Inside Track: Richard Graham-Leigh, West Cork Biscuit Company

Richard and Jane Graham-Leigh began producing handmade biscuits in west Cork in 2003 and now employ 18 people at their bakery in Dunmanway.

What is special about your business?

We are passionate about making excellent biscuit and cracker products using the best-possible, locally sourced ingredients including 100 per cent Irish butter.

What sets your business apart in your sector?

The fact that there is still a big handmade element to what we do. We are artisan producers, not mass producers and this can be seen in the quirkiness of the shapes of our biscuits: no two are exactly the same. They look handmade because they are.

They say timing is everything in business. How was yours?

On the face of it, possibly not very good. Although we had been making biscuits since 2003, we only launched our own Cookies of Character brand in 2007 as the economy started going downhill. However, we really weren’t affected by the slump as our biscuits were still seen as an affordable treat. In fact we grew throughout the recession and now employ 18 people.

Have you always been a baker?

No. I’m a late starter and set up this business with my wife, Jane, in my late 50s. My background had been in retail management. I worked for Hamleys toy shop in London. When I eventually got tired of retail, I retrained in food. I was an executive chef in the City in London before moving to west Cork, a place I had fallen in love with as a lad while on holidays in a horse-drawn caravan.

I started making biscuits and French patisserie and selling to local shops and at the Clonakilty farmers’ market before “getting serious” about the business in 2007.

What has been your biggest challenge?

Jumping through all the hoops required to achieve British Retail Consortium approval. We need it to sell in the UK to the likes of Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and Fortnum & Mason. We have had to change all of our systems and follow every bit of regulation to the letter and go through multiple audits.

On the plus side it has made us more efficient and transformed us into a company capable of meeting the highest standards set by the multiples.

What has been your biggest success?

For the company it has been the development of a very slick and committed team capable of maintaining continuity and quality while also being open to new ideas.

On the commercial side it was being asked by Sheridan's Cheesemongers to develop a cracker product for them. It was an overnight success and helped kick-start our business. The crackers are now exported all over the world. More recently, it was being invited by Dunnes Stores to work with them on their Simply Better range.

Artisan producers often find working with the multiples difficult. What has been your experience?

The opposite. Dunnes has an independent Simply Better department with dedicated buyers who are passionate about the quality of what they are buying. They also understand that there is a certain price at which we can make the product.

What piece of advice would you give to someone starting a business?

Don’t take on business you can’t afford to walk away from. Get help as soon as you can afford to. You can’t be good at everything and need to find people who do things – like chasing money – better than you do. If you don’t, you’ll drive yourself into the ground.

What’s been your best decision?

Having our former west Cork LEO [local enterprise office] mentor, Ger Devin, come work with us. He was really interested in the business and had all of the commercial expertise and savvy we lacked. I know how to make biscuits but I'm not good at selling them or negotiating, or knowing how to deal with the multiples. It's second nature to him.

What could the Government do to help your business right now?

Start negotiations with the British on Brexit at once. We need to be able to sell easily into the UK. Ireland on its own is too small and as tastes are broadly similar what works here generally works there too. If trade barriers or tariffs are introduced it will be a serious problem for Irish producers. We need to be given special status.

In your experience are banks lending to SMEs?

Yes and I couldn't say enough for AIB in Bandon and Dunmanway. They were extremely helpful. That said, they have also been strict and, if we stray, they come down on us like a tonne of bricks.

What’s the biggest mistake you’ve made in business?

Trying to be all things to all men in the early days and being afraid to turn things down.

What is the most frustrating part of running a small business?

Undoubtedly unnecessary red tape and regulations and the cost of complying with them. Some of what you’re asked to do is simply ridiculous, costs a lot of money and involves an unbelievable amount of paperwork.

What’s your business worth and would you sell it?

We haven’t really thought about its value. It’s still very much a work in progress although we’re really beginning to get places now. Let’s put it like this: we’re not thinking of selling but are planning to take on an investor.