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Taken from the Sunday Times - February 6th 2005.
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Luxury chauffeur service Pro Bus and Car is looking for ways to drive up business.
After a hard day in the kitchen, Belgian-born chef Bruno Schmidt liked
nothing more than to travel in style. But so often his journey home was
ruined by what he saw as the poor quality of Ireland's luxury taxi
service.
So fed up was the Michelin star chef that he set about
creating his own up market taxi firm with a service ethos based on the
five star hotel where he worked. "I knew I had to set us aside from the
'one man and his limo' outfits that comprise 90% of the competition,"
says Schmidt.
Now, six years on, Schmidt, 47, has put the pots
and pans behind him and heads Pro Bus and Car, a €1.5m
turnover company
that includes the likes of Bill Clinton and U2's Bono among its
clientele.
With offices in Kenmare, Co Kerry and at the Four
Seasons Hotel in Dublin, Pro Bus and Car, run by Schmidt and his wife
Sandra, offers a fleet of 17 top-of-the range S-class and E-class
Mercedes and coaches that come complete with a bar, individual DVD
players and an optional butler service.
His customers are mainly
corporate chiefs and wealthy tourists. Those who opt for the Pro Car
service will usually be collected as soon as they step off the plane,
whisked off to a lounge where they can check emails and freshen up
while their baggage is collected before being taken to their
destination.
The drivers are all well groomed and the cars
immaculate, with finishing touches such as bottles of mineral water,
hand towels and a daily newspaper. It is that kind of detail that has
taken profits this year to 600,000.
But such accelerated growth
brings its own challenges. Unless Schmidt finds ways to boost income
during the non tourist times he could find Pro Bus and Car hitting the
brakes.
When the business was formed in 1998 there were two
five-star hotels in Kenmare serving a population of 800 and a vast
amount of American tourists with money to spend. They, like he, were
unimpressed with Ireland's taxis. "More and more of them asked why
there wasn't a luxury taxi service", says Schmidt, who was then working
at the Park Hotel as head chef.
"The only car big and luxurious
enough in Kenmare that could have been used to ferry visitors around
belonged to the local undertaker," he says. With the help of Park Hotel
owner Francis Brennan and a bank loan, Schmidt bought his first car - a
left-hand-drive VW Caravelle.
Driving ambition saw the addition
of more cars - all of which were equipped to the hilt - that took
profits to €24,000 in the first year of trading. In the spring
of 2000 Schmidt opened an office in the new Four Seasons Hotel after some
fierce local competition.
"During the first year I spent ducking
between the pots in the kitchen to take bookings on my mobile. It was a
real struggle but I knew the service we offered was the best", says
Schmidt who continued working in the hotel for the next three years as
it allowed him to look after the business during the winter when the
hotel trade is quiet.
But today it is the four months between
October and March that leaves Schmidt more free time than he'd like.
The absence of upmarket travellers and golfers going to Kenmare means
that cars need to be diverted to Dublin where there is some, though
small, activity with corporate clients.
"In the high season we
can have as many as 28 drivers," says Schmidt. "That can go as low as
15 in the winter. We build up a war chest from the high profits we make
in the busier months to see us through the leaner times."
This
contrasts sharply with the big golfing events in the summer where up to
60 vehicles may be needed for a period of up to a week. The work then
has to be outsourced to other operators - usually those with one or two
cars each - that buy into The Pro Bus and Car product to make sure that
style and standard of service is consistent.
"It is difficult to
manage 30 to 40 outsourced drivers," says Schmidt. "It can compromise
the service we offer as there isn't always the time to spend on
briefing them."
Schmidt has set up an academy to train drivers
to the level that is demanded of them. "I did not want a taxi-driver
attitude where there may be risk of offending clients," he says. A
two-week intensive course teaches etiquette, knowledge of Ireland's
history and types of entertainment to suit tastes.
Schmidt also
makes sure his drivers have an impeccable knowledge of Ireland so that
they can also function as unofficial tour guides. The drivers are all
equipped with hand-held computers so they can be kept up to date with
information on new restaurants or top shows.
Pro Bus and Car's
expensive fleet was being bought on hire purchase but now, with the
help of the BES Fund, €500,000 have been raised and matched by
a bank
loan to buy the cars outright. Eleven new vehicles have been bought but
it's all added to the financial pressures. Schmidt now has to find ways
to recoup the investment and pay back the loan.
As the house
chauffeur company at the Four Seasons, Pro Bus and Car should have an
inside track to the residents' taxi needs but the policy seems to be to
provide people with what they ask for rather than a hard sell of the
service by the reception staff. This means that residents are often
unaware of the service offered and use regular taxis instead.
Schmidt
recognises the need for a marketing strategy but is not sure how to go
about it. Direct mail campaigns followed up by telesales calls to the
corporate market have provided a modicum of success but Schmidt is
dismissive of these as a long-term approach. Instead he prefers to use
the drivers. "Our drivers are our best salesmen as they have decision
makers in the car as a captive audience. But, they have to be subtle
and not go in for the hard-sell."
This approach seems to work
better to provide the organic growth that Schmidt favours but can be
frustrating when work is falling way short of capacity. At the moment
the firm runs at 90% capacity in the busier months and so is
manageable. But Schmidt fears that the service will suffer if the
company grows too fast.
Favouring the cautious approach, Schmidt
says: "We'll see how we get on at the Four Seasons for another two or
three years before we expand the operation in Dublin. I would rather
look at offering the service elsewhere in Ireland before we think about
growing the business here."
Schmidt is also looking to open an
office in Cork. "I believe that Cork has a lot of potential as it is
only a one hour drive from our head office in Kenmare and has a
concentration of American pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and
Boston Scientific."
However he decides to grow the company, Schmidt is confident he has the
recipe for success.
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