Family Businesses of the Year Award Winner
27th September 2021
There are over five million family businesses that make up 87.6% of companies in the UK and we’re proud to represent them.
The PR Team sat down with our Head of Marketing, Kelechi Okereke.
We were the proud winners of the Family Business of the Year award winner at the Niche Business Awards 2021.
“Being competitive, we wanted to win the Family Business award, however the most important driving factor was external recognition of the wider teams hard work. To be recognised by peers and other successful businesses is something truly special. Winning the Niche Family Business Awards in 2020 was a wonderful experience, but it felt different this time and we were so nervous at the Niche Business Awards ceremony.
“Submitting our application made us realise how much we’ve accomplished over the last 18 months, as a team we achieve great things and then never think about it again. When we sat down with the judging panel we reflected and thought, ‘you know what, we’ve done well!’
“Our team is where we really win. All businesses have had issues with container fees and shipping disruptions and every business lives and dies by stock turnover and profitable margins. Our Finance Director Sadie and her team have been incredible, managing every aspect of our finances, which has empowered us to be flexible enough to adapt to a constantly changing environment, whilst increasing profitability.”
Another display of the drive and determination from the team to support the business occurred recently when we invested on our product photography studio.
“We needed an electric turntable to enable us to photograph and film furniture at different angles, but it was outrageously expensive! Being a tight-knit family business, one of our engineers heard and astonishingly said he could build one for us, and just like that, we had a multi-speed, electrified turntable, equal to the one we could have purchased.”
According to Office of National Statistics, Brits were spending 147% more time on home improvements. Charles Bentley saw a 200% increase in orders within the first month of lockdown in March 2020.
“If we can deliver during those challenging peaks, we know now how far we can stretch the business. We always planned to expand but the pandemic forced our hand and we’ve now completed our three-year plan in a fraction of the time.
“We have exciting plans for the future, working with our retail partners, new product launches, and development of our online offer which empowers us to reinvest in the business and our people.”
Click here to read about our 2021 DIY Week Retailer Support Initiative Award
Click here to read about our 2020 Family Business of the Year Award
