An interview with Natural Bite’s Paul Scales
The ‘new look’ of Natural Bite
Welcome to the first in a series of interviews with local business owners where we discuss the implications of the recent national lockdown brought on by the coronavirus pandemic, the impact it has had on their business and the creative ways they adapted to survive and continue trading.
This week we chat to Paul Scales, co-owner of Natural Bite in Leigh-on-Sea.
Legra Marketing: Hi Paul, for those that don’t know you, can you tell us a bit about yourself?
Paul: Sure. I’m the co-owner of Natural Bite along with my brother John. I live in Leigh and before Natural Bite I worked in the corporate world for 22 years but, like a lot of people, I wasn’t happy and always dreamed of owning my own café. Luckily, Natural Bite came along at the right time and now I absolutely love my new office!
Legra Marketing: Fantastic. So what makes Natural Bite different from other cafes in the local area?
The view from the Natural Bite terrace
Paul: We are an independent family run café and have a view to die for on our outside terrace! We serve good quality food and drinks with a varied menu to suit all dietary requirements. Oh, and we’re dog friendly too.
Legra Marketing: That’s nice that you are a dog friendly café. When did you and John take over?
Paul: January of this year.
Legra Marketing: Oh no, literally just a few months before the lockdown. That must have been devastating for you both.
Paul: Just awful. Having only owned the business for three months before the national lockdown, it really couldn’t have come at a worse time to be honest. It felt like we had just got going and then the rug was pulled from underneath us and we had to shut our doors. But being new to the business, we decided to take a positive approach and used the time wisely to give the shop a bit of a makeover with a new colour scheme and some new furniture and generally put our own stamp on the place.
It also gave us the chance to think about a new menu design which is when we contacted you (Legra Marketing) to help us out. We wanted something to match our new shop colours that was modern and striking and ready for when we reopened on 29 June for takeaways. That is exactly what we got and we couldn’t be happier with them.
Legra Marketing: It’s nice to hear that you kept positive during the lockdown and decided to give the shop a makeover. I’m glad you like the new menus too, it was great fun to work with you on them.
So how did you advertise that you were reopening? And was there any particular activity that you did that really helped to boost your sales or brand awareness?
Paul: Social media was a key part in communicating to our customers and keeping them up-to-date with what we were up to and when we would be reopening. Throughout our makeover we posted pictures of our progress across Facebook and Instagram and teased elements of the new menus to generate excitement.
We also painted the outside of the shop and installed a bright orange awning out the front which we get loads of positive comments on. I have to say though, we have such amazing loyal customers who have continued to come back and support us so we can’t thank them enough on that.
Legra Marketing: You’re absolutely right. Social media is such a powerful tool when it comes to communicating directly with your customers. What lessons would you say you’ve learnt from the overall experience of lockdown?
Paul: To not sweat the small stuff. At the end of the day, this was something that was completely out of everyone’s control and that all businesses were in exactly the same position as us. Obviously during lockdown we wanted to open again as soon as it was possible but we realised we couldn’t because of the size of the shop and the way we were set up. Since then we’ve made a few changes to keep our staff and customers as safe as we possibly can, both for our takeaway and eat in service, which will continue to remain for the foreseeable future in line with the latest government advice. I’m not going to lie, it’s been challenging at times but absolutely necessary.
Legra Marketing: So what’s next for Natural Bite then?
Paul: Well, we’ve actually started home-baking and selling fresh cakes in the shop which are going down a treat - especially the lemon drizzle! We have also introduced our loyalty card scheme and we have a new autumn menu with seasonal specials coming soon.
Legra Marketing: Sounds amazing! Thanks Paul and best of luck with the new menu. We can’t wait to see what you’ve got in store for us.
Paul: Thanks guys!
Natural Bite is a fantastic local café bar situated on Belton Corner in Leigh-on-Sea. They offer a wide menu of healthy, good food including extensive vegan, vegetarian and gluten free options with breakfast served daily from 10am - 1pm.
Opening hours:
10am - 2pm (Monday - Saturday)
10am - 1pm (Sunday)
Got your own lockdown story to tell?
Are you a local business owner that was forced to pivot your business in order to survive the national lockdown? If so, we would love to share your story.
Contact us today at team@legramarketing.com to be featured in this interview series.
