Business diversification and viability

The Equestrian Employers Association spoke to Louise Fitton from Ryders Farm Equestrian Centre, Nr Bolton, about diversification and how it can help business growth and development.

tell us a bit about Ryders Farm Equestrian Centre

Ryders Farm Equestrian Centre (RFEC) was founded over 25 years ago by our Owner and Centre Manager - Sarah Fitton BHSI. We have three main branches of RFEC; we are a BHS Approved Centre, BHS Approved Livery Yard and BHS Approved Training Centre.

We currently have 32 horses and ponies and provide riding lessons for riders ages 4+ catering from leisure riders to advanced riders. We also organise regular events, competitions and clinics at our yard and welcome riders using RFEC horses and those wanting to train on their own horses.

Our Training Centre offers regular training for those wanting to pursue professional equestrian development through the BHS Pathways. We have 26 livery horses on our Livery Yard and have a brilliant community of livery owners who really enjoy being part of RFEC and riding and supporting each other.

What areas have you diversified in to?

We have a brilliant combination of businesses based at our yard that complement each other well and create a wonderful sense of community. Our yard isn’t just open for our riders, we welcome visitors and non-riders that can enjoy a day out to visit RFEC.

Being based on the main A666 road, we are in a very built up area so many people are actually very surprised when they visit us and see how much green space, animals and things we have going on at our centre.

We have a fantastic on-site cafe, The Atrium Cafe at Ryders Farm run by Lynn Johnson-Roberts. Lynn has been based at RFEC for the past three years and has created another lovely family business at our yard. The cafe space is welcoming and looks fantastic, Lynn serves wholesome and healthy food for all occasions and also provides an outstanding catering service.

This works really well with our riding centre, as Lynn often caters for our riding camps with delicious afternoon tea and buffets and runs alongside our show jumping and dressage competitions for all riders and spectators to enjoy.

The Farm Shop at Ryders, another family business run by David and Veronica Hamblett, has been proudly based at RFEC for the past seven years. The Farm Shop offers quality, local produce from homemade fresh pies and cakes alongside the butchery, serving the highest quality meats sourced from as close as possible to our yard.

Our centre is also the base for Equine Studies course at Eccles Sixth Form College, providing equine courses for school leavers to higher education. The college has both a classroom base at RFEC and use of our facilities to provide riding lessons and practical sessions for the students.

How are these run/managed?

The Atrium Cafe at Ryders and The Farm Shop at Ryders are both separate to the riding centre and rent the premises from RFEC.

How has this helped to add value to your own business?

It works really well as having all our businesses essentially ‘under one roof’ meaning that our clients get a brilliant experience when they visit us. For example; (pre-lockdown) our riders can bring their family along with them and enjoy a lovely lunch in the cafe after their lesson, then pop into The Farm Shop to buy some fresh, local produce for their tea.

What challenges have you found with operating in this way?

We have thought long and hard about any challenges and we really do struggle to find any! Each business complements each other brilliantly, this is also a lot easier because the respective owners are so easy and pleasant to work with. We all acknowledge that the riding centre is the main area of business on the yard and understand how important our centre is for so many people, this then makes it a brilliant team effort to serve our clients to the best standard within each business.

When deciding on what areas to diversify into what were important considerations?

Who we work with is a big factor for us, RFEC is a family business in itself and our clients and team are so important to us. Therefore, whenever we make a decision to bring someone else into this community in such a big way it is paramount that they also understand this and we all have the same values.

Have you got plans to develop this further?

Obviously at the moment, we are just so grateful to be serving all our clients following the lockdown, it has been a scary time but we are glad that we are beginning to see a way forward and our clients have been a massive help and support during it all.

We have always wanted to develop our own merchandise for the RFEC riding centre for our riders. So this is something that we definitely want to explore more and possibly look to build our own riding centre shop for our clients and riders to buy their riding essentials and RFEC merch!

Our RFEC training centre is also something we are pushing forwards with, we are also a BHS Approved Training Centre as well as riding school so we are expanding our training options/courses to be able to help more people access the BHS Pathways and professional equestrian training in our area at the highest quality standard in a friendly, welcoming environment that they can always expect from RFEC.

What advice do you have for anyone looking at different business options/diversification?

There are so many different things to take into account. The local market/surrounding area is a big factor to determine whether there is the demand for more/different types of businesses to diversify into. Also, in terms of space and access to cater for an increased volume of clients etc. There really is no ‘one size fits all’ method and it’s all about finding your market and improving/expanding what you offer to improve the client experience and your service offerings.

Thank you to Louise for this insight into diversification and how it can work for your yard. For more business support have a look at how we can help you.