PV Editor Ian Reynolds-Young talks to AVA Chair David Llewellyn, (pictured).
There’s a certain stoicism about AVA Chair David Llewellyn these days. He starts our conversation with a wry laugh and he tells me: ‘there has been a sense around the place of ‘oh my goodness, what’s going to happen next’ – or words to that effect.’
Whilst the AVA board knew in advance that Anna Mason and Katy Packer were packing their bags, they could not have foreseen that Jonathan Hart would decide to add to the exodus by returning to his roots in the intoxicating environment that is the world of central London PR.
But whilst he’s certainly losing Hart, David is far from losing heart.
‘… the AVA can’t just continue to do what it’s always done.’
‘I’ve been talking it through with a number of people at various meetings and everyone, without exception, is saying that there should be an AVA’, he says. ‘There isn’t a single voice saying it shouldn’t be there. Obviously, there are lot and lot of differing opinions as to what shape it should take. In a way, the ‘clean plate’ we have now is a good place from which to begin the next stage of the journey, because what’s for sure – and I knew this before I took up the Chairmanship – is that the AVA can’t just continue to do what it’s always done. The world is changing, the market is changing; there’s a consolidation of operators and suppliers; budgets are changing. The whole spectrum within which the AVA and its members operate has been changing for several years and I’m not so sure that the AVA has responded to that.’
It seems that David and his fellow board members have no preconceptions of what the AVA will look like in the future. For instance, despite the fact that they are said to be ‘working closely’ with Jonathan over the next few months ‘as we look to find his replacement’, the organisation is not, in fact, committed to the idea of appointing a new CEO.
‘We are happily committed to our current staff, but need an overall staffing structure to keep the AVA going on a daily basis’, David said. ‘Now, whether that is full time, part time; whether it’s a CEO or a General Manager… I mean, if you look around at how some of the buying groups operate, maybe that’s the kind of structure that could be echoed. I’m not saying that we have the answers right now. What we’re doing is looking at all the options and then we’ll pull together a structure and a strategy out of that.’
So, we’re heading into a consultation period. If, as a stakeholder in UK vending you have an opinion on the subject of the AVA, then this is the time to make it known.
‘Businesses need to feel that they get value from being a member of the AVA.’
‘I’m an old fart and I’ve been in the vending industry for a long time, but that means I realise change is a constant and this is just another part of that process’, David says. ‘What you can’t do is stand still. Businesses need to feel that they get value from being a member of the AVA. It’s about what they get out of it and what expertise they can contribute. The AVA’s been involved in many things over the years, like when school nutritional guidelines were brought in; the introduction of the pound coin; liaising with the NHS. There have always been many, many things going on in the background. Even today, in the aftermath of the Pelican Rouge ruling, after one of their machines allegedly caught fire, our technical experts Mike Saltmarsh and Steve Collins and the AVA Technical Committee are working with our legal consultants to make sure that both operators and machine manufacturers get accurate advice on the implications of the judgement, in so much as how it will affect their terms of business.’
Another significant part of the consultation will be the small matter of what becomes of AVEX. Will it change, mutate into something else? AVEX has been a crucial source of funds for the AVA. Who knows how the organisation would fare without its biennial bankroll?
David is candid: ‘As it is currently structured, membership fees alone will not keep the AVA going’, he says. ‘There were more people through the turnstiles at the NEC than there were in Manchester and more foreign visitors, but not enough to sustain the AVA. So something has to change.
‘Things have to meet in the middle’, David says. ‘We know what we need to do to represent the industry appropriately, but now we have to be realistic about the financial resources we have at our disposal and settle on a structure we can afford. It maybe that we have to start again and grow again. As we enrol more members, then we’ll be able to do more things.’
It wasn’t exactly planned, but Jonathan Hart’s departure has given David Llewellyn and the Board of the AVA a priceless opportunity to recreate the AVA and turn it into the organisation its members want it to be.
By the sound of it, it’s an opportunity they intend to grab with both hands.
*Excel Vending MD and AVA Board Member Jane McDonald gives her opinion, here.
