News

Rock solid business support helps business grow

(7 November 2005)

Specialist support to help develop businesses in the food and drink sector is reaping rewards for a Northumberland organic farm.

The owners of Rock Midstead Farm near Alnwick have transformed their operation from a struggling dairy business to a mixed organic farm, with a strong brand and thriving organic table poultry operation – thanks to help from Durham Business School and a specialist marketing consultant. Farmers, Ian and Beth Sutherland faced shrinking margins, increasing workloads and a lack of time to assess where the business was going when they first called upon help from consultant James Cookson of Flying Fox. James suggested the couple work with him on Durham Business School’s food and drink sector specific development programme for small businesses as they considered how best to redevelop the farm. The programme, which aims to help owner-managers develop the skills to grow and change in increasingly dynamic marketplaces, combines the School’s management expertise and in-depth understanding of the environments in which SMEs operate with one-to-one support from industry experts, such as James. Just 18 months later the couple, whose family have run the farm for three generations, have seen a significant rise in profits and are on-track to achieve a turnover of £250,000 within the next three years. They are now gearing up for a bumper Christmas season – offering the full range of Christmas fayre including organic vegetables and organic meats, through their expanded poultry unit which currently handles 200 birds a week. The couple have also further developed their food shop, which stocks fully organic and homemade ready meals, pies, biscuits, vegetables and meat. Commenting on the support they received, Beth Sutherland – now marketing manager for the farm businesses – said: “Working with James and the Business School has been a fantastic experience. As our on-the-spot consultant James has motivated us to try new things and encouraged us to look at new ways of working. “We are now much more business-like and our recent re-branding and marketing strategy is also paying dividends. We have excellent levels of customer loyalty and the new branding means that when customers see extended product lines they associate them with the high quality goods which we have so successfully developed in the last few years. ”By creating such a strong brand I hope that we will be able to demonstrate to even more people that British farming produce is fantastic and that eating locally grown, traceable food is the best way to live! We are always keen for customers to look around the farm and see firsthand the benefits of an organic way of working and living.” With James’ help the couple are now considering other retail avenues, including selling their produce at farmers’ markets and through other shops. Jeremy Wright, Business School manager, said: “Durham Business School has the knowledge and expertise to work alongside growing businesses like Rock Midstead Farm and ensure they have the right management practices and vision in place. “By complementing this activity with the input of industry sector experts who work one-on-one with the business, I believe we offer small businesses in the food and drink sector a powerful package of support and advice. We enable them to reassess their business goals and direction and help them develop the practical skills to move forward with confidence.” James Cookson agrees: “The Sutherlands had fantastic, high quality products; they simply needed to focus on where they wanted to grow the business and how. By helping them to look afresh at their business and assess how other successful retailers operated, I believe we have made them far more focused on the end consumer and on-track to achieve their business goals for the next three years.” More information on Rock Midstead Organic Farm and the Sutherlands can be found on their web site.

• www.rockmidstead.co.uk