Polar Krush eyes up 50% increase in turnover

Ashington-based drinks firm Polar Krush Group has set its sights on a 50% turnover increase this year.

The company, which which manufacturers Polar Krush frozen soft drinks and the Green Juice Company range of pure fruit juices, has received business coaching from Oxford Innovation to fuel their expansion.

Polar Krush Group’s crushed ice drink is distributed throughout Spain, Canary Islands, Portugal, the Balearics, New Zealand and Australia.

Its customers include the NHS, Leisure Centres, Ice Rinks, Food Courts, Holiday and Theme Parks, Shopping Centres, Schools and independent retailers.

Despite being the leading brand in most sectors of the UK market, and supplying products to thousands of customers internationally, the company recognised it wasn’t making the most of its unique position in the market, competition was encroaching and the seasonality of some its products was hampering sales.

In response, Gary Gleeson, sales director at Polar Krush approached the Business Northumberland High Growth Programme, which is being delivered by the UK’s leading provider of specialist business coaching, Oxford Innovation.

The £1.35 million programme is jointly funded by ARCH, The Northumberland Development Company; Northumberland County Council and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

It is a fully funded service that provides support to anyone thinking about starting a business and also offers coaching to existing businesses with growth ambitions.

Gary said: “Although we are the UK’s premium supplier of slush machines and pure fruit juices, we recognised that we are not as effective as we could be at increasing brand awareness, maximising the sales potential of our products and capitalising on new opportunities.

“As a company we’re very passionate about innovation and new product development but we are also guilty of taking a scattergun approach to marketing and business development.

“Since the recession we’ve spent the last 18 months moving from a consolidation phase to growth and investment but we still lacked direction and focus.”

Oxford Innovation’s business coach, Gill Hall, had an initial meeting with Gary and Polar Krush MD, Paul Goldfinch, to understand the background to the company and its barriers to growth.

She said: “It was clear to me from the outset that Polar Krush was entering a new period of growth into new markets and distribution channels to gain a larger market share and find new revenue and profit channels.

“The company has a fantastic entrepreneurial spirit and a strong commercial insight.

“My task was to work closely with the senior team, helping them to align the business more closely with its target markets, categorise what sets them apart from the competition in order to raise brand awareness and increase their market share.”

Gill spent two-days with teams operating in three core areas of the business; sales and marketing, engineering and servicing and finance to identify the challenges.

Paul said: “The coaching provided by Oxford Innovation reaffirmed the need for clarity on business direction.

“With Gill’s input, we’ve removed the barriers impacting core functions and focused on two key objectives, maximise current customer sales and attract new ones which fit a specific profile, to ensure the maximum return on our investment.

“It sounds simple, but Gill has given us the confidence as a supplier to be more discerning when it comes to chasing the right profile of client. She also helped us to plan and prioritise more effectively so that we don’t spend time on things that won’t directly benefit the business.”

Polar Krush turned over £1.6 million in 2013 and the company is now on target to increase this to £2 million in 2014. The company employs 18 full time staff, two apprentices and recruits up to 30 additional seasonal staff locally to meet production demands between April and September.

Anyone wishing to find out more about the Business Northumberland High Growth Programme and how Oxford Innovation can potentially support their business should call 01670 528403, email northumberland@oxin.co.uk or visit www.businessnorthumberland.co.uk