When Ken Chrispin married the daughter of Colin Brook, founder of crisp manufacturers Seabrook’s – the ones with the red, white and blue oval on their bags – he changed his name to Brook-Chrispin. He kept well away from the crisp business as he did not always see eye to eye with the founder, not always the easiest of people, and developed property. I remember a friend of mine being taken out by his Father-in-law and being told that the family business he had married into was not his and to get on with his own career and let the family build or destroy their company.
The father-in-law looked ran the business in a benevolent way and provided jobs for friends and family. When he died, Seabrook’s had lost it’s way and KB-C was brought in to “advise”. To keep it in the family, he persuaded the shareholders (presumably family and friends) to sell it to him rather than the “circling venture capitalists. The Bentley Speed lets everyone know how astute he was to buy the business and introduce new management. “In six months, Barry (Higgins, operations manager) has got us up from 12,000 boxes a day to 20,000,without investment”.
It would be interesting to hear the views of the family members who sold out. I wonder if they feel so happy and whether family gatherings are a little “crispy”? It certainly is a different slant for the business plan resource. But will Seabrook’s stay as a Passive Equity Company and will some of the new management be keen to share in the capital value they are helping to create? How will KB-C handle passing the ownership to the next generation? Is it harder to hand down a vibrant, valuable business and walk into retirement?
The moral must be to start an Active Equity Company, sell or float, and spend, spend, spend and not leave it to the third generation to return the family to clogs!
Hat tip: Enterprising Britain FT 6 May 2009 Crisp judgement builds a brand
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