Start-up case study - Tiffinbites

A fascinating interview in the Guardian tells the story of how Jamal Hirani set up and has expanded his niche food chain Tiffinbites. Some great materials in here for the new AS Business specifications and also students looking for an interesting case study for their strategy papers…

Here is the link to the interview.

Key points I picked up from the article included:

- The importance of persistence as a characteristic of an entrepreneur (not giving up easily, even when other are not convinced the business idea will work)

- Clear focus on a niche market segment - high quality Indian food sold at lunchtime

- Growth through organic methods (opening new locations) & acquisitions

- Growth using the franchise model

- Importance of high capacity utilisation (1,000 covers per day)

- Sources of finance: personal assets (including remortgaging)

- Use of word-of-mouth recommendation rather than advertising