Husband and wife team set to cook up new success

A North East business set up last year is set to expand after attracting new orders in the luxury hotel and restaurant market.

With 15 staff, Goodfellow and Goodfellow, based in Peterlee, supply fine quality tableware and innovative kitchen equipment, and are set to create a further 3-4 new jobs before the end of the year.

Set up by husband and wife team Paul and Valda Goodfellow, clients include The Ritz, the Dorchester and a string of celebrity and Michelin-starred chefs.

The company has won exclusive rights to several premier brands of clothing, and boast a healthy order book for kitchen and tableware with its products regularly seen on TV cookery programmes.

Goodfellows operates out of a luxury showroom on London’s Baker Street, plus an 8,500sq m office and distribution centre in Peterlee.

Managing director Valda Goodfellow explains the philosophy behind Goodfellows’ rapid success: “Tight margins and fierce competition means chefs, hoteliers and restaurateurs need a differentiator to stand out from the crowd. We spotted an opportunity at the higher end of the market, where the emphasis is on quality, innovation and customer service and these are all areas where we have a proven track record.

“A lot of hospitality distribution businesses operate on a supermarket style focussed on volume sales of commodity items, but we know from experience that there is a significant demand for quality, innovation and individual service, particularly for those who are serious about being the best. This does not just mean five star hotels and Michelin restaurants, there are some really great independent operators who look for things that they can’t buy from anyone else and that’s where we come in.

“Our aim was to build a business around values of innovation and good service. Customers want to talk to people who know their business so our field and telesales team are all trained in what we know customers expect in great service, and many of them know the hospitality trade inside out.

“It also helps that Paul was a well-respected chef on first name terms with Michelin-starred chefs and people at the top of their game. He understands the tremendous pressures involved in running a successful restaurant, and so there is immediate empathy and respect established with customers. He also knows what products will appeal to each chef or restaurateur.

“People in the industry have worked with us for years and know that we have the same passion as they do for individual, inspirational products, so when people are looking for something special or different, they call us.

“For instance when a five-star hotel asked us for some silver-plated, square cake stands we were able to use our contacts around the world to have those specially made. Where we spot demand but there is no equivalent product, we often come up with a design ourselves and use those same contacts to commission products to be made for us.”

Valda believes the key to the company’s success so far is down to setting out clear goals from the outset: “Our goals for Goodfellows were that we would add to the existing market where there is demand for innovation and exclusivity but also have the all-round capabilities to supply larger operators. We have been stunned that major groups are coming to us, rather than us having to go and find business. They obviously like what we do because we have a mentality and culture that matches theirs.

“We have had some fantastic support from friends and colleagues in the industry, and we could not be more pleased with the welcome that our new venture has had.”

Goodfellow and Goodfellow was launched after the couple built and sold several successful food and hospitality businesses.

Valda is the former managing director of gourmet food producer Mr Lazenby’s, which she steered through the BSE outbreak, turning it into a £10m business. The couple also owned market leading Continental Chef Supplies, before selling it to an international distribution group for an undisclosed sum.