proved to me that I could do a financial
job as well as customer services.”
As she and Darren have known
each other since 2011, Jayne has
gleaned information about the catering
equipment industry along the way.
“I’ve asked him what terms mean –
ultimately if you’re going to spend a lot
of time with someone, you have to have
some kind of interest in what they do.”
And as for living and working
together? “We don’t mind, it’s a joy
actually,” said Jayne, with Darren adding:
“It feels totally natural to us. We can
have a business meeting at any point.
But business is business and personal
is personal and we maintain that divide
very well.” Jayne detailed: “We rub along
so well together because we can leave
the business side of things alone, but
one of us doesn’t have to say not to
talk about the company any more,
it just stops.”
Both believe that they have
complementary skillsets too. According
to Jayne: “Darren is an engineer and
I’m a customer services, accounts and
admin person, so ultimately our skills tie
in nicely with each other. I have massive
respect for Darren’s ability. I know that
when he goes out there, people will
be pleased with what he does – he is
committed to solving problems.”
He revealed: “What makes it easier
for me is when I say to Jayne I need to go
out to work on a Sunday morning, she
understands why. Because our customer
care is everything. Jayne is bringing the
thorough way the motor industry looks
after its customers into the catering
equipment sector.”
This is a thread running throughout
the business, which has a strapline
of ‘quality without compromise’.
Whether its sending a thank you
message with Sharpes’ invoices,
calling end users to follow up on a
sale or installation, or ensuring that
every appointment is kept, the pair
pride themselves on their customer
care. It’s also one of the reasons they
concentrate on only covering the local
area of Lincolnshire, South Yorkshire
and East Riding. “If we went to a wider
area we wouldn’t be able to deliver
what we say,” remarked Darren.
As well as being partners for combi
oven manufacturer Retigo (see boxout),Sharpes also provides equipment
brands as diverse as Classeq, Sammic,
Nelson, Blue Seal, MKN, Rational,
Panasonic, Lincat, IMC, Instanta,
True Refrigeration, Falcon and S&S
Northern. Darren surmised: “We look
for companies that support their own
products – if I sell a machine I like to
know it’s supported.” Jayne added: “We
wouldn’t just sell anything, it has to
be something we are happy to tell the
customer is a good product.”
Darren’s engineering background
feeds into this, as he has direct
experience of how suppliers support
their products. “We won’t sell a piece of
heavy equipment without a site survey,
because I need to make sure that the
services are correct and it’s the right
oven for the operator,” he said.
Sharpes’ can undertake small
kitchen designs themselves, but for
larger projects the firm taps into its
local trusted industry network. “If
we had an enquiry from a national
account, I would put it to all of our
other service and sales partners, we act
as a consortium,” Darren detailed. This
includes consultant Sterling Foodservice
Design and LeighTec Ventilation
Systems in Goole.
The distributor has already worked
in sectors such as education, care,
restaurants, hotels, cafes and conference
centres, and reports that sales work is
coming in from all of them.
Looking ahead, the Sharpes want
to grow their business steadily and
may even soon take on another
administrator and another engineer
to cope with demand. “Any new hires
would have to fit around delivering our
quality service,” Darren underlined.
Jayne concluded: “We appreciate the
customers we have because without
them, we wouldn’t be successful. We just
intend to become even more successful
with more sales in the future.”RETIGO PARTNERSHIP
Sharpes Commercial Kitchens works
particularly closely with Retigo after
Darren Sharpe investigated the
Czech Republic-based combi oven
manufacturer’s offering. “For years I
had been looking for a product that
I believed in and for a manufacturer
who believed in what we were trying
to achieve,” he revealed. “With Retigo,
that’s exactly what we got, which is
why we jumped onboard.”
Darren first enlisted in Retigo’s
engineer training course last
September and then after being
impressed with the product during
a factory visit in November, moved
into sales and became a full sales
and service partner, with wife Jayne
handling many of the sales for
Sharpes. He said: “It was after goingto the Czech Republic, meeting
everybody and looking at what they
were doing, that really brought home
to me I needed to be involved.
“We feel part of the Retigo team,
and the distribution network as we see
it is all working together, as opposed
to trying to compete with each other.
That’s an important factor.”
The distributor has dedicated many
of its weekly marketing emails to
spreading the Retigo word, and has
seen enquiries continue to increase.
Darren predicted: “I see the growth of
Retigo becoming faster and faster – its
equipment sales increased by 10%
2 years ago and 20% last year, with
even higher growth forecast this year.
I’d like to think we will be part of a
Retigo tidal wave.”215SHARPES COMMERCIAL KITCHENS / DEALERhttp://www.cateringinsight.com / FEBRUARY 2018 / C AT E R I N G INSIGHT