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Business Support
Coronavirus (COVID-19) is disrupting every aspect of life, including businesses and the entirety of the vegan business sector. With so many governmental pages popping up when you search ‘business support’ we have condensed this down for you with the relevant links you may need depending on what business you are. As well as putting together some much needed Freebies and offers that can keep costs low and promotion high!
We are also going to be launching our online directory this month and heavily promoting this across all social media with advertisements reaching thousands of your target vegan audience, meaning your business will be found by every person who clicks through to try and help you be found!
Finance:
Our wonderful vegan accountant is offering all Vegan Founded registered businesses with a FREE 30-minute phone call to go over any financial changes and strain that you may need to discuss with a professional, and seek advice from. All you have to do is email hello@veganfounded.com with your contact number and request a callback from our accountant!
Gov websites are always a little overwhelming, but they have updated their 'Business Support' website which is very user friendly. Here are some key links we think may help you the most, with a short summary and actions to take to save you some time:
The temporary Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme supports small and medium-sized businesses with access to loans, overdrafts, invoice finance and asset finance of up to £5 million and for up to six years. The Government will also make a Business Interruption Payment to cover the first 12 months of interest payments. To apply, you should talk to your bank or one of the 40 accredited finance providers offering the scheme.
Businesses in the retail, hospitality and leisure sectors in England will not have to pay business rates for the 2020-21 tax year. Businesses that received the retail discount in the 2019-20 tax year will be rebilled by their local authority as soon as possible. There is no action for you. Local authorities will apply the business rates holiday to your bills
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Cash Grant for Retail, Hospitality and Leisure
If your business is in the retail, hospitality or leisure sector, you will receive a cash grant of up to £25,000 per property. Businesses in these sectors with a rateable value of under £15,000 will receive a grant of £10,000. Businesses with a rateable value of between £15,001 and £51,000 will receive a grant of £25,000. You do not need to do anything. Your Local Authority will write to you if you are eligible for this grant.
The Government is providing additional funding for Local Authorities to support small businesses that already pay little or no business rates. This will provide a one-off grant of £10,000 to eligible businesses to help meet their ongoing business costs. You do not need to do anything. Your Local Authority will write to you if you are eligible for this grant.
If you want to contact your local authority to find out more, search for them HERE.
All businesses and self-employed people in financial distress, and with outstanding tax liabilities, may be eligible to receive support with their tax affairs through HMRC’s Time To Pay service. These arrangements are agreed on a case-by-case basis and are tailored to individual circumstances and liabilities. If you’ve missed, or are worried about missing, your next tax payment due to coronavirus, please contact HMRC. You can also call the HMRC tax helpline for businesses effected by Coronavirus for advice on 0800 0159 559
There are many more useful pages and governmental support throughout this website to help with paying sick pay, paying your staff, and FAQ's that are worth reading through.
Design:
A fantastic designer who works with ourselves, Vegan Camp Out, Goddess Retreat, and Primary Veducation to name a few, is offering a huge 50% off his hourly rate to help support any Vegan Founded registered businesses who needs to quickly go online, up their social media presence and be better recognised with his design and web design work. All you need to do is email us to request to be contacted regarding design work and we will pass on your details!
Website:
Need a to get online and build a website fast? We can build you a simple but great looking Wix website with a quick turn around! Some of the work we have done for you to look at are, our own website Vegan Founded of course, Vegan Camp Out, Grow Up Vegan and we're working on many more. During this time we have decided to strip away our hourly rate and offer you our services for just £200* (four pages, content/copy provided) or £100 for a simple 2 page website to get you started!
*The website domain, and Wix hosting charges will be applied in addition to the £200 flat rate fee we are charging for our services. You can pay monthly for a Wix website which is very handy and typically cost around £150 for the year!
Social Media:
Here are two social media post we have created to encourage your audience and customers to help you during this difficult time. The first gives 5 simple ways that they can help for free, from their phones! The second is great to use if you are asking for help and/or donations during this time.
Just save it straight to your phone or desktop from here and share to your social media accounts!
Tips:
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If you are a customer facing establishment that is still able to open, let your customers know exactly what safety measures you have put in place to look after them and your staff.
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A branded info-graphic with a caption explaining your adaptations works very well, or a video from the owner or a friendly member of the team is great too.
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Don't just do one post, not everyone sees all of your content. So we would recommend one of each with some time between them.
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Be transparent and keep people informed - remember to stay as positive as possible :)
Here are some great examples of posts we think have worked very well from some of our registered Vegan Founded businesses:
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The Vegan Kind Supermarket
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All Out Foods
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Unity Diner
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Happy Maki
Safety Measures:
Every business needs to apply safety measures and communicate this to their customers. Adding information to your page, communicating this via your social platforms and subscribers all work great.
If you are customer facing, the safety measures you should now be implementing are 'contactless customer service' as well as extra hygiene policies and if possible a complete online service. Even we had to make changes! We were working hard on a physical welcome pack that would have been posted to all registered businesses but we decided to delay and we posted about this online to let everyone know.
For events that are in the future with the possibility of going ahead safely, all safety measures you can implement need to be outlined and accessible to your attendees to read. HERE are the safety measures we helped Vegan Camp Out put together (scroll to the bottom of their page). The below images are an easy way to get your event attendees to check if they themselves are safe to attend. You can save the first image, resize and upload to your website along with your safety measures. The second has been made to share on your social media during the lead up to your event.
Company no. 12091540
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