Since starting this journey together, we have learnt so many things and have instantly adapted when it was deemed necessary. In hindsight, we realise now that the décor inside the café, was too white and minimalistic, plus the window signs blocked people’s view as they walked past. Another mistake was branding ourselves as ‘edible raw cookie dough’ in the logo, as that was misrepresenting what we sold in the café and from customer feedback, put some people off from coming in, as they thought we only sold cookie dough (not surprisingly!). But we live and learn!
So, first on our agenda, now that the council had finally approved our signage application form, was to revamp the outside frontage to make it more inviting and encapsulate the variety of our offerings. We also opted to change our logo and name to ‘Rawkies Desserts & Café Bar’, as we felt that this best described our business. We then changed the window signs so people walking past would be able to see inside more easily – it also brought a lot more light inside the café too!
We knew all the external signs had to go, so we had a sign installed at the very top of the property and then after some thought, we decided to use artificial greenery to fill in the middle part – and we love the final look! Credit goes to Adam’s brother-in-law Steve Williams, owner of PSI Professional Signage Installations, for the installation of the signs!
Right, on to the inside! We knew it needed to have a cosier feel and that meant less white! Our original concept was minimalistic and clean, but I think we went a bit too far!
We found some lovely wallpaper online and asked Adam’s dad if he could put it on the walls and install some little twinkly lights to give it that extra cosy feel – he did an amazing job!! 😊
I was in charge of the fake brick work for behind the counter and across the back wall, whilst Adam was taking the lead with the flatpack shelving units to create a bit of privacy between tables and so we could add some books and games for customers to enjoy.
It’s a shame we had to lose the external protruding box sign, as that helped to make us stand out from afar. However, now we have added the greenery to the front, we think (and hope!) we are more easily noticeable to passersby now… and (we think) we certainly don’t look like a “greasy fish and chip shop”!!
We eventually got round to having the lower ground floor refurbished and the guys who installed the new carpet did a fantastic job! We alternated the walls between the lovely wallpaper, fake brickwork and white paint. As there are no windows downstairs, we didn’t want to make the room too dark, so we tried to get the balance right! We finally had an events space where we could hold private dinners, corporate events, meetings, buffet receptions, birthday parties, cocktail masterclasses and Christmas Dinner parties. Adam worked so hard on the menu and he designed a fantastic package for each event. We then spent a full day doing set-ups of each type of event (with the help of Event Hire to provide us with the equipment) so we could create a professional brochure. We were now ready to launch ‘Rawkies Events’.
We are really happy with the overall new look and feel of the place – it finally looks finished! The feedback from our lovely customers has been really positive so far. However, we know we have the heaviest door in Bury(!), so we might decide to give the front door a bit of a wooden panel look, just to make it a bit more inviting and we want to add a feature wall inside the café that will be ‘Instagram-worthy’. No rest for the wicked!
Right, now to talk about our other business venture! So, quite early on in the business, I broached the idea to Adam of (attempting) to take our edible raw cookie dough into the retail market. Being completely honest with you, Adam wasn’t keen as he didn’t think this was a possibility for us. So, I didn’t broach it with him again after that.
However, a few months later, we were still struggling with the business and not getting enough customers in, so I did some more research and then decided to suggest the idea to Adam a second time. After a brief discussion, he agreed to give it a go (hurray!).
Now, this project was going to be a big one! We spent weeks and weeks researching, product testing, calling companies for quotes, testing tubs and boxes – the list was endless! And on top of that, we also had to create a brand presentation showcasing our business and products. This was hard work, but a few months later, we were ready to launch our online store and contact retailers to see if they would like to stock our edible raw cookie dough on their shelves… easier said than done!
We now had three separate elements to our business – Rawkies Desserts & Café Bar, Rawkies Edible Raw Cookie Dough, and Rawkies Events. The next step was how best to promote and advertise them, and on a tight budget!