THE owners of Vigour have shared their secrets to how they’ve become the top rated venue across all search engines in the area and encouraged more people to invest in the town centre.
Back in 2018, school pals Scott Anderson, Anthony Georgiou and Chris Hayes joined forces to create what was then a healthy food venue.
The firm went from strength to strength supplying healthy options, not available elsewhere in St Helens.
However, as trends change, they have diversified their offering including delectable small plates and their interpretation on family favourites as well as taking on a Rosette chef, elements they claim are key in weathering the storm of the pandemic and the cost-of-living crisis.
They are currently the top-rated food venue in St Helens across Trip Advisor and Google.
Scott and Anthony said: “We are six years into this now and we firmly believe you only get out what you put in and we put everything we have into this to give the best quality and experience.
“You know we started as a health food place – and we still offer that – but a key to our success is realising that that niche offered something to some but not all the people so we added small plates and got a top chef with Rosette experience on board and it’s been great for us.
“We have huge engagement online and that’s key to our success we think. People come to us from St Helens but we get a lot from out of town, lots of people working on Glass Futures and staying at the hotel as well as our regulars – plus we serve alcohol so there’s a night scene as well.
“It’s a nice place for a quiet meal, a party or a date, it’s ideal really and when people saw that we had people come including food bloggers, which is a big deal for us.
“We know we offer something not available at this price point in the likes of Manchester or Liverpool, look what has happened in Prescot and Stockport after people invested in them, they turned themselves around”
The trio also cite that investing in town centres and independent venues is the only way to St Helens turnaround success.
They added: “It’s a shame really that most of our visitors are from out of town, because too often people from St Helens put the town down, complaining that it’s not like it was, but nowhere is.
“People don’t shop for clothes in shops anymore, it’s easier online and that’s a fact, but people want to go out and have a good time, meet friends and that and the hospitality industry offers that.
“Don’t get us wrong it’s hard work, it’s not always fun, but we are proud of what we’ve achieved so far and wish more people would invest in and come visit St Helens, we have lots to offer here from us to other venues like the Imperial Quarter which is bringing increased footfall and the changes in the shopping centres.
“If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it, and there will be something to moan about then. We can’t change anything by just moaning about what’s gone, we have to work on what we can do now.”
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