With sales last year of over £650 million, Samworth Brothers continues to be a dominant force in the UK food sector, employing 7,000 people in well-invested, modern sites in Leicestershire and Cornwall. It is the largest private sector business in both counties and its Ginsters brand is found in fridges across the country. Based in Melton Mowbray, a town famous for its food heritage, Mark explains that “one of the keys to our success is shared passion that we all have for the quality of the food we produce. We use only the best quality ingredients, soured locally where possible, to produce our foods which range from sandwiches to desserts.”
“As a business, being privately owned has given us the stability to invest and grow over the years, offering new opportunities for our customers, staff, suppliers and the local communities, too.”
Samworth Brothers is one of those companies which is proud to be a family company and believes that this gives it a genuine competitive advantage.
Established in 1896 when George Samworth set up his own pig dealing business in Birmingham, it’s still going strong today in family ownership with Mark Samworth being the fourth generation of the family to work for the firm. Samworth Brothers is viewed with pride by the family who are determined to keep it private for generations to come.
To date, seven members of the family have worked in the business.
As the only family member currently employed in the business, Mark is aware of his responsibilities but as he is keen to point out, “there are structures in place to ensure that the business is effectively governed including an exceptional professional management team that shares the family’s values and maintains a strong business culture. We never take success for granted, but the fact that previous generations have come through difficult times and survived gives the business the confidence to continue to invest for the future. As a family, we are keen to continue to grow and build a business that produces great products that we are happy to take home to our own families.”
“In fact, my own four year old still thinks that Daddy has been at work making the pies that we have for dinner!” continues Mark. “In many ways, the food sector is a very personal business to be in and we have to take pride in the food that we produce. Value for money is exceptionally important, and we need to ensure that we offer good products to generate a fair price. Margins are always tight and we need to make sure that all business is good business, too.”
Samworth Brothers produces quality foods for their own brands and for the brands of the UK supermarkets. The business has grown from Cornish Pasties and Melton Mowbray Pork Pies in the 1980's to today's diverse portfolio of products, all made to the highest standards and driven by the needs of the consumer.
Although three of the 13 businesses owned and operated by Samworth Brothers trade at over £100m each, there is just as much pride in its own small retail shop, Dickinson and Morris which is the only remaining manufacturer of the famous Melton Mowbray Pork Pie left in the town itself. Founded in 1851 by John Dickinson, its shop and bakery in Nottingham Street are renowned as icons in the food heritage of Britain.
John Dickinson established the business at the shop on Nottingham Street, Melton Mowbray in 1851. John came from a family of renowned pork pie bakers, considered to be the originators of authentic hand raised Melton Mowbray Pork Pies, and the business was so named when he invited Joseph Morris to become a partner.
Their pies enjoyed a rapid growth in popularity, helped by the newly opened railways and through the favour of the gentry, who traveled by rail to Melton Mowbray to participate in fox hunting. The reputation of these delicious pies soon spread to London and the rest of the British Isles.
Mark explains that “Samworth Brothers bought Dickinson & Morris after fire had severely damaged Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe in 1991. Melton risked losing a vital link to its famous food heritage, and so the business took the opportunity to rebuild and maintain an important part of the coutry's food heritage. Under Samworth Brothers' ownership, Dickinson & Morris' bakers are still hand raising pies to a traditional recipe in Ye Olde Pork Pie Shoppe. When M&S opened a Simply Food store in Melton, I’m proud to say that we outsold them!”
In 1996 the Dickinson & Morris brand of real Melton Mowbray Pork Pies was launched across the UK and our pies are now available in many of the UK's premium supermarkets and other food stores.
Another of the businesses in the portfolio is Ginsters. In 1969 Geoffrey Ginster began producing his own Cornish pasties just two years after starting a van sales business buying and selling fresh pasties to local retailers in Cornwall. The success of the business quickly began to grow as distribution channels were opened up throughout the south of England making Ginsters Cornish pasties much more accessible to the rest of the country. Eventually, distribution progressed so rapidly that the quality Cornish pasty could be enjoyed throughout the UK.
Mark believes that Ginsters is typical of the business that Samworth Brothers is all about and, in 1977, Samworth Brothers acquired Ginsters. Mark continues, “with the support of Samworth Brothers, both the brand and the product portfolio has grown from strength to strength by providing quality food wherever people want it.”
“Ginsters Original Cornish Pasty is the nation's biggest selling product in the Chilled Savouries market and the brand offers food across the sandwiches, wraps, salads, hot pie, cold pie and hot food markets.”
“Today, Ginsters employs 700 people and has its own fleet of vehicles based at sales offices across the country, delivering direct to motorway service stations, forecourts, convenience stores, and foodservice customers.”
Samworth Brothers is run as a decentralised business where authority is delegated to the boards of management closest to the action, resulting in immediate decisions being made and a real sense of empowerment.
Despite each business being run locally, Mark appreciates that Samworth Brothers benefits from being a family business. He explains “that being privately owned gives us a number of advantages over our competitors too:
We invest for the long term and are not swayed by the plc need for quarterly reporting
We determine and maintain a strong, stable culture
We act quickly, without bureaucracy
We maintain our decentralised structures
We can take investment risks without fearing the public price of failure
We have united, supportive shareholders.
As a business, these factors help to contribute to our success and enable us to focus on the job at hand,” explains Mark.
The long term success of the business is put down to a strategy that focuses on a culture founded around a constant respect for People, Quality and Profit, and that belief in the culture is borne out in the delivery of quality, value and service to customers on a daily basis. Mark is aware that these three aspects are all important because of the need to maintain margins. “A great ‘people’ and ‘quality’ business that has not got the ‘profit’ cannot survive, and our family does not want to own a profitable business that is not passionate about both our people and the quality of the products that we produce.”
“Our people are really important to us,” continues Mark. “We invest strongly in their development and the sites in which they work and the staff retention rates, and the fact that numerous generations from the same family work for us, is testimony to the way that we seek to treat our staff. Everyone is eligible for Profit Related Pay awards and everyone can join our Final Salary Pension – 7,000 people maintain our reputation every day, and it’s right that we treat them well..”
“We also believe that our long term success depends upon us continuously improving everything we do, bit by bit and year by year. Our business must evolve ever better products for the consumer, and we also believe that the only unique aspect of any business is its culture, and we will steadfastly defend and promote our business culture at all times. It is the heart of the business” continues Mark.
As the fourth generation involved in the business it would be easy to see the role as the only family member involved as the custodian of the business for the future generations but Mark sees his role very differently. “Being in a family business is not just about preserving the legacy of previous generations, it’s about creating the opportunity for success for future generations whilst supporting the aspirations of the business itself. As a family member, it is part of my job to prove that our family is the best possible owner for the business to have.”
Four generations have been involved with the growth and development of Samworth Brothers into what has become one of the most successful family businesses in the UK today. It is a real reflection of great British industry and another family business success story.
