The Biskery
As part of the launch of our Guide to Business Resilience, we reached out to a number of smaller business owers to find out what business resilience meant to them.
In this interview, we speak to Lisa Shepherd, Founder of The Biskery, about what business resilience means in her industry.
What does business resilience mean to you?
Staying agile, adapting, being open to and embracing change and challenges.
What kinds of changes have you made to reduce overheads in the current climate?
Put expensive marketing campaigns and website improvements on hold and being more cautious with spending money.
How has the energy crisis impacted your business?
Our energy bill doubled whilst most of our suppliers increased their prices.
We also began to experience supply chain issues and delays.
What is your approach to debt and finance?
We have no debt and avoid having any.
We are a small, bootstrapped business that focuses on organic growth.
We are purpose-led and have doubled our revenue year on year in the last three years without any outside funding.
We invest profits back into the business, keep our own salaries low and carefully monitor which area of the business to invest in to allow further growth.
How do you nurture your customer relationships?
We welcome and actively seek their opinion and feedback.
We try to give back with incentives like the free jam Thank You biscuits we send out every week for Gratitude Day.
We are active on LinkedIn and other social media platforms to connect and communicate with others, and to show the humans behind the business.
What measures have you taken to attract and retain talent in a tough climate?
Increased salaries, offered more perks, offered more flexibility, asked for their needs more and tried to meet them where we can.
How important is innovation and technology in future proofing your business and give an example of where you've invested in it?
As an objective business innovation and technology is paramount for us.
We have recently invested in a new member of staff who comes from a tech background and has helped us improve our website.
We have engaged various online marketing agencies to help us with Google Analytics 4 (GA4), online advertising, and selling a brand-new service we are introducing to the UK.
Lisa Shepherd Founder - The Biskery
Lisa Shepherd was born and raised in Germany. She has a degree in Transcultural Communication from the University of Vienna, Austria.
Volunteering in the Galapagos Islands she met her British husband.
They travelled the world together before settling in Leeds, UK.
She has two wonderful children who are not only her pride and joy, but also her greatest teachers.
Together with her friend Saskia Roskam, she founded The Biskery (formally Bloom Bakers), an online business that specialises in personalised and branded biscuits.
The real product however is kindness. Not only do they help spread kindness in biscuit form, they capitalise on kindness in all aspects of the business - from the way they interact with customers and staff to the impact they have on our planet.
Their vision is to introduce more female qualities to the business world, remove the stigma associated with working mothers, and run a purposeful business that enables women to combine a career with motherhood - without the guilt.
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Focusing on customers
When times are tough it always pays to focus on your customers.
Shrinking disposable incomes mean making sure your customer service is at its best is vital.
But, knowing the right place to turn to for guidance can be a challenge.
With tips on everything from attracting customers to increasing customer spending, our Guide to Building Business Resilience could help your business prepare for the future.
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