Introducing Yourz to Eat...

Husband and wife team, Alison and Jose Moreira, set up Yourz to Eat at the start of the millennium – with their first premises, a baguette shop, delivering a personalised, friendly service to the Maidenhead community.

The duo successfully led their family run business through the hardships of the recession and came out the other side with a lot of experience and knowledge under their belts of how to stay afloat in a tough financial climate.

Now with three young children at home, Alison and Jose divide their time between caring for the family and running all aspects of the business, including the fixed site, corporate events and street food side of the organisation.

In this week’s Caterer Motivator, Alison sits down to chat all about the highs and lows of running an independent business. 

Hi Ali, thanks for taking the time out to talk. Introduce us to the company – what inspired you to start up in artisan catering and what were the main reasons for setting up shop?

Myself and my husband, Jose, set up our first baguette shop 19 years ago in Maidenhead. Jose is South African and he’d got experience of working in a bakery over there, plus his background meant that he’d got a real love for cooking hog roasts and meat on the barbeque. We both had a passion for decent food and so we got started with one little shop to begin with and since then it’s gone from strength to strength.

We all love a barbeque, that’s for sure! What do you like best about running a catering business?
 

We love the interaction with customers and get real satisfaction from producing something that people enjoy. We’re still a very local company at the heart of the community, so when we do the Christmas markets it’s like seeing old friends. It’s lovely to be part of it.

That’s wonderful to hear. I suppose then you get most of your custom through word of mouth?
 

Yes, mostly through word of mouth. There’s also so many different avenues for people to leave reviews these days such as social media, but we’ve found Google to be the most efficient at bringing new business in. We’ve survived for 19 years without having to spend lots of money on advertising – our local market is fantastic for promotion and of course, the work we do in our hometown of Maidenhead means that we can stay in touch with our most loyal customers.

Do you think the high standards of customer service you deliver is one of the ingredients for success?
 

Definitely, we’re very customer focused and try to listen to clients and reduce prices as much as possible. On the other hand, it’s important to remember that if customers want quality food then they have to pay for it. We have an extensive menu every week – we serve up lamb on the spit, hog roasts, veggie options, fresh salads, and one of our lovely staff members cooks up an incredible Thai curry, so to do that well we really can’t lower our prices too much as we will no longer be able to source the highest quality ingredients. Thankfully, most people can appreciate that.

We make things ourselves, cook on site and try to buy locally where possible, but again, financial obstacles sometimes means we need to source ingredients from further afield. The great thing is, we did a survey and it showed that 95% of the people who shop with us are loyal customers, so it’s clear that what we’re doing is working.

You obviously took your business right through the recession – did you have to re-evaluate how the business functioned in order to stay afloat during such a challenging time?
 

We had to diversify a lot during the recession as it was such as hard time for businesses. We decided during that time to move solely from the baguette shop to doing corporate and events catering, which as it happens is now one of my favourite parts to the business. There was a lot of trial and error in finding the right event – we did charity events for example and ran at a loss. There’s always going to be a risk involved when you’re doing events for the first time but the only way to learn is through time and experience.

The risk element is never removed though years down the line; we’re always very reliant on weather and in fact, we recently did a Christmas market, got the prima spot and it rained so much that people left straight after the lights switch on. We also have the overheads of two premises now as well so there’s always risk involved no-matter how far along in the business you are.

When you rely on the footfall coming into the shops like we do, you have to offer a diverse catering service. The corporate catering pulls in a big chunk of our profits and luckily for me, it’s a part of the business that I really enjoy.

What have you been focusing on in the last 12 months?
 

My husband got a personal alcohol license and we did our first package wedding in August 2018; we made our own canapes and did hog roasts. We’re also looking at potentially selecting a number of suppliers of sweet carts and pop-up bars to expand our offering.

We’ve decided to have a lot more confidence in our product in the last 12 months and have been commissioned to do the Christmas catering at Stonor Park this December and we’ve also catered for the National Trust at Wadstone Manor.

We have realised though that we want to stay more localised. A lot of event caterers like to spread their wings but we like to use local suppliers and don’t want to run the risk of travelling 50 miles away, selling out of stock and not being confident in knowing that new suppliers will come through for us. That’s just how we operate, we need the guarantee and assurance that we can sort any issues if they arise.

Looking back to when you started out, is there anything you’d do differently?
 

When we opened our second baguette shop we did think about re-juvenating our branding and changing the way we look, but at the same time, people know us in the area and come to us so why change for the sake of it?

What’s been the most helpful thing about NCASS membership over the years?
 

The thing that really attracted me was that NCASS is a recognised body and sets the standards when it comes to environmental health. As caterers, we take a huge risk in having a business that serves food to the public and if we make someone sick then it can potentially be really serious, so in that sense it’s useful to know that we’re maintaining the highest standards when it comes to food safety.

We also like the fact that we can get an immediate response when we need legal advice on contracts and employment laws. It’s very helpful for new businesses starting out and I’d definitely recommend it.

What’s been your proudest moment for the business?
 

That’s a toughie because there’s been so many great moments, but I guess the proudest time would be the opening of our second shop. We’d taken such a long time to dip our toes in and be brave enough to take the leap of faith. It’s been a risk, we have our quiet times like everyone else but it’s been worth it.

The other really proud moment for us was catering at Stonor Park, as it was a league above what we’d done previously. Having the confidence to go out and sell our product to big places like that really changed my perspective; we often battle with our pricing, as we want to make a decent profit but are by no means greedy - the feedback was so great that we realised it’s okay to charge the prices you need and not feel bad. We love people, we love food and once you get that bug it stays with you. You’ve got to love what you do to be in this business.

That’s a great philosophy to have! Any advice for people thinking of ditching the 9-5 for the catering life?
 

Be brave but calculate your risks. You get out what you put in so be prepared to work very hard and take a few knocks, because that’s what shapes you as a person and as a business. Thrive on the passion you have for your food and enjoy it.