“Everybody wants to make a brand”

Expert Eye with

John Shepherd

Owner and Managing Director of Partridges

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• “The battle for optimism and morale in retail”
• “Sustainable confusion”
• “What to do about January?”
• “Is the Christmas boom sustainable?”

In the famous words of Tears for Fears, "everybody wants to rule the world", and this is no less the case in respect of shops and shopkeepers and their good name or brand

From the largest food emporia in the world to the humble corner deli and food market stall, own label products should be an area of great pride for the proprietors and alternative choice for the customers.

“Everybody wants to make a brand” is perhaps a better way of putting it. Something that will end up in most kitchens from Osaka to Oklahoma via Oswestry.

There are many familiar existing brands out there that have already trodden this path, of course. Twinings, Walkers and Baxters are three home-grown world beaters. All of these are Royal Warrant Holders, and when I was closely involved with the Royal Warrant Holders Association I learnt about some of the fascinating stories connected to products that we now regard as commonplace.

Many were inventions of grocery shop keepers who needed to expand to survive. Thomas Lipton, John Cadbury and Frank Cooper thought up highly successful ways of getting new business. Sometimes the inventors of products were scientists with an entrepreneurial bent like Mr Lea and Mr Perrin, or the products themselves were deemed to have medicinal benefits. Mathias Robinson created Robinson’s Barley Water at his grocer’s shop in Holborn as a cure for fevers and kidney complaints. Jacob Schweppe moved to London to sell more of his aerated water as a health tonic.

At the heart of each brand is so often a human story connected to families and the struggles of life. Giacomo Justerini followed the love of his life, an opera singer, from Bologna to London. She broke his heart but we gained Justerini and Brooks and J and B Whisky and all that. Some brands still have an association with the families that created them stretching back many generations. Twining’s goes back 11 generations and Baxter’s Potted Shrimps goes back seven. This shows the importance of family businesses in maintaining brands.

So what are the brands of today destined for greatness, and will Partridges Chelsea Flower Tea ever be among them?

A recent survey received votes from deli owners and shopkeepers on the most popular and successful brands in various categories. Prestat, Seggiano, Tiptree and Tracklements all were at the top of the tree. Excellent products and great packaging of course but one thing sets them apart as well. Behind each of them is an ethos and a spirit. A desire to succeed but also a desire to collaborate and to give customers what they want. In short they have the spirit and imagination of the family business.