Meet Your Local Entrepreneur- Patricia Pell

As part of Global Entrepreneurship Week 2019, SERC's Enterprise and Entrepreneurship team have conducted a series of interviews with local entrepreneurs to inspire the next generation.

The first interview of the week is with Patricia Pell. Patricia is the Proprietor and Manager of Café Mauds in Newcastle, Co.Down.

1. Can you tell us a bit about your background and how you came to run your own business?

I am the Proprietor and Manager of Café Mauds, Newcastle. I deal with the daily running of the business from staffing, dealing with suppliers, human resources and the finances. After doing my A-Levels, I studied a Diploma of Higher Education in Business Studies at Magee Campus, Ulster University. I then proceeded into the 2nd year of my degree in banking, finance and retail distribution at the Coleraine Campus of Ulster University.

I was a Graduate Trainee at Primark for 2 years. I worked across all of the stores in Northern Ireland. I then applied for the role of Assistant Manager in Mothercare and worked in their flagship store in Belfast. After a period of a few years, I left Mothercare and joined my Fiancé at this stage to open our business with Maud’s Ice Cream. We have a number of food businesses and my role is the running of Café Maud’s in Newcastle.

2. What has been your biggest success to date?

My biggest success to date is opening Café Maud’s in its currently location in Newcastle. It is in the perfect location; business has grown to be very successful. Also, my husband opening North South Retail Ltd has been a huge success.

3. Have you had any mishaps along the way? How did you overcome them?

The biggest mishaps we have had along the way, is staffing. It is extremely hard to find suitable staff as the café is very busy. Staff need to be hard working and be able to have an excellent level of customer service as well as being able to deal with cleaning and stock. We have also purchased expensive delft in the past which is not looked after properly and broken by staff and customers.

4. What have you learnt in running a business that you wish you had known before you started?

I wish I had known more about policies and regulations for example social media policies. We did not have these years ago when I was starting out. There is a lot more focus on fire regulations and monitoring fridge temperatures.  When I started out, I did not realise how high my staff wages bill would be. The price of wages and stock is constantly rising, so I wish I knew that before I started out. 

As business has increased over the years, we have a lot of complaints about only having one toilet in our café, I wish I knew how much of an issue this would cause when the café was being built. I have also learnt to continue to change the menu due to a lot more competition in Newcastle now than there ever was. It is important to keep up with the trends but also have a unique selling point e.g Mauds Waffle Wednesday’s. 

5. What key pieces of advice would you give to students who are interested in setting up a business?

I would say ‘GO FOR IT.’ It is important to realise is will take up a lot of your time and you need to be on the ball with new trends and do as much market research as you can. You need to be willing to stand in and do any job if a staff member rings in sick. Make sure you make it clear to your team how exactly you want things run from the start, as people get stuck in their wats and do not like change, so do right first time. I would also say to bear in mind that there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes, for example accounts, marketing and HR.

6. Do you have any advice regarding finance and funding?

Back when I started, I went to the bank with a business plan. Nowadays I think it is much harder and you need to have your own money saved to get started. Be aware that your biggest overhead is wages. Keep a track of what percentage of your money is going where and continuously monitor this. Make sure you are on the best tariff for things such as electricity and spread the cost throughout the year. Price around suppliers to get the best possible price for your stock, taking into consideration the quality as well as how often the suppliers deliver to your area.

7. Any final thoughts?

Make sure you have all the correct policies and regulations in place from the start. Choose your staff carefully. Go for it, it really is worth the reward.

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