A Strategy for Local Food at The Stocks Inn

Coconut Creatives seems to be attracting clients with a strong ethical stance. Maybe because they can see we really care about making a difference to their business. The Stocks Inn pub in Furzehill, Dorset was no exception…

However, many recent projects have a very serious undertone and we hope that by helping these companies achieve their goals, we’ll also be supporting and advancing awareness of the issues they are so passionate about.

An identified ’people issue’ today surrounds diet and fitness. This is not just due to lack of physical activity, but the increasing temptation to eat naughty foods! Now, everyone knows how nice chocolate can be, or curry on a Saturday night. But for many people, fast food has become more than an occasional treat, what’s more, its hassle free and cheap.
This in tern has damaged many local producers of good quality, natural foods as many have struggled to stay in business under the shadow of empires like McDonalds and KFC and of course the supermarkets convenience and economies of scale.
Coconut Creatives latest marketing adventure took the shape of turning one down trodden, mass microwave, slash, frozen meal pub into an up market, locally respected establishment providing high quality meals using entirely local produce – supporting all the local little suppliers!

By thinking ‘outside the box’ partnerships and friendships were established with small local producers, to enable a magical transformation for The Stocks Inn to become a classy, caring and sharing type place.

If you want to take advantage of their all day Sunday Carvery you’d better book a fortnight in advance and start queuing at 10am! And I can say for sure that their exotic food night is definitely an eye opener!

In Search of Coconuts?

Maybe not coconuts but every business owner has an ultimate goal and ours is to escape to a desert island filled with palm trees!

The reason I have started with this analogy is business owners tend to get bogged down in the daily operation of their company and lose sight of what they are actually doing it all for!

Ask yourself; are you suffering from the common things associated with small independent business:

  • Keeping up with new technology
  • Growing pains as you expand
  • HR issues and red tape
  • Loosing site of the customer as the market changes (so does customer needs)
  • You know what you want to do but just don’t have enough time to do it

The answer can be simpler than you think!

The owners we work with often know what they need to do to generate more profit, many simply need more time! The reason you are doing what you do is because you are good at it. The forward momentum of the operation tends to be left to grow in an ad-hoc way which is not the best way.

We have one core aim which is to offer the small independent businesses a fair and fighting chance at reaching that aim, whether it is a desert island with palm trees or a luxury motor yacht…