SPITFIRE SHOOT

We speak to Rich Harding – owner of Spitfire Shoot in Hampshire – about brewing branded beer and the importance of investing in your staff

Gun Trade Insider (GTI): How long have you been in business and how did you get started?

Rich Harding (RH): I have been here for 14 years. I have always shot, and my dad had the ground before me. The business was going through a period of stagnation and he asked me to get involved to help out. We made the business into a limited company, and after a few years, we came to a more formal arrangement and I took over full ownership and control.

Before all that, I had an event staffing company where we provided staff for fivestar hospitality events, things like horse racing and rugby – we did things like the Dubai World Cup horse racing, Six Nations rugby, the Olympics, the Grand National, the Goodwood events, and others. I also previously ran gyms and trained people for their fitness goals.

I think my previous experience – exceptional hospitality, management and training people – all came together here at the shoot and gave me a really great base of knowledge and experience from which to build up the shoot. Customer service has been a focus right from the start, and one of the first things I did was to implement proper procedures and packages, contracts for the staff, proper pay, and basically turn it into a proper business.

GTI: How has your business changed since you took over?

RH: It’s changed massively. The main change has been in terms of the excellent customer service that we provide and the fundamental learning packages we offer. We make sure we do regular layout changes to keep things fresh as well – we used to do a big change every quarter, but now we try and change a couple of stands every four weeks roughly. Something is working as we’ve won the Trip Advisor Traveler’s Choice accolade ten years in a row!

Another change has been an increase in branding and our development of the shooting lodge, which has had a kitchen added and now has the highest rating for food hygiene. Our branded merchandise is also becoming popular – we do local homemade candles and we now have branded beer which can be served on site or bought in gift sets to take away. We’re doing two main beers all the time, and a third that’s only available in the gift packs. We made sure the beers we serve here are under 5% ABV so you can safely have one after shooting and drive home. To enable this, we’re of course licensed now. This means that as well as being able to serve the beers and make decent food, the beers and branded merchandise make fantastic, personal gun gifts.

GTI: What are some of the toughest challenges you’ve faced in business?

RH: The pandemic was obviously the biggest challenge, just in the sense of trying to navigate the bills coming out, people’s expectations, staffing – we were very much in the public eye, being in the leisure sector, which also made it a tense time. I’m sure most businesses would say the same, and with any luck it’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing we had to feel our way through.

Now the biggest challenge is the rising cost of everything and trying to not overprice what we do, while still being able to keep the business going. You can’t keep increasing your prices every time your stock price increases – it just ends up too expensive for people. You have to think of other ways and think outside the box. This is part of the idea of bringing in extras like merchandise, so you’re encouraging more spend per customer but offering them great value in return, rather than just charging people more and more for the same service.

GTI: What do you consider to be your best and worst business decisions?

RH: I don’t think there’s a worst decision because you’re just learning everything as you go and trying out new ideas – if something doesn’t work, it doesn’t matter, you try something else. Eventually, you learn what resonates with your customers.

I think the best decision I ever made was the investment I’ve made in my staff. Quite a few have been here a long time, like Lily and Louis, and many have stayed working here alongside having other jobs because they enjoy it here.

We’ve trained Louis in a lot of different areas, from being a groundsman to customer service, management and instructing, while Lily has been trained in customer service and supervising, and she’s currently learning all the office management. It’s all about developing them into who they want to be and listening to what they want to gain from it all.

This investment in properly trained, happy staff has paid off massively because I never have to worry about what’s going on in reception or on the ground – I can then completely focus on new ideas and development, and trust my staff to run things to the high standards they’ve been trained to.

It’s all about giving everyone a sense of ownership over their area, so we can all build something together here. I was lucky enough to have had a manager that invested in my development, so when I had the chance to do the same for others I made sure I took it.

GTI: If you were to start again, is there anything you’d do differently?

RH: Not really, no. As we said already, a lot is trying new ideas and seeing what people do and don’t like. Initially I wanted to do the lodge refurbishment in one go, but ended up doing it in stages so that each time an area is built or developed we sort of grow into that area and it organically becomes part of the shoot, allowing us to keep operating to a high standard. I think I would have introduced the membership earlier, that has helped create a really nice community of people that really understand what we are creating here, and it’s been a really nice addition to have members events with them all coming together socially.

GTI: If you could give one piece of advice to a new retailer in this industry, what would it be?

RH: Consistency. I don’t think that’s even related to this industry specifically – this is across the board. If you’re consistently giving out a good product or service that offers your customers value, then you’ll do well.

People don’t like the grind, but it’s the consistency of doing something really well, even if you don’t feel like it, that will see success. You’ll always go through months when you hate your job and you don’t want to go in, and then something will click and suddenly you love it again.

Customer service is absolutely vital as well. People will forgive you little things if they know they’re being treated well and that you’re invested in them having a good time.

GTI: Are you planning any future developments?

RH: Yes, we’re continuing expansion of the lodge and continuing to make improvements to the ground, which is always an ongoing thing. Over time we’ll also develop our offerings for events on the days we aren’t shooting, as the space here evolves allowing us to offer more services.