Suffering in the heat, but it’s good for business

The hot weather means the ice creams and drinks have been flying out – I’ve had to go to a cash and carry three times in the last week.

We’ve also started making only cold food, because the ovens were making the store too warm, but our homemade sandwiches are doing really well. The vegetables are from my allotment next door and we get some really good bread rolls from the nearby baker. I was worried that our food sales would drop, because I know how popular the hot food is, but the handmade products have brought in a different type of customer – the kind that doesn’t like commercially made sandwiches.

The only down side is that two chillers overheated this week, but we’re not alone, the engineers said they’ve been inundated with phone calls. It took them three hours to fix it but I was more concerned about the chilled food going off, rather than time. We had to place cheese on top of sandwiches just to try and cram it all in.

My staff have handled the high turnover and heat well though, they’ve coped and understand they just need to get on with it. We’re all suffering in the heat, but I can’t complain too much because it’s good for business.

The footfall has been amazing, drinks have high margins and even though we make slightly less on the ice creams, they’re price-marked and bring customers in. Even though it’s too early to compare it to last year I’m optimistic and looking forward to seeing the results.

Grow your sales this summer with tips and advice from suppliers and retailers.