As a site that’s completely dedicated to the people of Torquay, this is the beginning of a series of features that celebrate people and businesses in Torquay who have achieved major success.
The first feature is about someone who has completely shaken up the food industry in the area. James Phillips is the founder of the insanely popular Yeti Delivery.
For those of you who haven’t heard of Yeti, they are a service that delivers food around the bay from a number of different restaurants. I remember the days when people used to complain that McDonalds or KFC didn’t deliver. Because of Yeti, the people of Torbay no longer need to worry.
Although McDonalds and KFC delivery is very popular, there’s a huge selection of other local eateries that Yeti can deliver directly to your door.
What makes James’ feat even more impressive is the fact that Just Eat and Hungry House had such a huge foothold in the home food delivery market, but Yeti is an improved business model.
Just Eat and Hungry House are hubs that take-aways join to increase the chances of people ordering from them. Because of the Just Eat service charge, it’s actually cheaper to order from the places directly. Yeti had upped the game as they deliver from many places that don’t have a delivery service, meaning instead of being limited to pizza and kebabs, local people can enjoy a more up-market night in.
Yeti was James’ brainchild, and as someone who I know personally, he has agreed to answer a few questions about his huge success in such a new company.
What were you doing before Yeti?
I worked for furniture village and got fired.
What gave you the idea to start Yeti?
My friend Steven Lee who worked for Just Eat was my inspiration.
I also found 3 different companies doing similar things and merged the best parts of all of them together, and Yeti was born.
What was the most difficult part of starting the business?
EVERYTHING! I didn’t have a business plan and just winged it.
I do wish I’d planned things better as I made a lot of expensive mistakes that could have been avoided. Despite this I’ve been extremely lucky as we made a profit in our second month and have done in every month since.
Is it going better than you imagined it would?
Yes. Being my own boss is amazing. I was badly behaved at school and am not the best at dealing with authority. Being my own boss means I don’t have to answer to anyone apart from myself.
Any advice to young people looking to go into business in the area?
To anyone looking to set up a business down here, I’d suggest looking at successful businesses in the bigger towns and cities that haven’t reached here yet.
Torbay and South Devon as a whole is a little bit behind when it comes to trends, so if something is picking up in say London or Manchester, you can be sure that the people of Torquay would be into it.
Once you’ve got your idea the best way to give yourself the best chance of success is to plan plan plan.
If you would like to order a McDonalds, KFC or many other local businesses in future, just go to the Yeti website – https://www.yetidelivery.com/ .
If you are a business owner and you’d like to be featured on Torquay Online, or know someone who is rocking the Torquay business world, send me an email on editor@torquayonline.com .
