Owning a small business is empowering and exciting, but it is also tough!  Calling yourself managing director or proprietor sounds great, but anyone who runs their own show knows that once they close the doors on another day’s successful trading there are the accounts to manage, the essential goods to order, payroll to run and a multitude of other small tasks to achieve.  Little wonder, therefore, that the optional extras like renegotiating the energy contract, checking that the lamps are energy efficient and dimmable or checking that you are getting the best deal on cleaning chemicals falls to the bottom of the to do list. We all know the reasons that we should address these things but unless someone creates a few additional hours in the day, the potential to do so is extremely limited.  Foodwise[1] has been created to provide those extra hours in the day.  It can offer 12 hours of specialist support free of charge to small food businesses across the South East of England.  The support is provided by small, specialist consultancies with a track record in delivering savings across the sector.  The specialists can:

• Review your energy costs and check that you are on the best tariff. If not, they can suggest other suppliers who may be able to reduce costs
• Look at your waste disposal arrangements and find easy ways to reduce costs
• Benchmark costs of key food items and cleaning chemicals to see if you could get better deals and suggest who those deals may be available from
• Best of all, help you progress the paperwork to secure these better deals and reduce costs.

If you would like to hear more, get in touch with Rebecca Hawkins (rebecca@rhpltd.net or 078 99 99 0835) who will tell you more. [1] An initiative funded by the European Regional Development Fund and delivered through specialist small consultancies on behalf of Oxfordshire County Council