BALBIRNIE HOUSE TAKEAWAY IS NOW HERE TO STAY!

When we started our Balbirnie Takeaway 27.12.2020 we had absolutely no idea how it was going to go. Even within our brigade, there were those with misgivings before we started, with some saying 'That's not possible!' 

But as we know: 

Little did we know, but we were about to see the very rapid creation of Balbirnie Takeaway, quickly rolling with scope for the creation of a £1million future set of annual revenue streams. 

So this is what we figured before we began. Create an ordering system which delivers unprecedented convenience, in that it combines an App order, with the huge relevance of a pre-set Collection time. Deliver a significantly better product than you'll find in a national Takeaway chain. And price it only marginally more than you'll find in a national Takeaway chain. These in any event, were our three start points. 

Fife has many great chippies, and each of these is of course (and quite rightly so) protective of their batter recipes. This was our very first Takeaway photo. 

It's a long story maybe for another day, but we successfully managed to totally nail the batter, to a standard equating to the best-of-the-best chippies in the land. Then we added 'the Balbirnie detail', complimentary pea puree, chippie curry sauce, served with sachets of salt and vinegar, and a wee wooden fork, a napkin, and a lemon-scented hand wipe. Yours, for a great value £7.95!

We asked ourselves, 'What would our local community like most from a Takeaway?' Simply put, fish'n'chips, 12 inch thin'n'crispy Sourdough pizzas, and our Royale burgers, which we actually started serving in our Bistro al Fresco summer 2020. It's a 6oz Aberdeen Angus/ Limousin flame-grilled burger! 

We nailed the App and tech order process, only thanks to tech crew working until 10pm on Boxing Day night! And thank you again Hungrrr! 

Our App and tech architecture made provision for two Pre-Order Collections every 5 minutes. 

Writing the next morning 1 hour 25 mins before opening time! ⬇️ 

We thought that by opening over New Year, we might have a few customers, but we were lost for words at what actually happened. Whilst also needing to unexpectedly miracle more supplies! 

On 3rd January we were able to put up a Facebook post confirming in the first week, that we had served 1,000 customers. And in turn, that Facebook post then received 1,000 Likes! 

That same day, and having learnt from the previous week, I arrived very early that morning, and introduced a totally new process for setting up the day's printed ticket orders, holding in batches of two hours at a time, and then transferring in timed slots over The Pass. Similarly, Head Chef Sharon Munro and our kitchen brigade introduced a totally new board system which future-forecasted quantities of outgoing orders. This meant that we were then able to produce all orders, by moving ahead of the timing curve, literally 30 seconds prior to pre-designated Collection time, and then hold the collection package under hot lights, until the customer car (mobile dining room!) arrived - usually bang on time as well, our front door crew checked the car registration plate correlated to our order, and there you go, Voila! In an instant, the provision became organised beyond belief, and effortless, as it should be if there's a really good plan! 

Our kitchen service and front-of-house service on 3rd January 2021 goes down as one of our most memorable in history. Because all systems simply clicked together that day, as never before in the previous week. I went home that night absolutely buzzing!  

So, then The Courier ran the story! Fife hotel boss left speechless ...

After that, there was no stopping! It was amazing to see customers embracing the idea of 'The Còsagach winter picnic', arriving all wrapped up with extra blankets, wishing to dine outdoors on our many garden bench seating areas. Some daytime customers even brought their own easy carry folding tables and chairs, and headed into the surrounding parkland to dine! In that process then starting us thinking about potential future Takeaway picnics!

We gradually refined the offering and packaging. Speakers placed at the front doors, and we got into a Euro downtempo groove! We were absolutely amazed at how our local community had so easily grasped the App process, with many arriving during the day for pre-designated Collection times, on foot. So we lit the fire pits to give a wee focal point for the warming of hands, of course one social distanced group at a time. 

Over the weeks to come, we then started introducing new offerings, and Posh Dogs arrived! These are custom-made for Balbirnie House, by our 3 decade and more local supplier J Henderson, 25% beef, 75% pork, cannae specify the secret seasoning mix, but it includes white pepper, nutmeg and mace. We specified at 7.5 inches, for serving in a 9 inch La Boulangerie brioche bun. A proper posh hot dog! 

We considered 'the cutting edge of Posh Dog innovation and combinations' elsewhere, and then started putting together some great combinations.

Then a veggie combo of Beetroot Falafel dog, spiced red pepper hummus, harissa mayo, lettuce, red onion, red chilli and crispy shallots! Thanking former Balbirnie Bistro Chef, now owner of Glasgow's amazing Cafe Strange Brew Laurie Macmillan for suggesting this combination. 

Next up, chicken burgers! Our breakthrough on that trial came with the introduction of Panko breadcrumbs, combined with chipotle barbeque sauce. 

All things rolling, we then added Takeaway Cocktails, 4 pint draught beers, and Brewdog canned beers. Love a can, especially the grapefruit-infused Elvis Juice! 

The cocktails have clever packaging, stauners, they stand up after being opened. 

To our surprise, the Negroni never sold very well, so we dropped it from the team! Every morning now, we have a designated Cocktail manufacturing and packaging area which springs into life! 

Next to add, were ice creams and sorbets in 2 litre tubs! Our in-house Caledonian Dairy has been making the finest such commercially-made products in Scotland for many years. We already supply across Scotland, distributed by Clarks Speciality Foods, so we thought it only logical to also enable these for Pre-Order Collection as well. 

Next introduction, was a small range of of Bistro Deluxe Ready Meals, focussed very much on wonderful value. We pre-manufacture these to Balbirnie House recipes, we then blast chill, vacuum-seal and store frozen whilst awaiting Collection. 

Re-heating is so straightforward, pop the unopened bag into boiling water! 

All re-heat times via App! 

We've now gone live with our first ever Pre-Order, Collect and Cook at Home, in the form of our brand new Royale Super Tasty burger (and seasoned wedges) kits for two. Again, all instructions via App. These burgers offer a double Emmental hit, with white onion, bacon, and a secret recipe sauce which contains liquid smoke! Truly a delicious burger. I'd go as far as putting my personal tuppence on this, saying it's actually the tastiest burger I've ever had!

In February 2021 we ran an extreme value Itison voucher campaign, two main courses and two soft drinks for a tenner, Mondays to Fridays. We allocated 2,500 meals for two, these sold within 48 hours, so we added a further 250. 

At this point we decided to allocate a further 100 meals for two donated to Glenrothes Foodbank, and by circumstances alone this was Scotland's very first such 'good cause system', combining hard copy voucher, redemption codes, and App collection. The Foodbank raffled all vouchers, raising £1,000 for new purchases.

Our customers were repeatedly telling us that the Itison deal was ridiculous value, so for March we repeated but moved it up £2 to £12 for two mains and two soft drinks, but cranked the choice to include Chicken Satay Skewers, Chilli con Carne, Royale Super Tasty, Beetroot Falafel Dog, and Fish'n'Chips. This offer has kept us very busy Mondays to Fridays. All of it, a rapid learning experience. 

However, all of the above Takeaway operations has been focussed in and around our main kitchens, and as things stand today, these kitchens are certainly going to be needed to be used for something else April 26th 2021 onwards, the re-launch of Bistro al Fresco. In passing, this will be located on the right lawn below in 10 brand new dark green Gazebos. On days when we don't have weddings, available 12 noon, 2pm, 4pm, 6pm, 8pm. On days when we have weddings, only 6pm and 8pm.

So, what happens to the Balbirnie Takeaway? Which is now rolling steadily at a constant 20 grand a week, with potential therefore for us to look to create new jobs, and continue offering great Takeaway value for local Community. 

Well ... this is what happens! You see, the Takeaway originated for what we thought would be a few weeks at most, but we've set the systems and seen it establish, and we've also watched as ongoing customer reviews continue rolling in, very close indeed to 100% total delight! Customers certainly love the convenience of pre-arranged Collection times, it's a total contrast to being parked in a very slow takeaway queue of cars for a conventional national chain 'order at the speaker and then drivethrough', and it's an opposite of needing to find a parking space and then walk, wait and collect. 

It's crossed our mind that we could perhaps offer local deliveries as well, that's a potential for the future. Stating the obvious, many customers are already simply arranging their collections by booking a local taxi driver. 

On all combined basis, we have therefore decided to take one of our other four kitchens (currently multi-purpose), and convert it into a designated Takeaway kitchen. This is a significant investment in future capabilities. 

We cannot even begin to find the words to thank our local community for supporting us so incredibly during all lockdowns, so this is Balbirnie giving something back, with a permanently established great value great produce Takeaway for Fife. And we will only keep getting better at what we are offering as well. 

Here's the layout design: 

This is a full-on installation, with seven A4 pages of equipment! 

The investment is significant: 

Today, I'd like to highlight two particular pieces of new kit. 

Drum roll please ... 

The brand new Balbirnie House Josper Grill. We first saw this at Hotelympia a few years ago, and it's a quite incredible piece of kit, a combined oven and grill which is fired with wood charcoal. Matching our brigade entrance doors and kitchen floors, ours is custom-designed with the door finished in Balbirnie blue.

If you cook a roast at home, your oven will be circa 200 degrees, the Josper is up at 350 degrees, meaning for example, that a butterflied chicken breast can be roasted in literally 3 minutes! 

('The Mighty Josper' - Image via twitter, @HawksmoorLondon)

Moving ahead, our Josper is going to deliver absolutely unprecedented capabilities for Takeaways. The Royale Super Tasty certainly goes to a flame-grilled level of Tastiness, which is totally off the scale! 

Next, drum roll please ... 

Our current Takeaway pizzas are 12 inch thin'n'crispy Sourdough. 

The Turbochef is going to enable us to move pizza manufacturing however, into totally new territory, with ability to create brand new Balbirnie Deluxe pizzas, sized at up to 16 inches! Dominoes as one example, their large pizzas are 13.5 inches. 

Our contemplation for Balbirnie Deluxe pizzas actually began in earnest in early summer 2020, with very detailed specific input from our former Operations Manager Scotland's former Young Hotelier of the Year, Erdal Ozer. This was us, sat for hours talking about the potential making of dough! 

Erdal has amassed wonderful experience elsewhere, in terms of the art of creating dough for Deluxe pizzas. Because without shred of doubt, it is indeed an art, and certainly a source of great pride amongst Fife's many Turkish-inspired Takeaways. Our sincere thanks to the team at Istanbul Takeaway Leslie, for having me along one evening in summer 2020, to see exactly how their pizzas are created. It's an extremely precise process. Erdal will be personally briefly returning to Balbirnie House in late April, to help oversee our first outgoing Balbirnie Deluxe Pizzas. 

With everything on the go, we've also decided to invest in our very own custom-designed packaging. All as environmentally-friendly as it can possibly be done. 

When we start providing the backdrop once again for weddings, our main entrance and front steps will need to be kept clear for weddings and associated photography. So, our Takeaway Collection point will be shifting, to a new point and car turning circle at our North Courtyard, new signage is installing to show the way. 

A massive thanks to our local Community for supporting the hotel over these recent months of Takeaway, and we very much look forward to being at your future service. 

All best wishes, 

Nicholas 

MD Balbirnie House 

BALBIRNIE HOUSE AND THE HOSPITALITY MIRACLE!

A few days ago, a single tweet on our main twitter: 

Over 30,000 Impressions!

So I thought it would be relevant to expand on this with today's Blog post, because where I am writing from, in the capacity as Balbirnie's managing director who also has the working responsibilities of finance director, it is undoubtedly the case, that all combined circumstances are certainly a hospitality miracle. 

After the initial March 2020 lockdown Scotland Hospitality was only able to re-open with restricted social distanced trading on July 6th 2020. Many hotels however, said they would only re-open if they could trade in an unrestricted way, and therefore they have remained shut, and still as of today they don't even know when they will be able to re-open. 

Back in July 2020 hospitality thought that it would perhaps be a few further weeks of delay, and here we are now, 9 months later, with still no sight of re-opening dates. 

I cannot begin to say how important it has been for Balbirnie House to have opened on July 6th 2020, and then continued onwards doing anything possible to keep going and fighting for our very survival, because if we had remained closed, I'm absolutely unsure if we would ever have been able to physically afford to re-open. 

To explain, from initial 3 month Lockdown: 

So, if we had closed in entirety, basically, for an entire year - the accumulated loss would have been somewhere approaching £1.6M - and in endeavouring to borrow that entire sum using government-backed lending, we would have needed to satisfy very specific lending criteria, in being able to prove to our bank that we would be able to repay that amount within the 6 years which are provided via CBILs. Proof of ability to repay, via financial forecasting and cash flows, as then signed off and agreed with the professional understanding and opinions of company auditor. If we had fully closed, we would no longer have any future diarised wedding and special event business, so we wouldn't even have been able to start any financial forecasting, let alone defining how we could begin to make an additional annual bank repayment of £320,000 plus Interest!!! 

And these comparisons dear readers, are situations in which many hospitality industry colleagues are now finding themselves in. Closed and unable to afford to re-open. This is why there are already specialists offering help in advising hotel owners how to begin to 're-purpose' their hotels. I would imagine that many smaller hotels will revert back into becoming private houses, and larger hotels will be converted into flats.

And it's not even as simplistic as stating it at what would have been £1.6M, because that's without even additionally factoring what would be needed to be made in terms of reinvestment, in necessary ongoing repairs, refurbishments, and renewals - these never stop at Balbirnie House. In reality, that figure would therefore have been nearer £2M ... 

I am absolutely shocked to the very core of my being to say this, but since the March 2020 Lockdown, many Scotland hotels and hospitality business owners (with Rateable Value above 51k), have literally only received circa £30,000 in financial business support. It frankly defies belief. There has been no equivalent whatsoever of furlough for businesses, and owners have needed to somehow continue to endeavour to pay all ongoing costs. Politicians talk about giving support, the sentiments are expressed, but the reality is truly, absolutely appalling. Near non-existent. And it is against that backdrop that we have somehow traded our way through. 

It is even worse, across the span of the entire wedding industry, many businesses have had nearly zero financial assistance, and many individuals have been basically left to fend for themselves, supported only via Universal Credit. 

Setting aside a late summer week on a secondment project elsewhere, since re-opening July 2020 I personally haven't been able to justify taking a day off work. What I have done is ensure I've maintained IronMan training, getting out in the fresh air every day, with some music on the headphones has given very valuable thinking time, wondering as always what I can do to best support brigade colleagues, and do our collective best for community. 

In the immortal March 2020 words of our (three decade long relationship) highly valued insurance broker Graeme Christie of Marsh Commercial, 'For hospitality, this is going to be the survival of the fittest!' Back then of course, we were only contemplating a closure of 'up to 12 weeks', nobody had any idea it would become a year, and longer! 

So instead of the £1.6M loss, we consolidated our finances in summer 2020 with a new 200k overdraft, and a 300k CBILs loan, took the pain of 4 calendar months of lockdown and loss of all revenue in what are traditionally always financially productive months, and then re-opened into restricted trading, but unable to deliver for large weddings. That was time therefore, for Balbirnie's brigade to think out the box! 

Summer 2020 Bistro al Fresco was amongst the most enjoyable Hospitality we've ever seen at Balbirnie House. We started by saying 'We've got 10 gazebos, there's a dozen of us on duty, and we can only bring more colleagues back to work, if we are busy enough to justify this!' 

Within days we were catering for up to 300 diners per day, with all new systems delivering App safety and records, in conjunction with 2 metre social distancing. We were absolutely staggered at the level of local community support. 

Having also paid the many re-opening costs, we were soon back to actually almost breaking even, from a standing start! In all contexts, that was a quite incredible circumstance.

In designing al Fresco f + b systems which were created for one kitchen and 100 daily diners, managing the process of accelerating to one kitchen and 300 daily diners, this was a lot of hospitality fun, many classic Balbirnie dishes blending with multiple new offerings. I started operating 'The Pass' on day one, this is the area in which we finish food presentation, then tray up ready for service. Very quickly we were rolling at one outgoing tray per minute. First time I've ever worked in shorts!

Into September 2020 and the end of summer meant basically, shifting Bistro al Fresco inside, divided between our Orangery, and 'Food in the Woods' in our Millennium Ballroom, all with 2 metre social distancing. 

This also hit the ground running, and we were on a roll until we needed to close to non-residents after 6pm, and stop selling alcohol unless it was into hotel bedrooms, or what we then created outside, 'The Courtyard Bevvy Zone'. 

All ongoing restrictions then began to hinder basically, everything. December 2020 was the absolute worst of all combined possibilities, huge restrictions, no alcohol sales, inability to trade at night, but with all bills to pay. It therefore went down as our worst operating month in history. And then, it got even worse, 'You need to shut down again on Boxing Day!' Hardly any notice, anything that we could have delivered over New Year, cancelled! 

From a financial perspective, it was then either, here comes 2021 so: 

- Shut the doors, maintain 24 hr security and start losing 5 grand a day again, or

- Offer Takeaway, maintain 24 hr security, and maybe we might end up losing a significant amount less than 5 grand a day. 

So, that's when we stepped on up for New Year, and into another new gear! The Balbirnie House takeaway opened on 27th December 2020. What we didn't say at that point, was that we had been contemplating this for months, and whilst chippie batter recipes are always trade secrets, we had absolutely nailed our new fish batter. To perfection! 

And what happened in the following week then left us completely lost for words. 

- To our astonishment, by introducing Takeaway, we were therefore subsequently able to make our way through January 2021, and 'only' lose 2 grand a day, and that pattern continued through February, boosted by selling 2,750 Monday to Thursday extreme value vouchers, a campaign which has repeated again in March. 

Since re-constructing our finances in summer 2020, we therefore made it to March 2021 without accessing new lending, but have now needed to introduce a further 100k to support cash flow. That 9 months without borrowing more money, that was our hospitality miracle. 

We thank our local Fife community for supporting Balbirnie House through these many challenges, we have been truly astonished to see such ongoing support. 

We thank everyone who has continued to hold wedding bookings. Since the beginning of Lockdown 1, we've only had 12 wedding clients who could not continue to hold bookings, everyone else has stayed with us and kept their bookings, albeit in a 30 phase process of management which has been the most profound hospitality challenge that we have ever seen. Many clients have needed to move dates once, twice, three and even four times. 

Incredibly today, we now have verging 300 future weddings booked. 

As we continue to wait for dates and numbers for unrestricted trading, our future diary and all bookings are at their best in history. To feel that level of support physically there for the future, is what drives determination and the absolutely committed desire to survive, and not only to survive, but to make sure that she ... Balbirnie House ... is ready and waiting for our clients, in as best shape as she has ever been presented to in history. (We are now finalising complete refurbishments of seven of our thirty-four bedrooms and bathrooms, so that when we do open, we are able to open all bedrooms presented to levels which are pristine.) 

We count our blessings that we have been able to keep our wedding planning team in place, to manage all of this incredibly challenging ongoing Special Event process. 

I can't say that things have been easy operationally since we re-opened in July 2020. The challenges we have been through have been the making of many in our brigade, certainly eye-opening as well. We've also seen multiple members of the brigade departing, citing personal circumstances and the generalities of the many mental challenges arising from the pandemic itself. Our thoughts with one and all. 

A massive thanks to our suppliers, many of whom have gone to extraordinary lengths to help us, amongst the angst of their own supply chain challenges as well. 

And a very special thanks to our HSBC Business Banking Relationship managers, Scott Shankland and Steve T Cummings. Together with Mark Gibson, partner at EQ Accountants. 

Many of the unfolding circumstances we are now hearing from prospective new wedding clients are so sad, there are literally no words. It pains me beyond belief to tell you this, but due to near total lack of relevant government financial support for what is going be more than a year, across the span of hospitality and wedding sectors, there are many couples who are now holding wedding dates within hotels and wedding venues which will never be able to afford to re-open. There are many couples who are now very quickly realising that this is very sadly the case. Our thoughts with all those who are finding themselves in that situation, and please do get in touch if there is anything we can do to arrange a replacement future date at Balbirnie House. 

And to conclude on a positive, we cannot begin to imagine the joy, in seeing weddings which have needed to postpone dates, now go ahead. Bring on the dates and numbers! 

All best wishes, 

Nicholas / MD Balbirnie House