The Challenge
Forest Holidays contacted Peppercorn to review their Food & Beverage operations at their Blackwood Forest site in Hampshire. The aim was to unlock opportunities of increasing sales and profit, while improving customer satisfaction.
Our review showed that their food proposition was not aligned with the quality of the brand or the unique surroundings. The layout was not optimal for both customers and staff, with no clear designation between the F&B, Retail and Reception areas. This was further compounded by the amount of product being stocked.
This impacted on sales opportunities and profit, and created a cluttered, confusing environment for the customer. Once on site activities were done for the day, there was no compelling reason for customers to leave their cabin.
As a result of our findings, the brief was to evolve the site’s F&B strategy and create a design that truly matched the ethos of Forest Holidays.
What We Did
We began by building a base strategy, detailing what improvements could be made to the Blackwood Forest site while also recommending the process to build long term strategic food principles for the brand.
From our review, we knew we needed to optimise the layout of the site to improve experience and service levels. We reconfigured the space so Reception and Retail were in one area.
We then separated and designated the F&B area to service all day parts with the emphasis on “quality casual dining” in relaxed surroundings. To accurately reflect the Forest Holidays brand and seamlessly match the rest of the customer experience, we created a design that made clever use of furniture, finishes, lighting and music.
Lastly, to remove the need for frozen ready meals and low quality refrigeration & product placements in customer areas, we worked with Forest Holidays to implement a more credible food offer.
