Andy Darke: my experience of Help to Grow

Key motivations

Andy started the 12-week Help to Grow programme in January 2022. He explains what his motivations were: “We have always been a small team at Bustler Market and have worked in a way that felt natural to us, but as we’ve started to grow and get more employees, we felt we needed look at our processes and try to structure them better. Coming from a hospitality background, I’ve not done a lot of business education before so I was also curious to see what I might learn.”

Applying the learning to a new venture

As it turned out, the programme came at exactly the right time for Andy, because halfway through the programme, Bustler Market acquired a new site in a new city.  “This was the very definition of growth,” says Andy. “I had a real-life case study ready to go that I could apply all my learning to. It made sense to use the processes and tools I was learning on the programme to help us establish this new market.”

Andy found the Business Model Canvas particularly useful. This is a one-page strategic management tool that helps you clearly define a business concept, including its cost structure, revenue streams, value proposition, customer segments and more.

See inside Bustler Market

If you've never been to Bustler Market, this video gives you a glimpse of what it's like.

Understanding your strengths and weaknesses

Another valuable aspect of the programme for Andy, was that it shone a light on his business’ strengths and weaknesses. “I found out that we were doing a lot of stuff right but that we weren’t necessarily doing it consciously. Now we recognise that, we are putting in place a proper framework so that it’s repeatable. Identifying your weaknesses is obviously important but recognising your strengths too gives you confidence.”

Support from other business leaders

The Help to Grow programme is delivered through blended learning, including online sessions, face-to-face workshops, one-to-one mentoring and peer group support. Andy says he found the face-to-face elements particularly useful: “I think the very nature of being in a room with people, makes people more inclined to have discussions and be more engaged. Hearing from other businesses was great. Even though I wasn’t in a group with other people from hospitality, I found I had a surprising amount in common with others — for example, with businesses in the care sector.”

Andy’s mentoring sessions were also a real positive for him. Help to Grow mentors offer one-to-one, personalised support to people, helping them to develop their business growth plans. Andy’s mentor was Anita Dinnes, a business consultant with extensive experience in product and service-based industries across B2B and B2C markets.

“The hours I had with my mentor were really, really valuable,” says Andy. “Anita was really good — straight-talking, full of ideas and we had some great, open discussions. I will definitely continue to keep in touch with her.”

Ready for the next challenge

Andy explains what the next steps are for his business:

“The next six months are going to be challenging for our team as we launch another Bustler in a new city, in a market that we don’t know, and with a slightly different offering.

We’ll be running two large-scale hospitality sites at once. But because of Help to Grow, it feels like we have the tools and the confidence to do it now.”

Watch our interview with Andy