Now David and Alyson have branched out on their own with a new venture. Bakerie is an exciting concept that they launched in April. It’s a trendy venue that describes itself as a restaurant, bar and wine merchant all in one. And it’s set to offer the local populace something really different in their choice of catering and restaurant options in this offbeat, alternative environment.

Unique experience

David and Alyson conceived the new venture based on their previous formula. Bakerie is a bread and wine store, comprising a bar and restaurant, with an adjacent unit that will become a specialist wine merchants and tasting shop. Wine tasting events and bread making classes in-store will also help to make Bakerie an appealing venue for Manchester’s trendies.

Located within The Hive, an award-winning development of offices, shops and galleries, as well as restaurants, Bakerie serves freshly baked bread to eat in or take home, and offers small plates of food and selected quality wines. This unique concept also houses Manchester’s first wine dispenser and preservation system, supplied by a company called By The Glass.

Clever selling

This is where Johnson Reed played its part by providing the necessary catering equipment finance for the innovative equipment for David and Alyson. With our help, they now have simple direct debit payments over a 3-year lease period, which means they can plan their budgets and keep their credit lines intact. As a start-up business, they will appreciate the help with their cash flow, and can always upgrade or add to the existing equipment without any hassle.

The By The Glass display system is a method of serving and preserving opened bottles of wine for at least two weeks in perfect condition. As well as reducing wastage and maintaining quality, it’s easy to use and is turning out to be a real boon to wine bar owners who reckon it’s increasing their wine sales. It also means that customers can sample wines before they buy them, creating distinct new marketing opportunities for the off trade.

High praise

Manchester Confidential’s online food and drink revue also rates Bakerie highly:

I like this place, it should do well. I’ll be back. Manchester needs more of these sorts of venues, the type of funky little place you’d find in a cooler corner of Soho.

And finally, we have it on good authority that the owners will be approaching Johnson Reed again soon for finance to buy a comprehensive new dictionary to find out how to spell ‘bakery’. But then again, they are so confident about the future of their new venture, that it won’t be long before they simply add an ‘s’ to Bakerie as they open more and more outlets.

This was Rida’s problem with the development of a new warehouse facility in the heart of London – they needed efficient heating equipment for which they required finance. Many lenders don’t like financing heater units, but for Johnson Reed it’s no problem. We duly forked out £8,845 over 36 months for a new free-blowing warm air system, which is one of the most cost effective and efficient means of heating large commercial buildings. The kit was supplied by Harry Taylor, a company that designs and installs heating solutions and evaporative cooling systems, using high-end energy-efficient products.

A Rida spokesperson told us:

I’m delighted that, with the help of Johnson Reed, our staff can move into the new premises and be warm. With the new location there have been many expenses and it’s nice to be able to spread some of the cost.

Johnson Reed supply finance for many camera, film studio and photographic companies – in this case it’s nice to think that photographers will not have to shoot anybody with goose bumps, which are never very attractive.

Well, we’re afraid you’ve got Johnson Reed to blame for that, because we help the transport and traffic sectors, as well as bus and coach sectors, to buy traffic management vehicles like the one here. The customer, Traffic Direct, came to us for finance to purchase the vehicle, supplied by MBV Trucks, over a period of 24 months. Traffic Direct are a privately owned company specialising in traffic management solutions, providing a variety of services from traffic calming and signing, to event management.

By using Johnson Reed for finance, Traffic Management are able to pay for the vehicle while they are using it. The cost is therefore spread over its working life, which may typically be three to five years. It’s a logical way to upgrade their equipment by extending the fleet of traffic management vehicles so that they can fulfill contracts more efficiently. And the lease rental is fully tax-deductible, so that means more working capital at their disposal for putting to use in other more profitable ways. And, in the interests of better roads, we’ve just got to put up with the inevitable tailbacks. For more information on Johnson Reed’s bus, coach and truck finance, please visit our main website.

To support this move, building and maintaining membership for the club will be more important than ever, so they took the relocation opportunity to improve their database management with some new Dell Servers, courtesy of a 24-month finance deal worth £7,237 from Johnson Reed. They’re expecting this investment to dramatically improve their operations and internal efficiencies.

The deal was introduced to us by Hudson Hill IT who have worked with Sale Sharks for a number of years. They commented:

Johnson Reed IT finance always deliver for us in a timely manner and we get paid promptly on delivery.

In the leisure sector, Johnson Reed have unrivalled expertise in IT equipment finance. In this case we used our own funds, we didn’t demand a deposit and we turned the exercise round quickly. For contests like this, we like to think that the speed and skills of our administration more than matches the Sharks’ speed and skills on the pitch. Good luck with the last game against Harlequins at Edgeley Park, and we wish them well at their new venue in Salford.

Seamless Interiors is a company that arranges decorative solutions for corporate, private and sporting events across the country. And they generate a vast amount of dirty laundry. Johnson Reed helped them to keep up to speed with the latest Miele laundry equipment leased over a 60-month period. By investing in machines from leading brand manufacturers, they can turn their laundry round in the quickest time, to make sure that they always have a supply of clean linen for their ever-increasing number of event venues that they service.

The supplier, Solent Laundry Systems (SLS), only offers leading brands such as Miele and Electrolux, and they support the hospitality sector with laundry and dishwashing equipment for every type of small business or industrial application. Both the customer and the supplier benefited from the Johnson Reed philosophy of creating reduced cost, improved operations and better internal efficiencies for all involved. Our laundry equipment leasing meant that we helped to make sure that everyone gets the most pleasure from those prestigious events where presentation is all-important.

East Grove Properties came to us for construction equipment finance to buy and install a new water boiler system for one of their latest construction projects in the Kent area. They were established in 1999 as a property management company, specialising in residential and commercial premises in the South-East of the country. British Gas, the UK’s leading heating specialist, supplied the new kit to replace an existing ageing system, so that East Grove Properties could reduce costs and keep up to date with technology.

It was only a small deal, but we still treated it as a priority case, allocating just one point of contact – someone who knows the construction sector and understands the equipment that is needed. There was no deposit required and no personal guarantees, and with only basic information being requested, we could turn yet another deal around quickly and professionally, to the obvious delight of the customer.

So, the Fylde Fish Bar, a takeaway and restaurant in Southport, was born. That was nearly three years ago and since then Ban, as he’s known locally, has steered his venture to success by winning an award in the Best Newcomer category at this year’s National Fish & Chip awards. Spurred on by this acclaim, this month he’s just opened his second shop, called Fish and Chips at the Plaza.

Ban told us:

I had a five year plan to open two shops, and I’ve done it in three. I’ve also broken the record for the quickest shop fit, taking four weeks from getting the keys to opening.

This was, in part, due to the help that Johnson Reed gave in providing frying equipment leasing. With £40,000 over 36 months, Ban had enough funding to purchase a brand new Hopkins range and a number of other key items of equipment.

He was really pleased that he called on our services:

We were recommended to Johnson Reed and we’ve found them to be competitive, professional and they offered a fast turnaround. They’ve also made it easier for us because the final payment has been agreed upfront, so we know exactly what the last payment is going to be. There are no nasty surprises at the end of the period, which we had with our previous loan company.

And the nice thing for us was that we offered Ban the best rates in town, so we were able to beat off several other quotes. That’s the way we like to work with all of our customers.

A recent case in point is the fish and chip shop for which we supplied finance to the tune of £20,000 for equipment from the leading supplier, Henry Nuttall of Sheffield. But we can’t reveal the name or whereabouts of the establishment so, whatever your business, we’ll take this opportunity to give you some good reasons for chip shop leasing from Johnson Reed.

Most importantly, we will improve your company’s liquidity by purchasing your equipment and leasing it back to you. This gives you many benefits. For example, you can conserve your working capital and put it to use in other more profitable ways, thereby increasing your profitability. It means you can have the equipment you need right now, without affecting your company’s cash reserves. And of course, you can get the very latest kit without the false economy of trying to cut corners with technological advances.

There are lots more tempting reasons to come to Johnson Reed. Next time we’re a bit thin on the ground with one of our case studies, we’ll tell you about some more.

As well as ensuring their plant and machinery is up to state-of-the-art standards, they also need efficient admin systems to maintain the high quality of their internal and external operations. Johnson Reed took to the challenge like a duck to water and came up with a simple, no deposit finance package of £6,995 for new telecoms equipment leasing. No personal guarantees were required, and Aquatec Rainsoft avoided the need to approach a bank.

Their business entails arranging one of their water consultants to visit your home to carry out a quality evaluation. They give you an insight into your water quality and offer general tips and advice on energy efficiency and ways to save money. Remarkable similarities to our own service really, but rather than water, we can give invaluable advice on telecoms, plant, equipment, machinery, construction, catering, laundry, glazing – in fact almost any area where the pain of capital expenditure can be eased with a straightforward finance deal from Johnson Reed.

One of their establishments, the Three Bears in Hazel Grove, near Bramall, had outgrown its walls, so the family invested £300k in an extension and refurbishment project to create an airy 30-seat restaurant overlooking the Cheshire countryside. An integral part of the new look was the addition of new kitchen equipment, including a Rational Combi Oven for which Johnson Reed supplied the finance. Totalling £9,008.53 (we think the 53 pence was the cost of the stamp on the envelope in which we sent the cheque), this was a 24-month loan for which we used our own funds. No deposit was necessary and our speed of turnaround was appreciated in meeting tight deadlines.

A spokesperson for the Three Bears told us:

I have been using Johnson Reed to help finance my successful chain of pub restaurants for many years. They are always helpful and prompt with the results.

When it comes to catering equipment finance, we can source everything for restaurants and caterers. Even the kitchen sink if necessary.