This episode features Pete Hefferan, co-founder of Shed Cafe. Pete shares the fascinating journey of how he brought Shed Cafe to life, from a casual job opportunity to taking over the business with his wife, Lydia. Find out about the ongoing dedication required to curate fresh, high-quality food daily and ensure seamless service in a small, efficient space. We also explore the challenges, benefits, and highlights of running a café, and Pete’s focus on increasing efficiency. Finally, we discuss the Shed menu and how they source ingredients.

 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

Agility and Streamlining for Resilience: Faced with rising costs, Shed Cafe, benefits from being a "sapling" rather than a "big oak tree," as it can bend through storms by changing suppliers and products. They've focused on streamlining their operations to deliver quality food quickly.

 

Innovation in the Everyday: The "Tomato Soup" Principle: Pete shares how to elevate a simple tomato soup recipe. This highlights that even common products can stand out with a creative twist. For business owners, this emphasises the importance of finding ways to differentiate standard offerings to capture customer interest and establish a unique selling proposition.

 

The Experience Economy: Pete notes that "good coffee is 10% beans". The other 90% is about the entire customer experience, including where they sit, the interaction with staff, and even how they pay. This takeaway stresses that in today's market, success often hinges on creating a holistic and memorable customer experience that goes far beyond the core product or service being offered.

 

TIME CODES

00:00 Introduction

00:24 Tomato & aubergine soup

01:02 Introduction to Pete

01:38 Why is it called Shed Café?

02:34 Why did Pete want to take over Shed?

04:15 How to check your bakes

04:58 What is Pete’s favourite part of running Shed?

07:09 Challenges Pete has faced running Shed

08:48 How Pete has tackled his challenges

11:12 Perfect your processes

11:40 Highlight from Shed’s history

12:28 Every day at Shed is different!

12:48 Sourcing ingredients for Shed

15:11 Finding customers for Shed

17:15 Your story is so important

18:11 Future plans for Shed