1. Ilmington Community Shop Limited
Member & Volunteer Meeting
Ilmington Village Hall
28th June 2018

2. Purpose
To involve members & volunteers in tackling some challenges around:
Ensuring that we sustain the shop as a viable & sustainable business that serves customer needs.
After 3+ years, refreshing the shop offer (and café if needed) and market research to underpin this.
Sustaining a viable volunteer base and ensuring that the volunteer experience is fun and rewarding.
Ensuring that we have sufficient people to do what is needed.
To help us plan for the next 3 years and beyond.

3. Purpose No cause for alarm
Raising the challenges now to avert a possible crisis in future
Need to plot a course and create a plan of action

4. Context: 1 Mark will talk you through the figures in more detail, but:
The café is a success: expect current year turnover to be close to, or exceed, our 2 year target of £50k: first 6 months of the year turnover up on average 34% over same period last financial year.
The original business plan envisaged £20k per year café turnover with the café run by a single shop / café manager plus volunteers
We need volunteers who enjoy working in the café, but mainstay has to be paid staff.

5. Context: 2
4. The café is profitable and viable, but contributes less than 10% to overheads.
5. The shop is the mainstay of turnover and covering overheads (80% of total turnover), partly because paid staff run approx. 50% of opening hours.
6. The retail sector in general faces a hostile environment and we have a new Aldi super market in Moreton

6. Café Staffing / Management
Challenging: the consequence of success.
Custom beyond what one (professional) person can handle with volunteer help.
Plus need backup for when Jeanette is on leave / has her days off.
Given shop circumstances, unsatisfactory to default to Michele, grateful though we are for her willingness to stand in
Hope we have resolved for the Summer

7. Our Volunteers
1. As ever, thank you to all who help – finances do not allow an increase in paid staff so we couldn’t manage without you
2. As the next slide shows, the volunteer resource has remained consistent (but fluctuates seasonally)
3. But demand has increased due to:
The café.
Safeguarding
The need to be a responsible employer and constrain staff working hours to those agreed – or close to.
4. We also note pressures on our volunteers and some concerns that solutions don’t materialize as action.

9. Improving Turnover & Profitability
Fundamentally, we need to:
Manage down waste and discounting (Mark will explain).
Continue to carefully manage stock to balance the ‘Mary Poppins Handbag’ trick with keeping stock value to an acceptable level.
But, even if we do, we all need to use the shop whenever possible and ask the question can I buy it there if so, default to it.
And, we need to confirm what our customers want / expect: are we stocking the right products, are our prices reasonable, what more would entice people to use the shop?

10. A Shop Refresh 3 plus years on, timely to look at:
Maintenance and not to look tired.
Learning and applying lessons e.g. fruit and vegetable presentation.
Refreshing the ‘look’ and sustaining the ‘wow’ factor.
Marketing and confirming our customer offer.
Recognising challenging times for many retailers as context.
Moving with the times (e.g. concern about sweets / sugary drinks / plastics etc.).

11. Some Actions to Date
Regularising staff working hours / recruiting staff particularly to place café operation on a stable basis.
Recruiting new volunteers.
Designing & implementing a much improved waste / discounting system and ability to analyse performance.
Drawing on experience from other shops and cafes.
Reviewing stock levels and policy albeit not comprehensively enough.

12. Financial Performance Against Forecast
Year Ending 30/09/2017
Est: Year to Date (May 18)
Forecast to End May 18
Forecast to 30/09/2018
Turnover
248,755
168,214
168,216
261,835
Gross Profit
67,970
47,997
47,106
74,710
Overheads
60,443
49,213
47,270
72,294
Profit / Loss
7,527
(1,216)
(164)
2,416
Depreciation
25,193
16,696
25,044
Capital Grant
1,760
1,168
1,752
Lightning Strike
4.062
Donation
6,100
Loss
(19,968)
(10,644)
(15,692)
(14,776)

13. Café Performance Month on Month

14. Shop Performance Month on Month

15. Waste / Discounting: June 2017 – May 2018
Turnover
£209,996.78
June 2017 – May 2018
Average per Month
Wastage
£5, / 2.47%
£470.97
25% WO
£2, / 1.09%
£207.71
50% F&V
£95.07 / 0%
£8.64
50% W/O
£3, / 1.46%
£279.52
Damaged
£1, / 0.76%
£145.25

16. So What Next? Market research including a household survey.
Sustain our volunteer recruitment campaign.
You to tell us candidly what you think, be it products, service, volunteer experience, anything where we can improve.
You are all very polite, be candid where need be, please.
Can you offer us help e.g. one resident with a retailing background is to advise us on improving presentation and promotions etc.
We are always on the look out for people willing to roll sleeves up and join the Committee or take on tasks.
We need ideas and input, in return to ensure that action results, we will prepare and make available to you, an action plan with a project management framework in place.
Fund Raising.

17. Over To You What is your immediate reaction.
Any observations / suggestions.
Are we missing a trick?
Come and talk to us individually.