Stealing a lead
Kids’ play
Name: Kevin Woolgar, 46,
managing director
Company: Meridian Golf, sales of £1 million, founded in 1996, based in East Sussex
Profile: Started in the warehouse at Trenden Sports in 1978 before joining the sales team at Wilson and Hippo, learning all he could about golf technology. Lowest handicap was two and still plays off five.
‘Make your name in a niche market’
‘Too many kids who take up golf give it up because they are playing with the wrong clubs and can’t get the ball off the ground. The heads are too big and the shafts are too whippy. They’re just cut-down versions of adults’ clubs, which is the only market that the major brands are really interested in. When my boys took up the game, I started designing clubs for kids from two to 14 years old. It’s not expensive – all clubs are made in China anyway.
The idea has really taken off and is now our biggest line of business. The US Golf Association liked them so much it placed its first ever contract with an English company and we are sending 4,000 kids’ clubs a month to the French Federation. For us, it’s better to steer clear of the big brands and concentrate on these more specialist areas. Our technology might be good, but it’s tough enforcing our intellectual property. So I’m now building sales of old-fashioned hickory clubs – people love having a go at how the game used to be played.’
A total ban
Name: Kevin Hartley, founder and head chef
Company: Mozart’s, a 36-seater restaurant in Nottingham, which he bought with his wife for £40,000 in 2003
Profile: Sales director for 25 years with Courtaulds and Baird, before turning his favourite hobby into a second career.
‘Have the courage to be different’
‘When the Irish banned smoking in 2004, we took the opportunity to follow suit. We run a small, intimate restaurant and always felt there could be demand for a smokeless environment, but had been too scared about losing business to do it before.
We were the first in Nottingham to go for a total ban and we announced it on national no-smoking day. We had fantastic publicity – all over the papers, on three local radio stations, featured on the regional TV news – you can’t buy that exposure. The phone didn’t stop ringing and we reckon our trade that year was up 15 per cent. Even though other local restaurants have introduced a ban, that figure has stuck and we are now listed as a source of comment by all the local media. For us, this kind of niche marketing is the way to go. We are now building up a speciality in dishes for people with allergies.’
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