No.10 Bar and Kitchen

It was her biggest-ever challenge in business.

But Nikki Schofield has made a success of her project to transform the former Bar Barcelona tapas restaurant at Lidget Street, Lindley, into a thriving, stylish wine bar.

The premises had been empty for 12 months when Nikki acquired the building in 2011. She worked alongside the workmen to transform into No. 10 Bar and Kitchen.

Since it opened, turnover has soared from nothing to £350,000.

Nikki, who is owner and managing director of No. 10 Bar and Kitchen, is no stranger to the trade, having worked front-of-house at Da Sandros restaurant in Birchencliffe for 11 years after it opened in the early 1980s.

She later bought the former Cafe Bar in Elland and Lounge 68 in Huddersfield before taking on 1535 at Queen Street South, near the town centre.

She has also been modelling since she was 16 and is still in demand for fashion shows and exhibitions.

For more than 20 years, she has worked part-time for a Manchester clothing wholesaler and is also a qualified milliner, having studied at Huddersfield Technical College.

Mum to Natasha and Alexander, Nikki is a volunteer for the Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice and has taken part in several events to raise cash for the charity.

At a time of pub closures, Nikki said: “It is possible to reverse the trend if you give people the right product – in this case a wine bar as opposed to a pub, the environment, staff and selling the right drinks as the right price.

“The dynamics of a pub are changing. People will no longer put up with sticky carpets and bad decor.

“People don’t go out as often, but when they do, they want quality not quantity and a pleasant experience.

“We go the extra mile to make sure they get this.”

Nikki said the venue was also safe.

“Women can go in for a drink on their own or with friends and feel secure,” she said.

“It is my home and I treat everyone like guests.”

Nikki has plenty of plans in the pipeline for No. 10 Bar and Kitchen – including the possibility of extending the opening hours and offering food throughout the week as well as hosting events such as a singles night, a poker night and fashion shows.

Her biggest project is to extend the back of the wine bar to offer private parties and functions, which will also mean employing more people.

Nikki’s long-term aim is to turn No. 10 Bar and Kitchen into the best-known and most popular pub in the area attracting new customers from far and wide.

The Little Group

A business and HR consultancy is bringing a new look to the sector.

The Little Group, founded by Stacey Crowther operating from a spare room at home had grown to occupy premises at Huddersfield’s striking new 3M Buckley Innovation Centre. It primarily works in the health and social care sector, focusing on quality care and the operation of care homes with special emphasis on elderly care.

It operates in four core areas – recruitment, HR, training and compliance.

Little HR takes the jargon out of human resources by offering simple, logical commercially-focused advice and support while Little Recruitment is a personalised service helping companies find the right candidates for their business.

Little Group Care Training delivers interactive training to people working in care homes throughout the UK while Little Group Care Compliance supports care homes to ensure they maintain standards and offer a great place to live.

Said Stacey: “The Little Group has gone from being a vision to a successful thriving business that is making a real difference to the live of elderly people throughout the UK.”

She said the potential for growth was huge. “Government statistics estimate that overall places in residential care homes and care homes with nursing will increase from around 450,000 currently to approximately 1.130m in 2051.

“There has been an increase in people being diagnosed with dementia as a result of people living longer and better diagnostic techniques.

Currently, there are around 800,000 people with dementia in the UK with the disease costing the economy �23bn a year. By 2040, the number of people affected is expected to double – and the costs are likely to treble.”

Stacey said what made The Little Group different from its competitors was its personnel.

“The team have done the job before and done it well,” she said.

“Little Group knows the day-to-day stresses and strains of running a care home and if a client has a problem, more often than not, the team have overcome it before.

“They can focus on both the quality of the care home in terms of the care that is provided as well as the financial and commercial aspects of the home.”

In the first 12 months of operation,

The Little Group generated much of its business from contacts and word-of-mouth.

Now Stacey has devised a new marketing strategy to enable her to shout about The Little Group’s services.

The group will also be diversifying its compliance offer across sectors such as learning difficulties, children’s services, schools and domiciliary care – an area of specialisation for one of its new starters – as well as driving the recruitment and HR divisions into all industries.

IndiaCoco

A husband and wife team are off to a positive start with their children’s wear business.

Kirkburton-based Claire Harper and Lee Williams formed IndiaCoco to provide original, well-designed, practical and “best of British” clothing for babies and children up to eight years old.

Claire had previously worked for many years in senior marketing roles for some of the UK’s leading retailers, including Argos, Ocado, Sainsbury’s and most recently as marketing director at Huddersfield-based Mamas & Papas. Lee has also worked in senior commercial and financial roles for some of the country’s leading retailers.

Creating IndiaCoco – named after the couple’s children, five-year-old Coco and India, two – is the realisation of a lifelong dream for Claire, who has always wanted to create an iconic lifestyle brand.

She said: “Our vision for IndiaCoco is to offer parents a world of original, high quality and great value children’s from the very best British brands, underpinned by exceptional and uncompromising customer service.

“But of course, delivering our values every day is the hard bit. It requires us to be bold and purposeful, to ask ourselves all the time how we can do things better and being open to change.

“It also means taking on every challenge with passion, energy and fun and getting as close as we can to our customers. Social media has been a huge part of our communications strategy from day one and it’s a great way not only to speak to customers, but also to listen and learn.”

Since its launch, IndiaCoco has caught the eye of renowned entrepreneurs – landing a WOW award from Jacqueline Gold, chief executive of Knickerbox and Ann Summers.

The company has attracted a growing UK and international customer base and has executed joint marketing campaigns with other like-minded British brands to offer customers additional benefits and reach a wider target audience.

IndiaCoco has launched “pop up shops” as part of local community-led retail events to meet customers and display its brands.

Claire has also been asked to speak at networking events and national trade shows to share their story.

The firm is also supporting the Huddersfield-based West Yorkshire Forget Me Not Children’s Hospice.

Looking ahead, Claire said: “We plan to open our first IndiaCoco store over the next 12 months and roll out across the UK in community-based locations. IndiaCoco is now a multi-channel proposition.”

The company also plans some exciting web developments around mobile applications while it is also aiming to build on its international business.

Said Claire: “What we must do, though, in the next 12 months is to carry on with everything we are currently doing and we must remember to be driven, know our customers and stay focused – and don’t forget to breathe!

“Running and growing a new start-up business is now a very exciting part of our lives, but we always try to remember that the inspiration behind our brand is our daughters.”