Linlithgow Academy YES Lothian

Final Accounts

Link Teacher - Mrs. Satbinder Sandhu Business Adviser - Mr. Campbell Ford – Logica

Perfetto Young Enterprise

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Executive Summary

ContentsExecutive Summary Planting the Perfect SeedNurturing the Perfect PlantBrewing the First CupThe Ingredients for a Perfect BusinessTestimonialsDown to Business : Financial AccountsExciting New FlavoursA Perfect FutureOur Greatest Thanks

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Perfetto has been, and continues to be, an incredible success at Linlithgow Academy. The idea - to run a refreshments service for students taking inspiration from other world famous brands - was born in Octo-ber 2010 and within one month we were open for business. Despite a few hiccups along the way, we have consistently generated high levels of income and have satisfied many students throughout the year. We sell a variety of snacks, from cookies to packets of raisins, to compliment our hot and cold drinks list. Our business mission statement is:

“We aim to change the way our customers think about breaks, by giving them the products they want at the highest quality possible, as well as at an affordable price. We want to make a difference

- one cup at a time.”

We, as a team, believe we have reached our goals in several ways. We continued to provide our services right through to the penultimate week of school before exam leave.

On the whole, there has been great team chemistry within Perfetto this year. We have been dynamic, creative and incredibly professional in the face of adversity – whilst every single member has taken some invaluable experience from the year.

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Linlithgow Academy’s Young Enterprise team for 2010/11 comprised of eight sixth year students brought together as part of our ‘Personal Development’. Each member knew one another relatively well and, with many having studied Business Management, there was a real sense of positivity and a determination to succeed in the early stages. Admittedly, at the first couple of board meetings there was a slight lack of ideas coming from the group. Options such as a photos/ photo framing service, car valeting and calendar production were considered - however there appeared to be little passion to run any of these businesses throughout the year. We had a relatively good idea of where our target market lay; we wanted to sell most-ly to students and teachers. With this in mind, the idea for Perfetto arrived at around 2am one night as the Sales and Marketing director lay in bed. Within ten minutes of quickly scribbling ideas down it appeared to be our most feasible idea and was soon communicated throughout the group and met with a highly positive reaction. We worked together at the next board meeting to find any faults in the idea, or highlight where problems may lie in future, though these were easily overcome and a business plan was created. It was final: we were going to serve affordable hot drinks with a selection of delicious snacks available to compliment the drink. We felt this was perfect as we had discovered a niche in the market and, since we were students ourselves for six years, we knew there would be a great deal of demand for our services.

Planting the Perfect Seed

The name ‘Perfetto’ arose after much idea generation and further debate. Some of the ideas floating around were L.Aarbucks, Fresh Express/Frexpress, Kickstart and Fresco. The idea to go to foreign languages for in-spiration was excellent, as the names like Fresco and Perfetto sounded elegant and professional yet also had a further meaning. Ultimately, we took a vote and Perfetto was the most popular – meaning ‘perfect’ in Italian. With our name decided, we then had to work on a slogan. ‘The Perfect Break’ was thought of by a member almost immediately and it stuck, as it simply felt right. We then took the initiative to go elsewhere for our logo creation. We had a friend who was an art student and he was willing to help us out. Once he had given us a few ideas from the briefing we gave him, we rewarded him with VIP treatment at service time.

Liam’s Logo Drawn By Hand After Some Work in Photoshop

Market Research was able to be conducted after the Sales and Marketing team created a list of questions which were scaled down at the next meeting. We asked around 100 pupils during registration to raise their hands as a response to our questions. The questions themselves were extremely easy to understand and to answer – yet the results would give us a clear insight into what products we should sell and at what prices.

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Nurturing the Perfect Plant

After collating our Market Research results, we then had to select our product range. Our results showed us which products were of greatest demand from pupils and a wide list of options was shortened after vigor-ous discussion in a board meeting. Points that were considered when choosing products to sell included popularity, price and regular availability.

Pricing then had to be carried out on our final product list. Our Market Research was of great aid again as the responses highlighted how much pupils would be willing to spend and how often. As with selecting products, we discussed what prices we thought were appropriate for our cus-tomers, but also remembering the profit we desired. Knowing that personally we would be put-ting a great deal of effort into the business, we had to generate much profit for ourselves but also a dividend for the shareholders - who allowed us to start up the business with their investment.

With our concrete plan we then ran everything past our rector, Mr MacKenzie, and also the Business Sup-port Manager, Ms. Morton. Gratefully, our rector gave us the green light on condition that we carried out a Risk Assessment and that Ms. Morton was satisfied that we would adhere to her requests for health and safety. The measures Perfetto took for Health and Safety purposes, based on the Risk Assessment, were:

• Heat Proof Cups, so that our hot drinks could be comfortably held by customers• Sip Lids, for the prevention of any spillages• Control of Hot Water Temperature, this allowed us to serve drinks at a drinkable

temperature• A Designated Drinking Area, where customers were encouraged to sit and enjoy

their hot drinks and socialise with friends• Hygienic Gloves, worn by anyone serving food items• A Promise to Clean the Area, this was vital as we felt we had to clear up after ser-

vice to leave the area clean for other users• Waste Control, we kept a close eye on the use-by dates on foods and ensured

anything due to perish was binned• Money Handlers would Never Touch Food Items, for hygiene purposes.

With a date in mind for our first opening, we could then advertise our business. This fell heavily on the shoulders of the Sales and Marketing team and they did a great job in getting well presented posters up around the school, creating a facebook ‘fan-page’ and also making every student aware of our services by placing statements in the school bulletin.

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Brewing the First Cup

With awareness building for our exciting new service available at break times, anticipation amongst the group grew. Our first day of opening was planned for Monday the 15th of November to begin what we advertised as a ‘trial week’. This bought us valuable time for a review of our systems without appearing to custom-ers to have shut down after just one week.

Everything was planned and ready for our grand opening, up until a last minute board meeting on the Friday before. At this time, a teacher in the school arrived and voiced strong complaints against our inten-tions. She felt that the products we were selling were not in keeping with apparent regulations. Thus far we believed regulations for food services were not in circulation, only ‘guidelines’ which we kept to closely and offered many other healthy food options.

Despite this complaint, our trial week went ahead after continued approval from Mr. MacKenzie. The two days that we ran for were a great success, with enthusiasm demonstrated by many pupils and high income for one week. However, by the end of this trial complaints were made by another couple of teachers. This meant that the review of our business had to be even more vigorous, as not only did we have to iron out every crease regarding the system but we also had to completely review our products and satisfy absolutely eve-ryone. As a team, we could have easily stood our ground and reasoned that our rector was happy so everyone should be happy – but we were more professional and accepted the grievances as constructive feedback.

From this, we devised a ‘healthier’ product range by removing all double chocolate products and we also down-scaled our unhealthier items. We created a PowerPoint presentation and were ready to show the rector where we had made changes and what promises we would make for future health promotion, until the snow of 2010 arrived in force.

Nearly two full weeks of school fell victim to the severe winter weather and, as a result, the running of Per-fetto collapsed for a period. We swiftly rearranged the meeting with Mr. MacKenzie as soon as we returned and decided to restart afresh immediately after the Christmas holidays. We received great support from our rector and in return we promised to run a faultless business in the New Year.

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We at Perfetto believe that we communicate very efficiently together. Aside from the scheduled board meet-ings that take place every Monday afternoon, we also communicate using modern technology as much as possible. Everyone has each member’s phone number, so anytime that there is a slight problem, for example

when buying stock, there is a direct point of contact available at all times. We also have a facebook closed group page, where the team can message the group as a whole and also chat as a group together in a discussion. Facebook is becoming even more popular every day and we believe using social net-working is a great benefit for all involved. A great example of the benefits we gained from these methods is when we decided to take the initiative to open for an extra day – the day before the Mid-term break – in order to sell all stock that would perish over the holiday. We quickly let everyone know the situa-tion and sought their approval before advertising that we would open the next

day. Needless to say, we sold out of everything which meant we lost no money due to holidays whatsoever!

Stock is bought the night before service, brought to school early in the morning and stored safely in the school kitchen (they allow us to make good use of one spare shelf ). A rota exists to keep track of who is due to buy stock and a good communication system is in place so that they know exactly the right prod-ucts to buy. Another rota is also existent which lets everyone know who needs to set up the kiosk in their study period before break – along with who needs to clean up after service. During service, a queuing system is in place which has two queues for particular products. The two men on the ‘tills’ are those who are comfortable with quick maths and do an excellent job of taking money and handing back correct change efficiently. Orders are taken and written on cups in abbreviations then passed to the ingredients section. Here, all the ingredi-ents are put into the cup and passed along to the next man - who fills the cup and then announces to the waiting area which order is ready. A final fifth member wears hygienic gloves and is the only mem-ber permitted to handle food products – serving them to customers once payment has been received.

When Perfetto first began, the method in which we served cus-tomers was satisfactory but by no means perfect. We had no clear system in place, with only a few roles actually administered and a lot of confusion resulted. Despite the problems, we managed to serve nearly every one of our queuing customers - but the service was not as efficient as it could be. The queue was often too long and we felt that business was being lost by not serv-ing customers as quickly as possible. Since January though, a system has been in place which is incredibly effective and ticks away - week by week - faultlessly. The overall system is as follows:

The Ingredients for a Perfect Business

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Mr. Graeme Sives, Depute Head Teacher – Linlithgow Academy‘The Perfetto team have filled a gap in the market in the school and are providing a high quality service, complimentary to our own catering operations. A simple yet effective idea, with excellent delivery.’

Testimonials

Mr. David MacKenzie, Rector – Linlithgow Academy‘The team this year have been extremely efficient in the way that they have performed, placing the right people in the right positions which has brought them great success.’

Douglas Birse, Bell House Captain – Linlithgow Academy: often purchases a black coffee with a packet of raisins. ‘Being lactose intolerant makes it very difficult for me to take advantage of such services. However, Perfetto take extra care and attention to ensure I can enjoy their service like everyone else.’

Down to Business : Financial Accounts

All of the following information is accurate as of the date of Perfetto’s liquidation on the 12th May 2011.

This year, the key to our success has been delivering a regular service every Monday and Thurs-day when possible - along with exploiting extra opportunities for service. Overall the av-erage sales for a day’s service were around £70 and with Gross Profit percentage of 50%.

As a team we have decided to use the profits made from service to invest heavily in the YES Final. Before making this decision, every shareholder in the business was approached and asked if they were happy not to receive a return on their in-vestment - allowing Perfetto extra funds for the final. We are pleased to say that the unanimous decision was in favour of using their potential return to fund the event. It was also agreed that the team members should be paid a wage for their hard work throughout the year - providing the perfect break for our customers.

Rachel Kowalczyk, S6 – Linlithgow Academy‘Perfetto always makes my Monday and Thursday mornings feel complete. Their wide selection of prod-ucts and very reasonable prices leave me feeling like a happy, satisfied customer.’

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Balance Sheet

Profit and Loss Account

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Liquidation Report

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A Perfect FutureAfter establishing ourselves within the school as a well functioned and organised business, Linlithgow Academy have embraced our achievements and granted our wish to create a stand-alone Personal De-velopment group through Perfetto. A team has already been selected with some input from ourselves as we know what is required for a successful business in this area. We believe that they can work from the general foundations that we have set up – but there is much scope and areas that the new Perfetto team can exploit in order to become even more successful in the future. Some of the current group are more than willing to offer their advice and support to next year’s group in order to allow Perfetto to live on!

The opportunity that we had this year was excellent and we would not want to deprive upcom-ing Sixth Years of a shot at Young Enterprise. So, despite Perfetto continuing in 2011/12, there will also be a team from Linlithgow Academy participating in the Young Enterprise scheme next year.

Who knows? Perhaps Perfetto could move from being a very simple concept into an established brand – selling at local events and steadily growing into a renowned and highly successful brand in its own right!

Exciting New Flavours

The team at Perfetto were quite simply not satisfied with limiting our services to students at break time. We were constantly looking for any opportunities to serve to many more people. An initial idea we had was to serve at Parents’ Evenings in Linlithgow Academy, however it proved difficult to get involved be-cause of the regular refreshment service provided by the PTA. Despite this, persistence from the team meant that we got an opportunity at the last Parents’ Evening of the year – where we became very popular with the teachers in particular as the School bought their refreshments for them at a discounted price. A great idea then came around in that Perfetto could use their service as a platform to sell tickets for any school events – such as an Amnesty International concert that was due to take place in March. The theory was that some of the students who may not be that interested in our services would hear that they were able to purchase a ticket from us and so pass by our products where they would have to re-sist temptation. As a thank you for boosting ticket sales for the Amnesty concert, we were also allowed to serve there on the night. We provided a delivery service to all of the tables in the hall in the hope that customers would prefer this over leaving the concert to purchase drinks or snacks. Perfetto even had some students asking us to display leaflets to advertise their own events – and of course, we said yes!

We, at Perfetto, have a social conscience and we realise that charity is becoming more and more impor-tant in the world; therefore we wanted to do our bit to help. Alongside supporting Comic Relief through Red Nose Day at Linlithgow Academy, we decided to donate the proceeds of our very last day of sales to a charity – decided by our customers. We up-scaled this figure to £100 and using facebook to interact with our customers, we allowed them to nominate their chosen charities and eventually a poll was set up to decide a winner. Breast Cancer Care – nominated by Ashley Wilson (S6)- was voted to receive the donation.

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Perfetto Young Enterprise 201111

Our Greatest Thanks

Perfetto would like to acknowledge many people who have helped us incredibly over the past 6 months.

First of all, Perfetto would not have existed for long had it not been for our rector, Mr. MacKenzie. His con-tinued support and encouragement for our work has been an excellent morale booster for the team and we must also thank him for paying our Young Enterprise fee to even participate.

Mrs. Sandhu, a Business Education teacher at our school, has been brilliant in organising us as a team and regularly checking up on us as a business. She has attended every board meeting and has helped us a great deal through our trials and tribulations.

Campbell Ford, our business advisor who is always present at board meetings. He has often been key in triggering ideas in our heads – especially at the beginning of the business – and he has been extremely valuable for us to have as a point of contact with his great knowledge and experience in business.

We must thank the kitchen staff at our school for allowing us to use their space for storage and for the ad-vice they have given when Perfetto were deciding on products.

We would also like to thank Ms. Morton at our school for accepting us as a business and allowing us to trade on her conditions.

Thanks also to two fellow students who helped the business along too. Liam Ostlere created our wonder-ful logo, whilst Dominic Martin regularly took photographs of Perfetto in action.

A few of the team members’ parents need to be thanked for their support and willingness to drive us around with stock whenever asked. Without their help it would have been very difficult!

Finally, we must thank our loyal customers. Without the students, staff and parents of Linlithgow Academy, Perfetto would make no money and have no success, so we hope that you enjoyed our service throughout this year; you are the people who made Perfetto so successful!