I was educated at Eton College and graduated from Bristol University in 1985 with a degree in Economics and Politics.
1985-1987 was spent at Morgan Grenfell Securities in London. I was made redundant in Dec 1987 shortly before the firm went bust from ill-management.
Ijoined Rothmans International Tobacco in 1988. There I worked as a PA to the group CEO, then I completed a graduate training programme in Rothmans Australia. I was then made promotions manager and then a brand manager in Australia. Returning to the UK I was assistant international brand manager on Dunhill then given accounts exposure with a period in the International accounting area (where I wrote the strategic plan for the whole group). On transferring to Rothmans UK, I completed a sales training and ran a sales territory in N London for a quarter. I then returned to marketing in UK before leaving for Belvoir.
In June 1992 I joined my father in our family business, Belvoir fruit farms Ltd. This developed originally from my father’s Pick your own fruit farm where he started making fruit cordials to my mother’s recipes and by 1992 had achieved annual sales of c. £100,000. I became initially the sales manager/director and then in 1997 managing director.
I completed the BGP course at Cranfield Business School in 2003
Net sales have grown organically to over £21m in 2018, driven by product innovation and selling into new channels but always sticking to our vision:
Belvoir Fruit Farms vision is to enrich peoples’ lives through the enjoyment of finer quality honest soft drinks. We aim to be the most respected soft-drinks maker in the UK, both in terms of product quality, integrity, and all-round reputation yet to combine these historically “speciality” values with size and profitability by having a strong brand.
Our mission is to become the market leader in premium adult soft drinks and in adult premium cordials; make the best tasting soft drinks to unique recipes, from genuine and natural raw materials, with attractive packaging for premium customers and their families which we can all be proud to make and which sell because they are healthy and taste wonderful.
We now sell to all the major UK supermarkets; we make private label and we export to over 30 different countries.
Belvoir’s sales will hopefully continue to grow in 2020 despite the challenges the Coronavirus presents founded on our brand strength.