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Just less than a year ago, Allstar Crew were battling to find the balance between home and work while growing their new business. Now, they find themselves settled at the Brentano Suite and growing faster than ever.

Tenants Anthony and James sat down with us to chat about how their company has evolved, balancing family and business, and what the future holds.

Can You Tell Us A Little About Allstar Crew?

James: Of course. Allstar Crew supply skilled and unskilled labour across the events industry. We mainly work in the UK, but we do offer our services worldwide. We often work in areas like festivals, theatres, the TV and film industry, and even removals. This ranges from anything from installing Audio & Video to building bars and even erecting marquees. Just like the good old saying, no job too big or too small.

That Sounds Really Varied! How Do You Find Your Clients?

Anthony: Our clients come to us, usually! People have everything they need to get their project going apart from the team to install everything. For example, a company that hires out equipment might need a few people at their warehouse to load the trucks.

Or, a client might have a festival that needs to be built. They find production teams and suppliers for the equipment and then they get in touch with us for the labour. For instance, they might need ten people for three weeks to install everything. We can help.

Tell Us A Little About What Makes Allstar Crew Unique.

Anthony: There might be plenty of other companies that offer what we do, but we’ve spent a lot of time and effort on the company, and we know it works. I believe that first impressions are incredibly important.

James: Because we’re still relatively small, we can make the experience personable. We’ve won clients from bigger companies because we can take the time to make them feel important and stay flexible.

And How Did Your Business Start?

Anthony: We’ve actually been in the industry for 20 years combined. I’ve worked with, and for competitors, while James was freelancing. That showed him a different side of the industry, too. We started to get so much work that we couldn’t do it all ourselves. At first, we brought friends on board, but we soon realized it was something we could build as a business.

We still like to bring friends and family in. There’s a lot of work out there, but a lot of people don’t know where to find it. We’re lucky to be able to work with people we know and also find new talent to bring on board.

That Sounds Like A Nice Way To Grow The Business. Have You Always Been Based At The Brentano Suite?

James: Well, we started the business in January 2020…so at first, we did a lot from home. But as the company grew, it started to take over the house! We did some research to find somewhere we could call home. The Brentano Suite stood out and we’ve been here ever since.

How Has Your Experience Here Been?

James: The Brentano Suite makes life easier. There are things that I didn’t know I was missing until I got here.

For example, Sandra at reception takes the post, it’s open 24/7… it’s even nice just to walk past our neighbours in other offices and pop in to say hello. Having even a five-minute chat can make all the difference. It’s just easy. We also only live about 15 minutes away, which is ideal.

Is It Important To Have An Office Nearby For You?

James: Yeah, definitely. We might do office work, but if we can get to site and do jobs ourselves, we do.

Anthony: Me and James have families, too. Trying to sit on a laptop in a small flat with a one-year-old running around, nappies and bottles to deal with, as well as thirty or forty staff on site to manage…it was challenging.

So, the Brentano Suite has given us the opportunity to make work, work and make home, home. But we’re still very local to where we live and our families.

It Sounds Like The Brentano Suite Is A Great Fit!

James: Yes, definitely. There’s no stress or pressure, it’s just easy. Because it’s a serviced office, we don’t need to think about various bills and hosting visitors. There’s a parking space, too, which is important.

We just have more time to focus on the business. We pay one invoice a month, everything is sorted, so we can focus on the things that are important for us.

So, What Does The Future Look Like?

James: The calendar is looking very full! People hear about us through word of mouth. We’ve got so many festivals coming up this summer… we’re talking with TV and film companies. The growth is looking fantastic and we’re hoping to recruit a lot too.

So, if anyone’s looking for a job, we’re hiring!

To find out more about how The Brentano Suite can help your business to thrive, have a look at our video tour.

Read more about Allstar Crew on their website.

When The Brentano Suite resident Edina launched her brand-new business, LD Aesthetic Clinic, she didn’t know the pandemic was just months away. So, when lockdown one meant she had to shut her doors, she didn’t yet have a solid client base to fall back on.

Today, she’s transformed the business into a thriving hub of beauty and science. We caught up with Edina to find out her story and see how she’s getting on at The Brentano Suite.

How Did LD Aesthetic Clinic Begin?

Before launching, I spent about 25 years working in training and development. I helped global giants from the oil and gas industry build strategies and achieve their business goals. This experience has helped me a great deal in realising and managing LD Aesthetic Clinic, especially during one of the most challenging periods in our lifetimes.

Then, about five years ago, I had a personal health challenge. I managed to overcome it, but I decided to swap the big corporate boardroom for my clinic offering non-surgical, non-invasive beauty procedures and weight loss treatments.

That colossal change in direction was the obvious way forward for me. My great passion has always been microbiology and the science of body cells.

Can You Tell Us About How You Launched?

At this stage of my life, I did not feel I could devote a decade to medical studies. Instead, I turned to advanced training to gain knowledge and expertise in the field of aesthetics.

Despite many people around me saying I was foolish to leave stability and security, I launched LD Aesthetic Clinic in November 2019. I opened the doors of my dream business in January 2020…but then lockdown happened and we had to shut three months later.

Like for many other small businesses, this was devastating. Having made a huge investment in training and equipment, lockdown felt like a breath-taking blow.

That Must Have Been Especially Hard As A New Business.

Yes, the first lockdown was initially quite detrimental because LDA was a brand-new business and had no established client base.

Like everyone else, we closed our doors and locked up without even a faint light at the end of the tunnel. However, I didn’t give up. I started communicating regularly with a few existing clients and lots of potential clients via marketing and social media campaigns.

One of the promotions was “don’t worry about lockdown, eat what you like, do what you need to, and we’ll take care of your fat when restrictions are  lifted”. It was a hit! Our treatments are all about destroying unwanted fat and contouring the body.

Future bookings starting to trickle in and slowly it became a healthy flow.

What Is Business Like At The Moment?

It’s incredibly busy now! When I look in my diary, I haven’t got a single space available for weeks to come.

Wow! Any Secret Tips You Can Share?

Well, marketing and promotions are not simply an expense, they’re an investment when done properly. We use different market-leading platforms to advertise the business, such as Wowcher and Treawell. They provide a huge platform for a very, very wide marketplace.

I’d be more than happy to help other businesses utilise those in a way that works for them, if anybody wants to have a chat, feel free to call.

What Is It That Makes Your Business Special?

Understanding the uniqueness of our treatments and explaining that to the client. For any business, especially in the service industry, it’s all about customer service. It’s the time and attention you devote to clients in a transparent environment that makes the difference between a good business and an exceptional business.

So, when our clients come in for an aesthetic treatment, we make sure that education is part of it. We talk to them about how to get better results in the long run.

What Are Your Plans For This Year?

It’s more machines, more treatments, more people, and more treatment rooms. That’s the plan that I’m working towards and the vast majority of it should be realised by the end of the year. After that, it’s about growing the business in the same way.

I’m training a number of people, so the prospects for the business are growing. This year will be all about training and preparing others to join the business.

While prospective therapists need to perform the best treatments, it’s the additional side that makes the difference. It’s laying the values that I want LD Aesthetic Clinic to have, being all about clients. We have to provide the same level of service, no matter who performs it.

Then, there’s a whole array of technologies and equipment in this field. It will be good to work with a wider range of treatments that have instant results.

Where Does The Brentano Suite Fit Into LD Aesthetic Clinic?

Since I first started the business, it’s been a relationship made of magic. The Brentano Suite has been the difference between closing the business at the very beginning of the first lockdown and having a successful business today.

They were very flexible and understanding, and we came to an agreement so everybody could see the light at the end of the tunnel. They were willing to say, “don’t worry, we will support you and help you” and that made such a huge difference for me to carry on.

The other part is the customer service. As I said, it’s a key value of my business. Being on my own most of the time, it would be impossible for me to achieve the highest levels of customer service without additional support from The Brentano Suite. Also, the look and feel of the office environment is so luxurious and it’s incredibly well looked after.

It’s all part of the experience for my clients and it works like magic.

So, What’s Next For LD Aesthetic Clinic?

The idea is to stay with Brentano for as long as I possibly can. No matter what happens with the business, where I eventually expand into, I would like to keep my base here. Brentano is like a token of good luck! 

You can find out more about LD Aesthetic Clinic via their website.

To find out more about our tenants, have a look at our latest articles.

The Happy Puzzle Company say they aim to create happiness, one puzzle at a time. We chatted with Managing Director Gavin Ucko about how they’re achieving their mission in a year of lockdowns and restrictions.

With so many diverse companies within our walls, it’s always fascinating to catch up with our tenants. 

The Happy Puzzle Company has a unique story, successfully navigating the turbulent waters of 2020, to come out the other side with doubled turnover and a base of loyal customers. 

However, it’s not been a straightforward journey……

How has The Happy Puzzle Company evolved over the years?

Well, I founded the Happy Puzzle Company in November 1992, so we’ve been going for nearly 29 years now. We started by doing puzzle birthday parties! Well, when I say we, it was actually just me running it part time to earn some extra pocket money. Over the years the business evolved and in 1999 we started our first mail order catalogue.

Then, about 10 years ago, we started manufacturing our own puzzles and games across the world, launching them in different countries. Today, our products are available in 33 countries worldwide, including America where we’ve made enormous strides. America really is a golden opportunity. 

We hear you’ve won several awards too! What makes The Happy Puzzle Company stand out?

I think we have an absolutely amazing range of puzzles and games. We’re also a people-focused company, our customers can talk to us or even just send us an email to say hello. When we ship an order, every customer gets a little note with my email address so I get 100 to 150 emails a week like that!

Tell us more about your puzzles and games

Everything is designed to help families develop their thinking skills and absolutely nothing we do involves batteries or electronics. 

It’s all about getting people thinking with their heads and using their hands. When you do a puzzle, you can actually do it together as a family and look each other in the eye. 

How important is that at the moment?

It’s never been more important. The Happy Puzzle Company’s social purpose is based on creating happiness. We live in an age where people’s mental health is really suffering. 

It’s an instant gratification society where you have to reply to WhatsApp messages within seconds, where being pulled apart from your device is terrible, where kids get fidgety if their phone buzzes and they can’t look at it immediately.

So, we’re all here to help people’s mental health through puzzles. We say we’re “creating happiness one puzzle at a time”, because Rome wasn’t built in a day. 

I recently published a paper about how the jigsaw puzzle could save humanity in the long run. Because, people are so bored in lockdown that they’ve turned back to jigsaw puzzles and they realise they actually love doing them. We now sit down and spend time doing a puzzle together, which is a beautiful thing.

Tell us about business during the pandemic

At the start of March 2020 we didn’t produce our usual spring catalogue. There was just so much uncertainty. But as we went into lockdown I noticed that sales were going in completely the opposite direction to what we would’ve expected. Usually people spend their money on puzzles and games in October, November, and December, not in spring. But there was a steep upward line on the sales graph.

The problem was, how could you work out what sales would do next? If people start to lose their jobs they won’t have money to spend, so should we invest more and risk being left with lots of stock during a recession? The answer is nobody knows. So, we stopped trying to predict what would happen. 

How easy has it been to keep up with such a high volume of orders?

Our turnover has more than doubled in the last year. We actually could’ve done far more but we were simply restricted by the amount we could produce. You can re-organise lots of aspects of business in light of the pandemic, but you can’t change everything.

Jigsaws, for example, became complicated. We make our own jigsaws but the equipment that’s used in the manufacturing process is big, serious equipment which is nailed to the floor. When you need to socially distance, there are suddenly less people involved in the process which dramatically reduces the number of puzzles you can produce. 

Shipping was really problematic at times too. We even had vessels dock only to be refused and sent away halfway through unloading. It was chaos!

What do you think will happen post pandemic? What’s next for The Happy Puzzle Company?

We need to make sure that people don’t slip back into old habits when we come out of this horrible situation. It’s going to be really challenging, but that’s why we’re here and that’s what we’re trying to do.

We have some things in production that I’m really excited about at the moment. Some of these we’ve never done before, like physical handheld wooden brainteasers. They’re fantastic and I’m itching to see what we can do with them. 

Tell us more!

Well, our highly successful genius collection currently has a new challenge under development, plus we have also launched the worlds very first to create your own optical illusion set . It’s just brilliant and we can’t wait for people to try it. 

How has The Brentano Suite helped you thrive as a business? 

The Brentano Suite is the polar opposite of what we came from. Before, we were in a cluttered 4000 ft.² warehouse, and only really using about 500 ft.². It was cold and expensive. 

Now, we’re in a prime location and our office is a sea of natural light. People are happier coming to work where they can walk in and know they’re being looked after. Everything looks beautiful, there’s lots of smiling faces, and Greg is on patrol making sure everything goes smoothly.

It’s also great to know you’ve got the suites just downstairs for your meetings and a kitchenette to grab a coffee. Sometimes, it’s just nice to have a little change of scenery.

It’s a really friendly environment. I think everyone feels like they’re part of a something together here, it’s lovely.

Have a look at our news section for insights and updates. Interested in being featured on our blog? Get in touch with our team!