Sir Juiced Catering Services Norwich

Financial squeeze creates new opportunity for Sir Juiced Catering

Gavin Potts — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 21:27:25 +0000

Foundation East loan helps juice bar earn its bread and butter

Surviving a downturn in business often requires an ability to reinvent yourself to exploit new opportunities. Entrepreneurs Daniel Hill and Andrew Lees gained some timely help from community finance organisation Foundation East which has enabled them to grow a successful catering business from its smoothie and juice bar origins.

Daniel first set up Sir Juiced in 2006 following a trip to Australia and New Zealand where he was blown away by the success of juice bars which he saw doing a fantastic trade:

“Healthy drinks are really popular in Australia and New Zealand and I realised there was a niche for healthy drinks and snacks in Britain.

“So my friend Lewis Mace and I set up our first smoothie and juice bar at the Meridian Business Park in Norwich, with the help of a small bank loan. Our main customers were employees on the business park, but we soon started expanding our trade to music festivals and other events up and down the country.”

After a year, Daniel and Lewis had started selling food, including pitta bread, sandwiches and bagels. They were even hosting educational events at schools where they would demonstrate how to make smoothies and give the children the chance to try them.

In 2007, Lewis moved away and Daniel found a new business partner – Andrew Lees – who invested in the company, which then became Sir Juiced Catering Ltd.

Soon Daniel and Andrew had bought another trailer and business was doing well. But almost immediately the country-wide recession set in.

Daniel said: “Businesses on the Meridian Business Park were closing down and we were losing trade. People didn’t have money to spend. On top of this, the council refused us permission to put up signs advertising our company. It was like everything was against us.

“With young families to support we had to start thinking outside the box.”

So Andrew and Daniel decided to buy two Jiffy refrigerated vans to expand their business so they could take on sandwich delivery rounds and deliver buffets. This was successful and Sir Juiced now offers corporate buffets and entertainment events.

However, the new sections of the business became so successful that they soon needed a base to prepare the extra food and drinks needed. So they found a great unit in the centre of town with more room and better facilities.

Approaches to banks for funding were unsuccessful, so the pair turned to Foundation East for help, as Daniel explains:

“The banks were so unhelpful. They just weren’t interested in helping us.

“So we approached Foundation East. They were more than happy to help us. They were brilliant. Valerie Jarrett, our business loans manager at Foundation East was great. She gave us advice about the day to day running of the operation and how we should be thinking.”

Foundation East is a membership society that provides small business loans up to £50k for businesses with a viable business plan that have been refused bank finance. Business loans manager Valerie Jarrett was impressed by Andrew and Daniel’s versatility.

“Unlike other lending organisations, Foundation East doesn’t use a computerised credit scoring system to decide when to loan money. Sir Juiced had a good business plan and cash-flow analysis and the owner-managers clearly understood their customers and the market opportunities. I was able to take this into account when I recommended their application to the loans panel.

“I am delighted to see them go from strength to strength. All businesses receive knocks especially in the early days and it shows character to take stock and adapt to new opportunities.”

Sir juiced has used the £10,000 loan from Foundation East went towards buying a Jiffy van and fitting out the inside of a former unit in the Norwich Fish Market. The unit is now used for food and drink preparation.

The loan has allowed the company to diversify which will make it more sustainable.

Around half of Sir Juiced’s day-to-day business now comes from buffets, of which they do approximately 20 per week. The other half comes from daily sandwich deliveries to around 60 local businesses. During their rounds they also offer a vending service to clients, including water coolers and coffee machines.

They also still have trailers at large events and are even creating their own entertainment events for clients at which they can sell their products. The company has taken on more staff including Andrew’s mum Janet who assists them in the business.

Daniel explains:

“As the recession has hit, we have had to think of new ways to get round the problems it has faced us with.

“Thanks to the business loan from Foundation East we have managed to do this by expanding into new areas.

About Our Van Delivery Service

Gavin Potts — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 13:40:56 +0000

Our van delivery service in the Norwich area has been in operation over four years. Arriving at a time suitable for your office, all our food arrives in refridgerated vechiles to keep it nice and fresh for our customers. We provide an exstensive range of hot and cold food for every pocket and palate, including, boxed sandwiches, wraps, assorted baguettes, panini’s, fruit parfait, smoothies, salads, muffins and many more. With the mix of realibility, convenience of having your lunch come to you and our competitive prices, all our customers love our van delivery service.

Meal Deal offer

Gavin Potts — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 16:11:15 +0000

£2.50 any sandwich, drink and crisps, what a deal!!!!

Delivery Service

Gavin Potts — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 17:15:02 +0000

We offer a hot & cold food and drinks delivery service throughout Norwich and the surrounding area. Serving only the freshest food and drinks to your workplace at the same time on a daily basis.

If you require our delivery services either daily or as a one off delivery in the Norwich area, please contact us and we will endeavour to accomodate your request.

Just call us on 07742791922.

About Our Buffets

Gavin Potts — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 17:05:46 +0000

We are pleased to provide catering services for all kinds of different events; Business breakfast/lunches, Training days, Parties, Team meetings, Weddings, Funerals, those occasions when you have not got the time or energy to do it yourself, in other words we will take away the stress and do it all for you, any time any place.

Not only that, once you have given us a try we think you will be impressed with the quality of the produce we use, presentation and the prices we charge (definitely good value for money).

Our staff will deliver the buffet to your premises at the agreed time together with disposable plates, cutlery and serviettes should they be required. We are happy to cater for individual peoples dietary Requirements, just let us know their particular needs.

We understand that most buffets are planned in advance, however, we also know that there are times when you may need to have a buffet at short notice. Being Norwich based we are well placed to respond quickly. Give us a call and we will do our best to meet your request. we do require a minimum order of five people for our buffets but we also run a daily deliveryservice for individual orders, just give us a call on 07894883794.

Finger Buffets

Gavin Potts — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 00:52:58 +0000

We can supply buffets for all kinds of events i.e. business lunches, parties, weddings, funerals, those occasions when you haven’t got the time or energy to do it yourself, in other words we will take away the stress and do it for you, any time any place. Not only that, but after you have tried our buffet service, we think you will be impressed with the quality of the ingredients we use, our low prices and overall presentation.

Listed below are samples of our finger buffets. These are by no means definitive and are created to give you an insight into the range we can supply and the pricing per person.

Our staff will deliver the buffet to your premises at the required time together with disposable plates, cutlery and serviettes should they be required.

Our uniquely tailored service means that we are more than happy to cater for any individual dietry requirements, just let us know your specific needs and we will ensure it is provided to an excellent standard. It obviously helps us to know in advance any planned buffets but we do understand that people sometimes need a buffet at short notice. Being norwich based we are well placed to respond quickly. Just give us a call and we will do our best to meet your request. We do require a minimum order of five people for our buffets but we do run a daily delivery service for individual orders, just give us a ring on 07896 989 860.

To compliment the buffet we can also supply hot and cold drinks (including wines and spirits). These would be at an additional charge which can be discussed when making the booking.

For further information on our buffet service, or for bookings, please ring us on 01603 482328 or 07896 989 860. Or you can e-mail us by clicking on ‘contact us’ at the top of the page. Discounts are available for larger orders and we often have seasonal special offers.

Drinks Pricing

Gavin Potts — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 20:15:10 +0000

Prices for smoothies

Regular £2.50
Large £3.00

Prices for juices

Regular £2.50
Large £3.00

Place Your Order Online

Gavin Potts — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:35:59 +0000

Please use the form below to place an order. Your order will be submitted to us instantly, so you can expect to hear back from us within a few hours.

Your Full Name *

Your Company Name *

Your Company Address (new customer) *

Amount of people required

Delivery time required

Date required

Your E-mail Address *

Your Telephone Number *

Any special requirements or extras, i.e juice, serviettes, plates, vegetarian etc

Captcha

Events We Can Cater For

Gavin Potts — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:06:35 +0000

Here is a list of all event types we can cater for. We can tailor our event catering service to suit your exact requirements, budget and exceed your expectations. Our event menus are also very flexible, so if you would like to know more about what types of service we can provide for events, get in touch now.

Fetes
Festivals
Private Functions
Birthday Parties
Weddings
Funerals
Commemorative Occasions
Educational Demonstrations
Business Breakfasts
Lunches & Dinners

We also provide a bottled water service and wholesale supplies throughout norfolk.

Meal Deals

Gavin Potts — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:01:26 +0000

We have some special offers on certain meal combinations you can choose from.

Breakfast Meal £3.00
Breakfast smoothie or breakfast juice & toast with a choice of preserves.

Brunch Refreshment £4.00
A bagel or toastie with a choice of filling and a large freshly squeezed orange juice. Mmm, refreshing.

Lunch Meal £4.50
Large smoothie or juice with a sandwich of your choice.

The Healthy Option £4.50
Large smoothie or juice with a salad of your choice.

Jacket Potato Meal £5.00
Regular smoothie or juice with a jacket potato and choice of either Cheese, Beans or Tuna filling.