Publisher And Manufacturer of Diaries For Sale

Business description

Specialist publisher and manufacturer of diaries for the restaurant and hotel trade
Developed as a result of identifying a definite gap in the marketplace, particularly for the efficient recording of restaurant bookings, this business is now firmly established as the leading publisher and manufacturer of ‘organisers’ for the hotel and restaurant trade in the UK. Although this business also supplies ordinary diaries, it is much better known for its restaurant table booking diary as well as diaries for hotel room bookings, visitors books and hotel register books.
Following a brief test marketing exercise which highlighted a number of issues which were solved as a result of the current Owner’s career and extensive experience in the Book printing industry, this business was launched in 1987. Appreciating that the products it supplies are often one of the very first elements of a restaurant or hotel a customer comes into contact with, but perhaps most importantly the period of time the products are in use and their frequency of use, this business manufactures to the very highest specification possible. As a result, this business can name the vast majority of restaurants found in any Good Restaurant Guide and several celebrity chefs within its extensive Client list.
This business has a clear understanding of the hotel and restaurant trade and ensures that the products not only look good but have all of the essential functionality required for maximum effectiveness and efficiency. Along with an every day lunch and dinner planner to keep an Owner or Manager and staff organised, the restaurant table booking diary includes a section for function bookings and larger parties. Clearly laid out on purpose-made paper, the diary is hard-back bound by hand before being personalised with a restaurant's name. The hotel room booking diaries – including variants for smaller and larger size hotels and Guest Houses are no less impressive, facilitating the recording of the details of all guests as required by law in the most stylish manner. All can have the name of the establishment gold foiled on the front cover.
By the sheer nature of its products, this is a very seasonal business, with activity centred around the first six months of the year. With sales secured in the early part of the year, printing is scheduled around May and June with the product ready for dispatch from July onwards. With the current Owner working just a few hours a day, this business has achieved annual sales of £200,000 in the past. Sales for the financial year ending March 2006 were £116,000 generating profits available to the Owner of the business in excess of £40,000. As such this represents a significant opportunity for anyone looking to acquire the market leader in its sector.

Key strengths:
This business has little or no competition within its sector. It has a longstanding, loyal customer base which includes most of the top restaurants in the country. The print run for the restaurant booking diary for the current year is in excess of 3,000, the vast majority of which is repeat business.
Developed from the current business Owner’s extensive experience of the book printing industry, the products are of the highest quality and specification, bound correctly to withstand the frequency and extent of their use. This business owns thirty two variants of its copyright.
This is a low maintenance, low overhead business with generous margins and excellent cashflow. The current Owner works just a few hours of the day with the vast majority of work undertaken during the first six months of the year. Well established, most orders are placed automatically by the customer base resulting from little or no sales effort currently. Most orders are paid for upfront and diaries are not dispatched unless paid for.
Key opportunities:
This business has enormous potential. With a strong demand for the products of this business, combined with a capacity to increase turnover, a new owner contributing fresh ideas, drive and enthusiasm will have every advantage of building on an excellent platform.
This business is currently run to meet the lifestyle requirements of the current Owner. With additional resources and greater dedication this business could double and even treble its current sales levels.
As well as more aggressive selling of the other products within the range, with just the table booking diary, additional revenue could be generated via sponsorship and advertising. Previous advertisers that have had their image ‘ghosted’ on every page have included some of the most prestigious brands in the drinks sector. It would certainly also be possible to include a small area of advertising on every single page.
There is also scope to more aggressively attack the ‘corporate’ market, by selling the diary to suppliers to the restaurant and hotel trade. Incorporating its branding on the cover, the diary would make an excellent gift for wine merchants and dealers for example to offer to their existing and prospective customers.

Property information

Location:

The business is currently operating from a home office environment and as such will need to be re-located.

Other information

Expansion potential:

This business has enormous potential. With a strong demand for the products of this business, combined with a capacity to increase turnover, a new owner contributing fresh ideas, drive and enthusiasm will have every advantage of building on an excellent platform.
This business is currently run to meet the lifestyle requirements of the current Owner. With additional resources and greater dedication this business could double and even treble its current sales levels.
As well as more aggressive selling of the other products within the range, with just the table booking diary, additional revenue could be generated via sponsorship and advertising. Previous advertisers that have had their image ‘ghosted’ on every page have included some of the most prestigious brands in the drinks sector. It would certainly also be possible to include a small area of advertising on every single page.
There is also scope to more aggressively attack the ‘corporate’ market, by selling the diary to suppliers to the restaurant and hotel trade. Incorporating its branding on the cover, the diary would make an excellent gift for wine merchants and dealers for example to offer to their existing and prospective customers.

Competition / Market:

Well established, this business has invested little in marketing and advertising in recent years. It has invested in trade press advertising in the past, but its main investment now is a very well designed and informative corporate brochure. The business has a database of approximately 6,500 named individuals but limits its marketing activities to the previous year’s purchasers only. The business also has a well designed, informative and easy to navigate website that performs well in all the major search engines for all appropriate search topics. By far its most cost effective form of marketing however is the strong word of mouth recommendation this business enjoys, testimony to the outstanding reputation this business and its products have in the marketplace.

Support & training:

The current Owner will provide every assistance to ensure a smooth transfer of the business to new owners

Reasons for selling:

This is a genuine retirement sale.