Helping Crate support the financial wellbeing of their team

Crate is a craft brewery and pizzeria, established in Hackney Wick in July 2012, situated in an old print factory right on the canal.

Their taproom, with handmade pizzas, has gone on to become one of the capital’s best loved venues. With a passion for sustainability, interesting design and innovative food, in 2019 the team partnered up to bring Silo, the world’s first zero-waste restaurant, to their home in The White Building.

The pandemic brought about a number of changes to the business model, but the future’s looking bright with plans for expansion on the horizon.

Crate’s challenge

The business didn’t feel they were getting enough value from their previous pension provider - citing customer support and the employee experience as the two major pain points.

It was very hard to get hold of them if something went wrong and they did not offer support in setting up Salary Sacrifice. Likewise, the employee experience felt out of date - yearly communications, a lack of mobile app and difficulties logging in to check the value of the pension pot all compounded to make it very difficult to engage the team in this important employee benefit.

Penfold’s solution

At the start of the year, the finance team were reviewing and changing systems across the business including their payroll provider. They discovered Penfold and realised that they didn’t have to put up with the poor level of support they were receiving from their previous provider.

They also saw an opportunity to improve their pension offering from qualifying to total earnings and can now provide Salary Sacrifice - saving both the business and their employee’s money.

“We were particularly impressed with the onboarding and welcome sessions the Penfold team ran with our staff. Prior to signing up with Penfold, many of our staff had little knowledge of pensions and how they worked.

After the sessions with Josh, they had a full grasp of what a pension is and why it’s important. As an employer, it’s a fantastic feeling to know that we’re playing an active role in supporting our teams’ financial wellbeing.”

Pension set up:

• 5% employee, 3% employer contributions
• Contributions calculated on Total Earnings
• Salary Sacrifice offered to everyone

The results

Feedback from the wider Crate team has been extremely positive, with staff members explaining that before Penfold, thinking about their pensions was frightening because they didn’t understand them.

The onboarding and welcome sessions provided by the Penfold team helped educate the team on what they should be thinking about when saving for retirement.