In good shape
Customer tastes have caused an evolution in the pizza and pasta restaurant that Claude and Tammy Mariaux launched more than two years ago.
Spaggo's now offers a grill section including steak, hamburgers and ribs. Pizza and pasta now make up only a third of the menu. "After we had been trading for a year, there was a call for things other than pizza and pasta," says Claude.
With a catchment area of about 100,000 people, Claude says it was not possible to retain Spaggo's original focus. Diversifying has tapped into a larger market, appealing to all age groups.
This appeal has had an effect on the bottom line. Claude estimates the 1995-96 pre-tax profit will be £40,000 on a turnover of £525,000. This falls short of original budget predictions of £550,000, but still represents revenue growth of 25% on 1994-95.
Key changes behind the scenes include the purchase of the Micros information system and the introduction of commission-related pay for staff - which brought an unexpected increase in revenue.
Claude says in addition to the basic stock control functions, Micros has been useful in helping Spaggo's pinpoint areas where more work is needed. "It tells us what our margins were and what they should have been, based on consumption. At present we can tell what we are achieving, but not what we should have achieved," he says.
Equally important in their decision to purchase Micros was the potential to introduce commission-related pay for staff. "What we wanted to do was share the success with the staff, but also share the burden," explains Claude.
The scheme means Spaggo's is more than just a job to its staff and they have a keen interest in boosting its profits. A part-time waitress will earn commission of 6% on lunchtime sales and 4% on evening sales. For some staff, there is an hourly rate coupled with commission-related pay. Claude says he wants to expand the commission to cover the kitchen staff, most of whom are on hourly rates.
An unexpected benefit of the commission-related pay scheme has been an increase of £1.50-£2 in the average spend per head by Spaggo's customers. Claude estimates this alone has accounted for a rise of 5% in sales since July 1995 when it was introduced.
In the past year, the inside of the restaurant has had a facelift, with brighter, livelier colours replacing the cream interior. Spaggo's exterior walls will also get a facelift, with £3,000 allocated to painting and outside work.
The garden has been problematic. Despite several plantings, last summer's heat wave dried everything, leaving the garden looking "terrible" according to Claude. This summer, about £5,000 will be spent on putting down patio stones.
Claude says there is only fine-tuning left to do at Spaggo's now, although he admits the final result does not exactly match their initial ideas of what it would be like.
"You imagine something [when you start a business], but two years later it is quite, quite different," he laughs.
