In Part One of our exclusive interview, Ian Reynolds-Young asked Barry Callebaut M.D. Peter Holdway about his career and management philosophy. Here, in Part Two, the discussion focuses on Peter’s expansion plans…
We’re standing in a building that is, in itself, a tribute to ingenuity. ‘Ingenuity: cleverness, resourcefulness; imagination, originality; creativity, skill, cunning; initiative…’
Pick your own word, but when Barry Callebaut commissioned its chocolate factory some 25 years ago, they made sure the building sat astride the England Wales border. That way, the company might be eligible for grants (and other incentives) that were on offer at that time in each country…
I’m sticking with ‘ingenuity’.
These days, Peter Holdway is imposing his own kind of ingenuity, although he’d probably prefer to think of it as ‘lateral thinking’.
Take the decision to move here from St. Helen’s for starters. Frankly, there’s something of the Marie Celeste about this place; but it’s not deserted, it’s just so cavernous that the staff simply disappear into it, as though swallowed whole. But Peter lobbied hard to take over the facility when it ceased production as a chocolate factory and his vision is that expansion will soon fill the empty spaces…
‘We’ll be a leading player in the vending industry in very quick order.’ Peter Holdway
‘We moved from 20,000 square-feet to 80,000’, Peter says. ‘We’ve got a production area, warehousing and an office designed for twenty people that’s got five in it.’
It seems to me that a huge expansion in the vending business would be required to fill this space, but Peter explains; ‘we’re looking outside of vending. Don’t get me wrong, vending is our core business here and we won’t risk it. But we’ll be a leading player in the vending industry in very quick order.’
So where will the expansion come from?
‘Well, we could do more of the work that we’re very good at’, Peter says. ‘We produce pillow packs here. We could buy a fourth pillow pack machine and adopt a shift system and treble our present output. We blend and we pack foodservice products here; that’s our business. We do it for ourselves, so why not do it for other people?’
Peter reels off examples of the potential: a Barry Callebaut customer in Poland who buys white and brown choc chunks. When he gets them, he mixes them: half end up 75:25 white:brown, half end up 75:25 brown:white. ‘We can create his mixtures here’, Peter says, ‘so why not add that to the BC supply chain? So, we’ll be doing that. Then, he sends them to a packer for bagging, and guess what? We could do that, too…’
Then, there’s the company that makes a particular product in a 1 ton bag, but sells to its customers in 25 kilo units. We can do that repacking for them.’
There seems to be no lack of interest from potential customers intrigued by Barry Callebaut’s latest demonstration of ingenuity. ‘We’re probably seeing 2-3 potential customers a month who are a bit ‘left field’’, Peter said. ‘Some of the names would surprise people, but some of the names would be no surprise at all. The surprise lies in what we might be doing for them…’
Before we wind up: ‘How do you pronounce ‘Barry Callebaut? How do you pronounce ‘Van Houten?’ According to Peter, ‘any way you like’. ‘Some say Calli-Bow, others Calli-Boat, but I say ‘Calibre’,’ he said.
And as for Van Hooten? Van Howten? Who’s countin’?
Read Part One Of The Interview Here.
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