The Nook Eatery

Whether it’s helping take his business online, or helping decide what’s on the menu, Jody Robinson’s café is really benefitting from a great working relationship with Spark Business Hub Account Manager Tony Fowler.

When Jody Robinson was creating the menu for his new Thai café, The Nook Eatery, he knew he’d have to turn to people he could trust for a second opinion. And one person happened to be Spark Business Hub Christchurch Manager, Tony Fowler.

“I said ‘we’re going to bring out a whole bunch of dishes but the condition is you need to be brutally honest’ - basically so we could refine things,” Jody explains. Fifteen courses later, the experience was a thoroughly enjoyable and rewarding one for all involved, especially Jody. “To get that feedback from un-biased people is sort of crucial to figure out a base menu.”

It’s an indicator of the tight-knit relationship he enjoys with the Business Hub. And according to Fowler this type of connection is exactly what the Business Hub is all about. “We want to have a personalised service, if you like,” he explains. “So customers have got somebody to go to for help, somebody they know on the other end of the line, rather than dealing with a big call centre or having to stand in line at a shop.”

Jody says having the Business Hub situated nearby has also been a big help, even when it came to establishing his local business network. “They’ve suggested some good people and passed them on to us. It’s good to go somewhere with a lot of contacts in different areas.” And of course they’ve also been on-hand to assist with Spark’s products and services. “That’s the way I prefer to do business, when you can meet the person, so if you need something you can put a face to the name.”

The support they’ve provided is also paying dividends for his business. “A while ago, after we changed our plan, we got a call, because they’d noticed we were spending quite a lot of money,” Jody says. His Hub rep suggested an upgrade to optimise their data usage, and that’s proven to be valuable advice. “I didn’t call them up, it just came out of the blue, and I thought ‘that sort of stuff’s pretty good’. It’s saved us money and also helped us set up WiFi for our customers.”

The Business Hub’s also helped Jody address a major challenge recently. Any café’s heavily reliant on foot traffic. But their New Regent Street location, formerly part of the Red Zone, has been blocked by damage after the Valentine’s Day earthquake. “Virtually as soon as those barriers went up we lost probably 50% of trade overnight,” he explains. So Jody turned to Putti, Spark’s Web Builder, to reach more customers online.

“Their business has been impacted by some of the building going on there, it’s been cordoned off from time to time, and that’s impacted their visibility,” says Tony Fowler. “They’ve needed to create awareness by other means and the website’s been good for them.”

So in the midst of the rebuild, local business is building too. And Spark Business Hub Christchurch is proud to play a small part in making it happen. Jody’s really valued the local understanding and made-to-order solutions Tony and the team have provided to help him get his café established. Not to mention their accessibility when something needed attention. “Whenever I’ve had to go into the Hub, they’ve got it sorted quickly. I’m busy and I don’t want to get passed around. With Spark they just put you straight on to who you need to speak to.”

“It’s all about building those relationships, that personal touch” Jody concludes. They understand what we want to do, cater to us and give us products that match what we’re about.”