Deli deliverance
The story to date
Chef James Lowe opened his restaurant, Villa Italia, in York in May 1999 but suffered a first-year loss of £22,285 on a turnover of £237,565. Besides the fallout from floods and the foot-and-mouth outbreak, Lowe also had to deal with the fact that his restaurant is on Micklegate, which is off the tourist map. However, by building up local trade through friendly service and value-for-money pricing, he managed to make a profit of £17,000 in his second year.
When Caterer last visited Villa Italia in York, last year, owner James Lowe was planning to open a deli on his premises. Rosalind Mullen caught up with him.
It's a happy, relaxed James Lowe who presides over Villa Italia nowadays, but it was not always thus. In his first two years in business, he not only had to wrestle with his restaurant being located off York's tourist map, on Micklegate, he also had to contend with the effects of the foot-and-mouth outbreak and the city's floods. Still, that all seems to be behind him now.
"We're well on our way to achieving what we set out to do," he says. "We have good local custom and are getting new business." So, having tackled the initially pressing task of attracting regulars into his Italian restaurant, Lowe is expanding his ideas.
This is clear as soon as customers walk in. The previously stark entrance area is now furnished with welcoming sofas and tables, complementing the buzz generated by the adjacent deli, which opened (much to Lowe's relief) about 10 months ago.
In fact, within weeks of the deli opening, Lowe realised it had even more potential than he had thought. Initially, he sold purely Italian deli products but now, besides 12 varieties of olives, 22 types of olive oil, fresh pasta and even olive trees, it offers sandwiches to order, priced from £1.80 to £2. "It's not so much cheese and coleslaw," insists Lowe. "We offer different types of bread and fillings, so it's more like a deli in the USA."
The deli has also enabled Lowe to benefit from economies of scale, as he orders more from his suppliers. The bottom line is that, following a slow start, the deli is now making a profit of about £100 a week on takings of £350.
Besides getting the most out of his premises, the more confident Lowe has also been toughening up on marketing. He has stopped taking ads in local papers on the grounds that they weren't pulling in enough business. Instead, he has signed with public relations advisor Fay Marcroft, describing the deal as "the best money I have spent". It was Marcroft who launched Lowe's Jubilee Lobster promotion (starters at £8.50 and main courses at £17) by suggesting that he send a "secret" recipe to the Queen. The resulting publicity secured him a slot cooking lobsters live on BBC Radio York, as well as coverage in the local Evening Press, Yorkshire Life and Northern Hotel & Restaurant magazine.
New customers have not been proving too difficult to attract. While Lowe has been nurturing business from the builders and developers of the nearby 120-bedroom Ramada hotel, new custom has come unexpectedly from school groups touring York. "They're in and out early, so it's bums on seats," he says.
To keep track of this growing customer base, Lowe has invested £250 in software for a computerised booking system. On the back of this, he is going to launch the Villa Club, which will give regulars £5 off their meals when they reach 10 points (each meal earns a point).
As for his own rewards, Lowe expects Villa Italia to make a profit of £20,000 from a turnover of £260,000 for the year ending April 2002. That would be a satisfying £3,000 more than last year, and a far cry from his first year of trading, in 2000, when he made a loss of £22,285. "We're more than chugging along, now; we're making headway," he says.
On this note, Lowe reveals that he is now working full-time in the kitchen to pursue his real goal. "I want awards," he says. "I want to be in the Good Food Guide and I'd like to be recognised as the best Italian in York."
Villa Italia
69 Micklegate, York
Tel: 01904 670501www.villaitalia.co.uk
Owner: James Lowe
Purchase cost: £111,000
Funding: £81,000 from NatWest bank; £40,000 of personal investment
Number of seats: 70
Number of staff: three full-time in kitchen including Lowe; three full-time front of house; five part-timers
Results at last visit (May 2000-April 2001): sales, £248,905; profit, £17,000
Provisional year-end results (May 2001-April 2002): Total sales excluding VAT: £260,000
Estimated profit: £20,000
