“It’s going to be a
long journey for us to
become a combi oven
manufacturer.”from domestic to commercial in terms
of outlay cost. So we are able to get
features on our machines that some of
our competitors would have to spend
millions on, whereas our domestic
side can afford that level of research
and development.”
He added: “The selling point for
wifi for distributors is we can support
that product from a service point of
view. If a machine hasn’t been set up
correctly we can instantly look at the
machine’s data via wifi and see what is
incorrect. This eradicates a chargeable
service call to either the end user or
distributor and tainting the opinion of
a brand new product with an engineer
call out bill.”
Furthermore, the company is making
sure it is engaging with dealers by
introducing a warranty registration
page both in the manuals supplied with
each machine, and online. “Although
distributors might see it as paperwork,
they will thank us in the long run
because we are coaching them that
commercial products don’t just work
out of the box, they need setting up
and tailoring for the users. Engineers
will have to sign it to say they’ve set a
machine up, but this is coinciding with
us offering a lot more engineer and
dealer training,” revealed Coulstock.
To that end, Smeg is looking to
recruit a technical service manager
who will be responsible for training
and supporting both parts only and
full warranty distributors, as well as
the wider network of engineering
firms Smeg partners with, such as
Crystaltech. The new engineering
training area at Smeg UK’s headquarters
will be crucial to this endeavour.
The latest recruit will take the UK
commercial division’s team to six.
Coulstock recalled: “When I joined 4
years ago, it was just me and a part
time sales administrator, so we have
gone from one and a half to six in 4
years. But we also have access to the
100+ people on the domestic side –
everybody chips in at some point to
help us.”
Going forward, he detailed the focus is
for the company to go back to its roots,
with the two key product areas being
warewashers and its Alfa convection
ovens. “The level of investment from
our Italian factory is significant. Over
the last 12 months it has invested in
both research and development and
production line automation.”
He revealed that Smeg’s commercial
cooking equipment will be moving
away from standard bake-off ovens and
looking more towards full gastronorm
ovens, with a view to branching into
the combi steamer market in the years
ahead. “The bake-off industry in the
UK is not as big as it is in continental
Europe, so this will take us more into
the restaurant kitchen market,” said
Coulstock. “It’s going to be a long
journey for us to become a combi ovenmanufacturer. We don’t see ourselves
as being at loggerheads with the
competitors in this market on day one;
it will be a journey of progression from
light duty use units up to 10, 20 or 40
grid combis.”
Its Alfa ovens have been supplied to
the UK market by RH Hall for around
15 years already, and Coulstock doesn’t
see that changing. “It is a key partner
and if anything we will be looking for
bigger and better opportunities to
break into other accounts like we have
with Pret A Manger.”
While Smeg UK works with around
120 distributors, around 60-80 of them
are the most active. In terms of dealer
strategy, Coulstock advised: “We will
be trying to extract the most amount
of business from the dealers that we’ve
got. We will make sure we support
them so that they understand every
product that we sell and every feature
and benefit each machine has and ways
for them to upsell.
“We know some of our distributors
like to deal with multiple brands
because it helps them with credit limits
and cashflow, but we are trying to
work with them and it may be to both
of our benefits if we can get their credit
limits raised to obtain more business
from them.”
Looking ahead, he predicted: “It
will be about growing, building our
customer network and turnover, and
taking some market share off our
competitors. We have aggressive target
plans for ovens and dishwashers,
and the factory is looking to move
production levels up on both. I’m proud
of the way this business has developed
and the UK is now the top subsidiary
outside Italy.
“Whereas some of our competitors
have had to value engineer their
products to compete in the current
marketplace, we are forever making
the product better and looking
to improve it. We are going in the(^2) opposite direction.”
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SMEG / MANUFACTURER
http://www.cateringinsight.com / FEBRUARY 2018 / C AT E R I N G INSIGHT