An interview with Baguette Express ( our sponsors )

We interviewed our sponsors Baguette Express asking if their business has had any positive or negative effect from advertising on Borders Local web site aswell as a mixture of other questions.



Keith Johnson proprietor of Baguette Express - Hawick made these comments.
" Since the launch of Borders Local, our company Baguette Express in Hawick has seen an increased growth in our daily/weekly trade. Although Borders Local has not been live for long, it doesnt take much time before people find the website and word gets around"

We also asked Keith how his Free delivery service was going which is also highlighted on Borders Local.

Keith said "Our free delivery to businesses around central Hawick is rapidly growing. To be honest its growing faster than we thought which is brilliant. The massive benefit to this service is for example - many employees dont have the time to walk from the north end of the high street to the Sandbed especially if they only have 45 mins for their lunch break, now its only a case of phoning in their order, we make it up fresh and deliver promptly.
We would like to highlight that due to the popular demand we ask that if you wish your order delivered between 12:00 & 13:30 hrs that you phone your order in at 11:30 hrs at the lastest."

Keith you took over Baguette Express approx 3 months back, how has business been overall up to now ?
" Its been amazing but we still have a long way to go. We knew what challenges faced us prior to taking over Baguette Express, we hear all sorts of concerning stories of previous staff operations prior to us taking over, however, we can promise when anyone comes into Baguette Express they will receive freshly made gorgeous food, everything we have is made to the highest standard. Our customer service is first class, we have customers who love coming in daily for the banter, and our fantastic food of course!"

How do you compare to the competition in the premises on the high street ?
"dont make me laugh, they are no competition. Baguette Express is a professional outlet"

Would you be better having your business based on the high street ?
"No, rent and rates are more than double that of the shop we rent, plus with our free delivery around central Hawick we can easily gain high street custom. Also because we are a network, we purchase at network prices, if we were independant our core items would be as high as 40% more! Thats a massive amount over a week, month even a year ! With this in mind we know if anyone else decided to start up in this trade they would only shoot themselves in the foot - guaranteed! "

You have just launched your outside catering services, how are they going ?
"to be honest our Outside Catering Services officially starts on Monday 3rd December 07, we are about 1 month behind as we were waiting on printed materials. We recently had a big conference meeting with our food suppliers fine tuning our catering service with the best foods available. We are very excited about this service. We can cater for every event from business lunches to family functions......we have fantastic printed booklets in our shop for you to take away. Remember all our buffets can be tailored to your individual requirements."

Anything else you would like to add ?

"Overall im very happy how we are progressing, we are making a huge impact turning this business around and growing everyday. We have a fantastic range of freshly made foods. I have a great team of highly experienced staff who i am personally proud of. We have many other bolt-on plans to expand Baguette Express in early 2008, i will keep these under wraps meantime.
Finally i would like to say a massive thank you to all our customers, long may you continue to enjoy what we have to offer at Baguette Express "