a demonstration of how important building strong relationships with suppliers is, Jiffy, which specialises in manufacturing purposedesigned vehicles, has offered to lend him a van and build him another.

“There’s always a way,” says Martin. “It’s essential for businesses to look at the resources they have and think outside the box.”

Another of Martin’s bright ideas was to team up with one of his suppliers, wholesaler Dunsters Farm, to become its panini supplier for schools. This, of course, stopped when the schools closed but as soon as they reopened, Dunsters Farm put in an order for 800 paninis.

Top tip

MARTIN’S ADVICE? “KEEP GOING AND GOING DON’T STOP. THE IDEAS WILL KEEP COMING”

POWER OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Martin credits a lot of their success to social media, particularly Facebook, when it came to spreading the word about their offer, using Facebook Live to promote their food boxes. “Facebook was massive for us; we went from 2,000 likes before the first lockdown to 5,000 now,” he recalls.

“We even had a lady who ordered one of our food boxes and opened it on Instagram, talking about everything in the box. That really helped raise our profile.”

PARTNERSHIPS

Just Eat has been amazing... As soon as we joined, we were really busy and tapped into customers we’d never had before

Another key partnership for Sandwich Express was Just Eat. Martin explains that they weren’t sure about using delivery platforms but is so glad they decided to go for it.

“Just Eat has been amazing – it’s a great tool to use. As soon as we joined, we were really busy and tapped into customers we’d never had before. Our food boxes are so popular and Just Eat has helped us get a really good name in the area. Yes they charge a fee, but it’s easy to balance it out and make on it, simply by adding a delivery charge.”

FUTURE PLANS

So with his business so well-known now in Ellesmere Port and the sandwich shop running successfully, what’s next for Martin?

“When we close at 4.30pm, I just want to keep going,” says Martin. “I’ve been thinking that we’ve got this 3,000sq ft kitchen that stands empty after we close every day, so why not put it to good use?

“Lots of businesses now have dark kitchens, so by using a tool such as Just Eat we don’t need a shop front. This is another way to keep going and use everything we’ve got to create another business.”

History

Sandwich Express was borne out of a family bakery business set up by Martin’s great-grandfather in 1918. The business as it is today was started in 1994 and with its food freshly baked and cooked daily, customers get the best-quality, freshest food delivered.

Top tip

MARTIN’S ADVICE? “EVEN WHEN THINGS FEEL BLEAK, LIKE THEY DID IN MARCH 2020, THERE WILL ALWAYS BE A WAY FORWARD. LOOK AT THE RESOURCES YOU HAVE AVAILABLE AND THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX”