| I am delighted to introduce you to Clarice Creary, who is a member of the City Business Library. From a young age, in Jamaica, Clarice was influenced by her mother’s and grandmother’s cooking techniques and in 2016, Clarice set up Grandma’s Old Time Cooking in memory of her mother and grandmother. It is a wonderful celebration of Caribbean food and drink. Like so many businesses, Clarice had to pivot her business once the pandemic hit and she successfully moved from running workshops on Caribbean cooking to providing takeaway food. And she provides a delivery service. Clarice carried out research for her business plan, looking at market data and consumer behaviour. By doing the research she was able to identify what potential clients would be interested in and what they would buy, and of course with the year that we’ve had she found that she would need to move direction as she couldn’t run group workshops. Clarice then pivoted her business to making it a takeaway service as the pandemic doesn’t stop people wanting delicious food! This pivoting shows how successful researching your sector and customers can be. If you know what’s going on with consumers and the industry, then you can find your direction. This isn’t just related to extreme times, but a great example of being aware of what need your business will be fulfilling for your customers. It demonstrates the huge benefits of regularly reviewing your sector. Clarise has some clear advice to fellow small businesses… persevere with your journey and embrace any challenge that appear. With a City Business Library membership, you too can keep abreast of developments in your industry sector. And if you are interested in contacting Clarise, either to order some yummy food/drink or to network with her, then check out her website. |
Small Business Research and Enterprise 