Churchill’s James Roper Q&A: Success Built Upon Staying Very Relevant, Even After 200 Years

 

Around for more than 200 years and a leader among hospitality tabletop companies, England’s Churchill is one of the few that is public traded, therefore held up to a bit more scrutiny perhaps than its more private competitors.

Within the Churchill brand legacy the family name Roper remains prominent, and recently, we had the opportunity to pose a few questions to James Roper, who is the current Sales & Marketing Director at Churchill.

Here’s what James had to tell us…..

TabletopJournal: Obviously the Roper family name has been associated with Churchill China for quite some time. Tell us a little of your background and what it’s been like to now be the Sales & Marketing Director for a 200-year old company in such a digital era.

James Roper: I’ve been at Churchill now for over 10 years and have worked in a variety of sales and marketing roles in both our Retail and Hospitality businesses. Being a Roper working at Churchill is a great place to be, the Roper name has been part of this company since 1913. We are part of the DNA of this business, I am the fourth generation of the family to sit on the board. The challenge as a family member is to understand what that means and embrace it. My father, his brothers, their father and grandfather forged a very strong culture in the business, what we see today is a management team that are not only part of that culture but are enhancing it, we are a very focused bunch of people.

I love my role as Sales & Marketing Director, I care passionately about this company and the people who are part of it and it is extremely motivating to be in a position of responsibility that can influence our future. Being 200 years old is amazing, Can you imagine how this business has evolved and adapted over such a period?! Our challenge is to continue that process and do it for another 200!

TJ: All brands conjure up certain brand attributes. What are the brand attributes that Churchill is trying to project and, sales and marketing director, how do you want the hospitality and catering industry to view the Churchill brand?

JR: We want our products to deliver on our passion for food presentation – we see our products as picture frames for food. However, fundamentally, we recognize that tabletop products for the hospitality industry must satisfy customers on many other levels – it is not just a beauty contest!

This is why our core values are Product Performance, Uncompromising Service, Trustworthiness, Continuous Improvement and Innovation.

We want to be seen as a serious company that provides great looking product which performs for our customers. At the end of the day, our customers are our best advocates. They will tell you that our product adds value to their businesses. It delivers time and time again on food presentation in some of the busiest catering environments in the world. We can be trusted to provide a product that allows them to focus on running their business. Simply put, Churchill will not let you down!

TJ: While TabletopJournal is read all around the globe, I’m sure our North American readers would be particularly interested in your plans for that region of the world. What is the Churchill vision for that part of the world? And, does it differ from other regions that you might be active in?

JR: The truth is that Churchill has a lot to prove in North America. The challenge for us is to do it in a sustainable way. In the short term we are focused on improving our service, we have increased stocks at our Chicago Warehouse, in particular of the product ranges that are working really well in the US, Stonecast, Bamboo, Profile, Jardin, Vintage Prints. We also offer free of charge airfreights for any stocked items not available for immediate dispatch from Chicago – this gets product to the end customer in the US from the UK in 7 to 10 days!

So our vision for the short term is to enhance our service reputation, from this position we can build.

We know we have great product, with a continuous stream of innovation – last year, we launched over 170 new items. The year before, it was 200 and, before that, 180.  So we are confident that we can excite the market whilst backing it up with availability.

So, what is our medium term vision? It has to be to continuously improve every year – it would make us extremely proud to develop a reputation in the US market for service, quality, product performance and innovation – we know it will take time and a lot of effort to achieve, but that has to be our goal.

TJ: Churchill is one of the few publicly traded companies (and a very successful one, we might add) in our industry. What are some of the many pluses …and minuses …. of being so transparent and traded publically?

JR: The Roper family floated the business in 1994 so it is very much the norm for me to work in this environment.

As with any business the challenge is maintain a healthy balance in a fluid environment! There are two sides to every coin – the positives are the negatives and vice versa.

Being publicly traded sustains a high level of motivation, focus and control in the business, investors drive for improvement year after year and this drives management culture in the same vein. At the same time you have to ensure that this motivation generates vision and ultimately investment decisions for the medium and long term, not just the next 12 months.

In a similar way, the demands on Corporate Governance of being listed are a positive influence because they help to ensure that the business gets the balance right between operational and strategic challenges. However, it can also delay decision making, add complexity and increase cost.

I think transparency is good for business, it keeps everything on the table and open for improvement. It also helps customers to understand more about who they are working with. As an example, have a read of our published annual report on our website (www.churchill1795.com), you can see the amount of money invested in the business year after year. It is not by accident that we maintain and improve service levels and bring a continuous stream of new product introductions to market, they are both a result of continuous investment in manufacturing.

Overall, I would say that being publicly listed has made us a stronger, more sustainable business, and it has also enabled family members to manage their personal share of the business in a very practical way –  today, the Roper family still own more than 35% of the business.

TJ: It is such a fascinating and dynamic time to be involved in the tabletop industry. How do you see the role of tabletop in the guest dining experience within the hospitality industry?

JR: Guest expectations are relentless! Hospitality is experiential and guests are looking for exactly that. The table top is a tactile and extremely close up part of that experience so colour, texture, finish, aesthetics and ergonomics are all crucial.

The challenges for a manufacturer are to be able to produce products to meet those expectations which also perform back of house, are safe & hygienic, on short delivery times, are affordable, and provide continuity – or, in simpler terms, are still available in exactly the same condition in 5 years time.

TJ: We know that Churchill also participates in other industry segments such as consumer or household. What role does the HORECA or hospitality industry play now for Churchill? And, in the future?

JR: HORECA is our core focus. We are extremely lucky to operate in both the Hospitality and Retail Industries and both sides complement one another. Many of the disciplines which have made us successful in hospitality were drawn from our Retail business. It is exciting to see how the two are converging globally and to experience the acceleration of innovation within hospitality, its crazy to imagine a hospitality world with retail style product life cycles!

TJ: Churchill displayed some great new – and colorful – products at Ambiente. Is color a trend that you feel is here to stay? And, if so….how do you see the color trend evolving?

JR: Wow! That’s a tough question! The market is segmenting more and more – fragmenting really, Customers are increasingly searching for differentiation and, because of this, consensus is becoming more and more difficult to find. Our job is to continuously innovate the product portfolio to ensure that we can meet as many of those expectations as possible.

A good example of this our Stonecast collection into which we have just launched 3 new colourways  – Cornflower Blue, Mustard Seed Yellow and Berry Red – there are now 7 colourways in the collection! It was clear from the research that Berry Red was a love or hate colour, of course it depends on what experience the customer wants to create.

Another example is our latest launch “Studio Prints”, a design inspired by an archived Churchill pattern called Homespun, which is actually featured in the Victoria & Albert museum in London. It comes in 2 colourways, Charcoal & Stone, both which look stunning but are totally different to the colourways introduced in Stonecast.

As more and more diversity in colour enters the portfolio, the real challenge is sustainability, consistent production – its no different to food supply. The more items on the menu, the greater the challenge in raw material supply. As a manufacturer, the worst thing you can do is to launch a product and, then, find out 12 months later you can’t supply.

TJ: With 200 years of heritage Churchill, how does the Churchill brand stay relevant to each new generation of chefs, food & beverage and catering managers?

JR: I think the key to the development of our brand is the substance behind it. Innovation has to be embedded in the culture – not just in product & marketing but in every part of the business, whether its administration, manufacturing or logistics – we have to come to work and challenge ourselves to continually improve.

TJ: Our industry is so fast-paced and offers way too many gastronomic temptations. How does someone like yourself, responsible for such a successful global brand within our industry, keep a proper balance between work and lifestyle?

JR: With extreme difficulty! It would be so much better if they moved the Frankfurt Ambiente exhibition away from Valentines Day!!!!!

My wife, Lucy, and I are extremely fortunate to have two wonderful kids and we love eating out as a family – the favourite game is turning the plates over and looking for the Churchill Lion!

TJ: Final question…..Spotify or Pandora? And what’s your top playlist?

JR: Neither,  and I don’t really do playlists – I suppose I’m more of a “shuffle” man, always like a surprise!    ; )