On the 18th January 2018, business students from Richmond upon Thames College (RuTC) presented a new marketing strategy to Richmond Council for Café Sunshine on Twickenham Riverside.

The popular local café first opened in 2009 and is staffed by people with learning disabilities and catering staff. As part of the project, 15 students devised a series of marketing plans which were then presented to the café’s stakeholders.

RuTC students spent time with the staff and customers and then designed creative ideas for improving its future marketing strategy. Ideas included new flyers and posters, social media, giving out free tasters at community events and a loyalty card.

Richmond Council members will now review the proposals and consider which ones to implement. Cllr David Marlow, Richmond Council Cabinet Member for Adult Services and Health, said:

“We are keen to further promote the café, to enable us to reach new audiences and draw people to the Riverside. This project with Richmond upon Thames College students enables us to do that. I would like to thank the students for their work and I look forward to seeing their plans in action.”

Chris Pegler, business lecturer at RuTC, commented, “we are proud of the ideas and effort that our students put into supporting this project and would like to thank the staff of the Sunshine Café and Richmond Council for giving our students the opportunity to use their talents. We hope that this will be the first of many opportunities to do so.”

If this sounds like the kind of thing you would like to be involved with from September, find out more about business courses at Richmond upon Thames College now.