The owner was personally handling all production, packing, dispatch and administration, with no delegation structure in place. There was no standard calendar, so admin tasks were completed reactively, often outside standard working hours. Client reviews weren’t visible to potential new customers, limiting their impact on new business, and beekeeping duties that could be outsourced were consuming time that could go toward higher-value work.

We carried out a Gemba walk of the honey extraction-to-shipping process to see the work as it actually happened, then identified where packing, dispatch, labelling and some beekeeping duties could be delegated or outsourced. We introduced a standard calendar to keep admin work inside normal hours, and developed a strategy to make positive client reviews more visible to prospective customers.

The delegation and outsourcing plan freed the owner from a significant share of repetitive operational tasks, creating capacity for business development and growth, while the standard calendar eliminated out-of-hours admin work. Improved review visibility strengthened new client acquisition. Combined, these changes delivered €22,880 in identified annual savings and a 10.7% increase in capacity.