The event industry is currently going through hell, and as Churchill said, “when you’re going through hell, keep on going” and we will!
Every week a new battle comes knocking and at BAR Events UK something we don't do is run and hide. We stick our heads above the parapet and take what’s coming. Whether it be panicked customers, grants to apply for (and 99% of the time fail to receive) or cash flow to manage - we take each challenge as it comes and solve the problem as soon as possible. After all, challenges and problem solving are what we’re good at being in the events industry.
It’s difficult to keep smiling sometimes, especially through 2020 when we hoped we’d be able to deliver weddings and events for our clients, only to have to arrange postponements time and time again. I have to say, at the start of 2020 I thought, “if we don’t do any events this year, we won’t be here next year”.
So how are we battling on? I learned to choose my attitude and we had an ability to adapt. I really do believe something I've recently learned, that positivity is down to 10% surroundings and 90% attitude. At the start of this year, my attitude, based on what I mentioned before, couldn’t have been right. It was my change in attitude that helped save this business.
We confront the problems we're faced with and solve them. That helps us sleep at night and keeps a clear conscious and mind. It’s only with a clear mind that you can think creatively, and its creative thinking you need to pull a business that specialises in large scale events, now made illegal, out of the weeds.
Laura is the key to helping our brides and I’m the person in the background managing finances and working in the virtual world. I’ve taken time to re-educate myself to make me a better business person and a better family man, I’ve taken up odd delivery jobs to keep some income coming in. I stopped paying myself from BAR Events UK in March 2020 to help save this business and we were at a lucky time in our business for all this to happen really. We’d paid off all our business loans by 2020 and got rid of a couple of vehicles ready to get new ones come the summer. So, by fluke, our outgoings were already considerably lower than normal. Then when COVID struck I furloughed the people I could, cancelled the bills we didn’t need and left Laura working from home dealing with our customers that needed help postponing. Not an easy task for Laura or anyone for that matter. The tears say a lot. Her heart is 100% in this and with our clients. We're so thankful to the clients and suppliers that have worked alongside us throughout this. Most have been incredibly understanding of the position we found ourselves in, despite everything they had going on themselves.
Once we combatted the financial haemorrhaging and helped all our clients, we brainstormed what to do next. I say brainstorm, I think we got on the booze one night and I decided I was going to go online every week and make cocktails so everyone at home can mix along at home. That’s where “Around the World in 80 Drinks” started.(https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgw_YSjBLps5kbpVOltWMsQ)
Then we realised I could do this for private parties too for an income. So all year we’ve been running virtual masterclasses for people to mix along at home on Zoom. Lets face it it’s more fun than the usual quiz, it involves booze! We also started hiring out teepees and marquees to venues needing to utilise their outdoor space, although this was short lived, thanks to national lockdowns. One of my highlights was setting up “Dine Under Canvas” with our friends at The Ribble Valley Group, it was a superb socially distant restaurant open from 4th July for a month. It had cool holiday vibes, with chilled house music, aromas of incense, hand crafted cocktails plus a great range of beers, wines and spirits. Not to mention the food, the sharing platters got fantastic reviews!
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So we made it through 2020 with little income and partially using our bounce back loan, what’s next?
If we’re lucky we’ll see a return to outdoor events this year, but we’re also planning for the worst. I’ve always planned for the worst and then there are no nasty surprises. That said, I did not plan for COVID. However, now I can. We’re no longer in “uncertain times”, well no more uncertain than times in business usually are. Hopefully we’ve seen the worst that can happen and we can plan as best we can going forward. This year, 2021, you’ll see small parties and events added to our specialities. We are investing! We have ordered a brand new concept teepee from Tentipi (our incredible teepee supplier - the best in the world). It’s small compared to our giant structures at 6.5m in diameter, a perfect size to pop up in back gardens and smaller spaces. Ideal for a luxurious outdoor dining space for a special occasion or an exceptionally posh glamping tent. It’s the start to our new smaller events idea. There are a few more ideas in the pipeline but you’ll have to stay tuned to find out more.
What I wanted to say in this blog is, we ARE winning battles and we WILL win our war. We’re here to stay and we’ll be the first to have a massive party when we can! Stay tuned and stay safe.
Over and out.
Dan Lakin