Welcome to the part 2 of our 6-part series “If they can, so can you!” in which we feature ordinary business owners that have thrived, in spite of COVID and economic challenges.
We trust that you enjoyed the first story where we looked at Learning the Harp, a local business that’s now turning over six figures a month, employs 10 people and has more than 1 000 clients, largely in America.
This time we look at Marquerite and PK van Wyk from the Hospitality industry. They had a restaurant…and then they didn’t.
Case study #2: Struisbaai Seashack
Owned by Marquerite and PK van Wyk
As an entrepreneur Marquerite can remember being told that “you find what you’re passionate about, what you’ll get up for at 3 a.m. and then you grind it. It has to be something that makes you tick and excites you every single hour of the day. That thing that when a storm hits you, you will go to the ends of the earth to help your ‘baby’ make it.”
Marquerite’s family have a history of being entrepreneurs since the 1890s. They’ve been shop owners, bread bakers, car builders, house builders, caterers, auto-electricians, tailors, carpenters, garden-servicers and restaurateurs. “It’s in our blood – it’s what we do,” she’ll tell you.
Being the owners of five successful businesses, (six until just last year), both she and her husband PK admit that in spite of the roller coaster ride they’ve been through, they would not change the past for anything. That said, The Struisbaai Seashack was one of their six businesses – a great experience as a family – and the best teaching college for a business they could have ever had.
“The Seashack was our restaurant on the beach where we served up seafood platters to locals, local visitors and overseas visitors by the dozen. ‘In season’ it was our cash cow that turned over millions, employed a vibrant team of 80 and kept us in the style we loved. Our kids learned from a young age what it is to serve people, work long hours and earn their own income. We learned as a family what it is to save together until we had enough for a holiday cruise and as a team to handle long hours, catering to people’s needs and delivering quality when all we wanted to do was sit down and rest. The Seashack was ‘our baby’ that truly represented us and what we stand for. We love people. We love good food. And we love a good vibe.
To make it even more successful, we as owners could not have asked for better partners in the business – ours were phenomenal. Nothing was a problem or too much to ask of Jan and Annamarie. We made an excellent team and worked hard and well together, even during the hard times.”
But then it started to go wrong. The lease on which the restaurant stood was in jeopardy with a letter from the municipality calling a halt to business. And just like that, what had seemed so sure and profitable suddenly wasn’t.
Marquerite had already previously reached out to Business Coach Kathi Clarke to help them with how to stabilise their income each month, rather than continue with the big swings and roundabouts of the earnings curve for most in the hospitality industry, i.e. hitting it big “in season” and then living way too close to the line in the “off season”. But then, just a couple of months into business coaching – wham! Both coach and client were dealing with the imminent closure of the cash cow.
Kathi, Marquerite and PK had already had some hard, frank discussions about the vulnerability of lives funded by a restaurant on a rental ground that could disappear in the blink of an eye, and also the looming reality of what PK would do when he no longer wanted to or could continue the hard life of commercial fishing. There was no plan. Scaling The Seashack with its huge off season and a tenuous lease made it according to Kathi “frankly risky”. If anything, it had to be the icing and not the cake. Kathi’s big question was “when, not if, they pull the lease, what then?” And how right she was. Mere months later the lease was gone. “Thankfully we had already started ‘future-proofing’ by prioritising and growing the other small businesses in our stable. So when the crunch hit we could hold through, and have been able to recover,” says Marquerite.
The hard crunch
When a great business fails due to decisions that you have no control over and circumstances like a pandemic, it’s hard. It’s one thing if it’s a lack of finances or bad management – something that can be laid at the door of the owners – but in the case of The Seashack this was not so. “In the beginning we chose to ignore the warning signs that Kathi had cautioned us about, and so became the testament to what can go wrong,” says Marquerite.
“Even the hard things have made us better. Learn to get back up again and trust that just because something ends, it does not have to be the end.”
They’ve had to learn the hard way that all their eggs in one basket isn’t smart; that building a great business on someone else’s land is risky and how to separate themselves from the business so that, in her words: “if it fails, it does not have to mean we failed.”
So, The Seashack that had hosted so many weddings, funerals, birthdays, parties and music shows, that had been on DSTV six times, had to close because the lease agreement ran out and could not be renegotiated. Despite continually looking throughout the pandemic, they have been unable to find an alternative spot. They had to let the team go.
Their partners have gone onto another venture and Marquerite and PK are still here, working hard, keeping hopeful and graceful, and poised for their new season for which they remain excited and optimistic. “Even the hard things have made us better, stronger people who hold onto hope and faith, learn to get back up again and trust that just because something ends, it does not have to be the end”.
New seasons
So, how did they survive the forced closure of their flagship business and the stresses of COVID? Here’s what they did, that you can too:
► Stay positive by holding onto a real vision, dream and purpose that hard circumstances cannot dislodge.
► Recognise and accept closed doors, as they are there for a reason. Often they save you from even greater loss when you look back on them.
► Keep perspective. Just because something ends, it doesn’t mean everything has to.
► Keep marketing in hard times – it is an investment, not a cost. Kathi helped Marquerite to get really focused on the 5 ways they would market and sell (at their other businesses that include a coffee shop, surf shop, trailer hire shop and their Fish ‘n More food take-away shop) and this has enabled massive growth that has covered costs, paid the salaries and replaced the income lost from The Seashack, but at a better profitability and with greater monthly consistency.
For too long the thrill and pressure of The Seashack commanded all of Marquerite’s focus to the detriment of the other businesses that just pootled along. The crisis forced the focus to change, and while none of the other businesses have the turnover power of The Seashack, they do have the profit-generating power. “Restaurants are traditionally lean margin businesses, so we had to get used to bringing in less money, but having more left over at the end of the month.”
► Get help. This has included hiring people so that Marquerite has time to attend to the pipeline (owner work); the plan and execution of this by watching the numbers (owner work); deploying the team each day, week and month with a good return (owner work) and flying the vision instead of panicking (owner work).
► Date well. Marquerite and her team have worked hard with specific strategies to become a “loved household name” in Struisbaai with a reputation for caring and serving that goes beyond what they do as a business. This has endeared them to local government, staff, a supply chain under threat and strategic alliances that have helped them grow. They are a visible presence, and this has assisted with feet in the door when it was needed most.
► Flex and be creative. During COVID they registered Fish ‘n More as an essential outlet providing food and later held services for the Church when restaurants had to close. So they were able to call themselves places of worship and stay open. Not untrue – but creative indeed. They have flexed and sold what they could while the restrictions were at their peak and behind the scenes kept working at being ready for when things opened up.
They recut their cloth by realising assets and digging into savings that they had for such a time as this. They sold off stock, equipment and a branch of Fish ‘n More in Bredasdorp to reign things in. This work has paid off as they have been able to hit the ground running and the results are being reaped.
► They got real about the numbers and didn’t let emotion get in the way of finally closing the doors when needed. They held onto their values and did things right and with the right heart, and it showed.
Kathi is quick to say that Marquerite is one of the most positive and hard-working people she knows. “Too many people think that building a business is easy – it is not, even in good times. It can be simple, but still takes the right kind of hard work and courage. Marquerite and PK have both in spades.”
And now that they are through COVID and their forced closure are in their rear view mirror? Well, some of the businesses have enjoyed a 350% growth and there is a working plan to keep the profit coming in each month from all five. Marquerite and PK remain positive about the future saying: “We believe that every end can be a new beginning. We’re enjoying an open window and our rainbow after the closed doors!”
Parting advice
“Firstly, don’t be afraid to get help – two heads are better than one when things hit the fan. When we as business owners are under pressure it is hard to be creative. The sanity check and bouncing board in an independent third party like a business coach has been invaluable. And this is especially true in an industry that throughout COVID was all about closures and having to retrench. Thinking out of the box, doing what hasn’t been done before and having workable alternatives were essential.”
And secondly? “Well”, says Marquerite, “get back to basics – and if you don’t know what those need to be – see the first point!”
By Kathi Clarke, registered Industrial Psychologist, internationally-certified Business Coach and an award-winning business growth expert.
