Expansion of Harbour Lights Group Portfolio
“The Harbour Lights Group story begins with The Fishery in Port St Mary, with the idea to serve classic dishes reimagined with a Manx touch. The venue of 1 Loch Road holds a rich history in the food and beverage industry that we’re honoured to have breathed life back into. The refit of The Fishery and the development of their ‘Manx as the Hills’ brand identity began a journey of acquiring more hospitality venues across the island and developing them into successful, key dining destinations, which brings them into the present day…”
- Ben Heath, Chief Operating Officer, Impellity Isle of Man
Case Study Introduction –
The Harbour Lights Group is one of the oldest legacy brands in the Isle of Man. Formed in 1996 by the Heath family, the Group started as one location in Peel, Isle of Man, and a second location followed approximately ten years later, eventually growing to six locations Island-wide. As the brand approached its 20th anniversary, the decision was made to revitalise the Harbour Lights family of brands, both from a branding and marketing perspective.
Impellity Isle of Man embarked on a journey to secure financing to restructure the lease assets, revamp the core branding, and invest in technology.
About Impellity –
Impellity Isle of Man offers consulting and management services to companies wishing to expand their businesses across borders. Using a variety of competencies, they provide a holistic solution to each individual company, and Impellity is the driving force in the process of moving into new markets: as the company’s ethos dictates – Detect the problem. Create a solution. Implement it.
Founded in April 2006 under the name Want Export Ltd., Impellity has amassed several years’ expertise in international business and product development into new markets and has successfully assisted many companies in expanding overseas.
Impellity Ltd has continued to build on its successes and reputation, which has enabled the company to develop and introduce a more diverse portfolio of products and services on offer to clients, such as investment sourcing, investment opportunities, and lead generation.
This continued success has seen the company expand exponentially and support the management and additional needs for both existing and new clients, relative to expanding into overseas trading: the acquisition-merger with Gateway Trade & Investments is the latest amendment to the Impellity brand.
Background –
The Harbour Lights family of brands includes The Fishery, Port St Mary; Harbour Lights at The Sefton, Douglas; Sir Norman’s Theatre Bar, Douglas; Harbour Lights Café, Peel.
This family-owned brand is highly-respected in the Isle of Man, being one of the oldest and most successful legacy food and beverage brands on the Island.
Scaling –
For Impellity Isle of Man, The Harbour Lights Group has always been ahead of the curve: state of the art equipment, booking system, loyalty scheme, app etc., so scaling the business from Impellity’s perspective was building on this operational experience, by introducing cost optimisation through finance administration systems, and a new level of marketing expertise.
Impellity Isle of Man sought to restructure one of the leases in the Harbour Lights Group (The Fishery, Port St Mary) into a different brand that would still tie into the existing family of brands.
As a standalone entity, Impellity Isle of Man realised that The Fishery’s previous iteration had reached its brand capacity, and several things needed to happen to bring the brand forward.
The Harbour Lights Group has always been good at staying ahead of the curve and has always been at the vanguard of modern technological advancements in the food and beverage industry on the Isle of Man: an integrated state-of-the-art POS system, loyalty scheme, online booking, and app, yet Impellity Isle of Man was brought in to move the brand forward due to its operational experience, cost-cutting, cost optimisation, finance administration knowledge, etc.
Aside from the investment in technology being paramount to the brand being able to move forward, a refurbishment and redesign were essential to fulfilling an end-to-end revitalisation of the brand that was still loyal and respectful to the original concept but modernised in a way that’s more relevant to modern expectations of dining and hospitality.
Similarly, the Sir Norman’s Theatre Bar experienced a refit, in-keeping with the theatrical theme: a raised stage area to showcase lounge-bar acts, artwork around the walls celebrating local theatrical productions from the past etc.
Challenges & Strategy –
Appealing to a new demographic was a key challenge for Impellity Isle of Man. Traditionally, the Harbour Lights has appealed to an older demographic due to its geographical and economic position, and the contemporising of the brand and its marketing activities repositioned the Group.
The refurbishment of Harbour Lights at The Sefton, The Fishery, and Harbour Lights Café in Peel has contemporised the brand. The design cues of the refurbished spaces reference the architecture and charm of the original venues, but reimagined for the 21st century.
Bringing the projects to such successful conclusions has been a major undertaking for Impellity Isle of Man, and has enable the Harbour Lights Group to deliver consistently exceptional customer service and to further the island’s reputation as a special place to live, work, and visit.