Date that you joined the company: January 2003

Previous employer: CCL Industries Ltd

Responsible for: Kitchen King development (foodservice own label)

Educated at: Thomas Sumpter Comprehensive School, Scunthorpe, and North Lindsey College of Technology, Scunthorpe

Married/single/family: divorced with a 16-year-old son

Leisure time spent: motorbike riding, camping, cooking, travel, reading

One piece of advice to help suppliers succeed with you: be open-minded, positive, honest and motivated. Don’t forget you only get out what you put in

The best promotion currently running with our customers is: Kitchen King Cooking Wine 3 for 2

My vote for the best TV/press advertising is: I am a great believer in the old ones are the best, with slogans that stay in your mind for years like “beanz meanz Heinz”, “for mash get Smash”, “have a break – have a Kit-Kat” and “only the crumbliest, flakiest chocolate”

My vote for the best recent new product launch (or re-launch) goes to: Kitchen King Gravy Granules – scored higher in taste tests than the brand leader, but is considerably more cost-effective

Gripe of the month: (what upsets you most about suppliers or supplier policies): suppliers who under-estimate the potential of the Today’s Group, the fourth largest foodservice wholesaler in the UK, and one of the few with double digit growth year on year. Kitchen King volume for 2006 is expected to reach about 1 million cases

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