The Seafood Restaurant

Rick and Jill Stein's businesses in Padstow started with one restaurant in the 1970s. Strong turnover and the increasing popularity of locally sourced fresh foods soon encouraged them to diversify their operations firstly into hotels and then into retail.

Following conversations with retail academics Harvey Ells and Chris Dutton a Knowledge Transfer Partnership proposal was developed and approved. The project started in 2007 with the selection and recruitment of a University of Brighton graduate, Filip Jicinsky. The partnership’s primary objective was to develop a clearer retail strategy, and then help to operationalise that strategy to make the business more efficient and scalable

Guided by the academic team, Filip spent several months examining the mail order side of the business – workflow patterns, packaging and systems including contributions to a website redesign and revised content management system. This resulted in mail order costs being significantly reduced and turned the retail emphasis onto sales growth and improved profitability. All of the high quality food products are produced in-house and the partnership has helped develop new packaging and labelling to enhance the appeal of the own label offer.

New product packaging was designed and produced, and the retail store format has been optimised, which was particularly important in terms of expansion. A retail training manual was also developed as a legacy of the project.

The financial results speak for themselves; retail sales during the two-year partnership rose by 26.3 per cent and profitability increased by 106 per cent. The company also formed strategic partnerships with Selfridges and Sharp’s Brewery in developing new, high-quality food and drink products.

The organisation benefitted from university expertise which helped them to capitalise on their unique product offer while at the same time optimising the use of more professional retail management systems and merchandising techniques.

See further information about this on our KTP case studies page.