IWCYC Challenge Update: Greg Phillips

IWCYC Challenge Update: Greg Phillips

When Greg Phillips of North East Bakery won the If we can, you can Challenge for the Evening Chronicle, he was excitedly planning to his launch his retail brand Nichols across the region, following an asset transaction with Milligan’s Bakery. As well as inflicting luscious cake and pastry treats upon us with his own retail stores, he was continually developing the wholesale side to his business, supplying to sandwich makers, caterers, hotels, restaurants, distributors, shops and cafes.

Six months on, Greg tells us about how things have progressed: “It’s been a real whirlwind of a year for us! Part of the prize package I was fortunate enough to win from the Challenge was a business mentor, which was the most appealing part of the prize package for me. I’m always looking to develop myself as an entrepreneur and learn from people who have been there and done that, so I was thrilled to be given this opportunity.

I was introduced to Stephen Silvester of P & A Food Management Services and I couldn’t have asked for someone more relevant or with a bigger wealth of experience. He has run 11 bakery sites and has worked with brands such as M & S and Costa Coffee, so it took a very short amount of time for me to realise what a fantastic source of inspiration and knowledge base he was to me at North East Bakery.

We immediately got on well together; Steve’s a very open and honest guy and one of the things that I really like about him is that he’s not afraid to point out things that could be improved. In doing so, he’s introduced to us a bigger business mentality, whereby things are being done in a more procedural and structured way.

To be perfectly honest up until now I’ve done a lot of things by thinking and learning on my feet and using my gut instinct. Whilst I don’t regret that at all, I’ve learnt from Stephen and the benefit of his experience about how I can best make the transition from being a small progressive business, to a bigger and more professional business.

My relationship with Stephen is fantastic too- very quickly we progressed from a mentor/mentee scenario. He was constantly ringing me up saying, “Have you thought of this, and what about that?...” He told me he was really excited about the business and once woke up at 3 o’clock in the morning and couldn’t get back to sleep- his wife asked him what was wrong and he said, “I can’t stop thinking about North East Bakery!”

This was a long time before we discussed the possibility of him investing in the business, and it was vital for me to know that his passion was genuine. We signed on the dotted line a few weeks ago, and now we’re both really excited about combining our ideas and taking North East Bakery to the next level.

We always had a very ambitious agenda, but now we have Steve and his energy, knowledge and expertise on board we have an extra opportunity to really ramp it up. We’re exploring new sites, upgrading our machinery, and doing more and more market research. We’ve just appointed a Senior Marketing Manager who has experience in the public sector and tendering, so we’re developing all the different aspects of the business in addition to the retail and wholesale side.

And how does Greg manage all of this, and a season ticket?

“Well I work seven days a week so that helps! I have quite a lot of energy fortunately and I really love what I do which I think is very important. I won’t say it doesn’t feel like work because obviously at times my patience is tested.

Fundamentally though, I get up in the morning and look forward to the challenges that lay ahead of me. There are more people in the business now so I’ve been trying to empower them and delegate roles a lot more, and the only way we can take the business forward is by having good people around us.

Fortunately I never get that Sunday afternoon feeling where I think, damn I’ve got to go to work tomorrow. Money isn’t the driver at all, it’s seeing what we can do with the business, and driving to work in the morning and seeing a car park with 50 cars parked. We employ 130 people in the North East, and that gives me a lot of pride. I’m certainly going to keep enjoying being on this rollercoaster!”

We wish you the best of luck Greg! Any samples going spare....?

Greg popped into our office this morning and surprised us with this fabulous cake...delicious!!

For more information on North East Bakery, visit www.northeastbakery.co.uk and read Greg’s story by clicking www.ifwecanyoucan.co.uk/entrepreneurs/Greg-Phillips