HOW DID YOU GET INTO THE FRESH PRODUCE BUSINESS?

SC: By fluke really. I grew up in the Lea Valley area but none of my family was involved in horticulture. After school I went to Australia to play professional soccer for a couple of years. Then in 1973 I came back and joined a co-operative of salad growers in this area, which became SV Salads. I was packhouse manager and marketing agent so I got selling experience as well.

MB-C: My first job in this country [after growing up in Peru and studying over here for two years] was for George Bates in Liverpool, as an overseas procurement executive.

HOW DID YOU GET FROM THERE TO WORKING TOGETHER?

SC: In those days at SV we were doing all our own growing, packing and marketing ourselves. We were probably doing about 75-80 per cent of our business with wholesalers but then I started to approach supermarkets and gradually the ratio turned the other way to the point where we were doing around 70 per cent to the supermarkets.

Growing our own cucumbers and tomatoes saw us through seven to eight months of the year. But we had all our own machinery, flexible overheads and costs so I saw an opportunity to get involved in imports, which I could see would actually make us more efficient.

Supermarkets said they would prefer to deal with the same people for 12 months of the year, as well, so I started to develop business in Almeria, and after that, Murcia and the Canary Islands, as well as taking on more glass from local growers who wanted out.

MB-C: I was travelling to Spain looking for suppliers with George Bates and then I met growers in the co-operative Allfru Group, formerly called Proluz, and they asked me to run their UK office for them, which was then in Market Towers in Vauxhall.

I had to bring it into the 21st century, to consolidate all their fruit in the one office. Nothing was computerised and it was a really tough job but we went from doing 400,000 boxes to about two million in the first year.

SV Salads was one of our biggest customers so I met Steve when I went to see them to tell them I had taken over all the Allfru business.

SC: Then Morna came to join SV and set up the importing business Elite MB as a trademark of the company. Allfru was just a seasonal business and she could see the benefit of joining forces with us so she became a partner and controlled 50 per cent of the business and my two partners and I managed the other 50 per cent.

MB-C: We didn’t have a packhouse and it was difficult for importers to get into the market on their own so I moved and a lot of the growers were happy to come with me.

HOW EASY WAS THE TRANSITION FROM MANAGING A DEPARTMENT TO CO-ORDINATING IMPORTS FOR A WHOLE COMPANY?

MB-C: It was especially tough being a young woman - I was only 24 - and it felt like a lot of people in the industry were expecting me to fail. I felt like I had a lot to prove. People would say, “that slip of a girl can’t run a business”.

SC: But then those people who doubted her were the ones later asking her for a job!

SO, HOW DID SCSMB COME ABOUT?

SC: My other partners were getting to retirement age and we felt there were more opportunities to go forward on our own. The industry was changing and we thought the future was to get closer to the growing side of things and concentrate on cost savings and the growers were almost pushing us to do it.

As a site SV Salads had a lot of overheads and then in 1994 this site came up. The company was failing so we took it over and have gradually developed it, with offices and a fully-equipped packing house and loading bays. It is now fully BRC-accredited and certified by the Soil Association to pack organics.

MB-C: We don’t grow organic products here but we import speciality organic tomatoes in the winter.

HOW HAS THE IMPORT BUSINESS DEVELOPED SINCE YOU STARTED OUT 12 YEARS AGO?

MB-C: The volumes have definitely gone up. We did 2m boxes out of the Canaries last winter and part of that was from our own nursery. We’ve only just started in production. One of our cucumber growers decided to retire last October so we took over everything and brought in 200,000 boxes of cucumbers in the first season. Our representative looks after the business - SpaniaFresh Canaries - for us.

Now this year we have bought out a tomato grower in one of the big co-operatives so we will be bringing in our own tomatoes for the first time this winter.

Last year was very bad for the tomato industry but we thought it was a good investment for the future - having some control over your own destiny. It makes you more flexible because you can balance the ups and downs more easily.

SC: It also means that when growers have problems you have a better understanding of them even if you can’t do anything about it.

DO YOU THINK THE CANARY ISLANDS ARE STILL A GOOD PROSPECT FOR SALADS?

MB-C: Cucumbers seem to be very successful. There have been a few quality issues and growers suffered damage from the Delta winds last year and the Canary Islands have developed quite a bad reputation.

The problem is a lot of growers produce without a fixed customer and just speculate. There seems to be a decline in production every year but I think the stronger and better ones will carry on. Round tomatoes are declining because there are so many better varieties to grow these days.

In terms of competition, Morocco is developing and their labour costs are lower but technically speaking they are not quite up to it yet and they can’t fulfil the whole tomato demand in Europe anyway.

SC: Senegal is becoming more of a threat for speciality lines as well, and their labour costs are also much lower.

HOW CAN CANARY ISLAND SALAD GROWERS SEEK TO OVERCOME THIS COMPETITION FROM CHEAPER SOURCES?

MB-C: A lot of growers in the Canaries are looking to diversify. Peppers and aubergines used to be quite big business and some are keen to start growing them again.

There will always be a good business for Canary Island salads but I do think this coming year will be crucial. In terms of cucumbers there isn’t really any competition during their season and it also helps us to manage the UK season better.

With the way the climate is changing, it is possible that the UK season will get shorter. With gas prices as high as they are, this year we decided the first crop wasn’t worth doing so we started later, in June.

SC: The Canary Islands will always be a force in winter but I think production will consolidate. People will grow fewer tomatoes and concentrate on better quality and diversify into speciality lines and that way they’ll see better returns.

HOW DOES THIS SITUATION COMPARE WITH SPAIN AND THE UK?

MB-C: No two years are the same but there has reportedly been a big decline in tomato production in Spain as growers keep pulling out because of water shortages and too many bad years. There has been a decline from about 5,000 hectares to 1,200ha because there is a big attraction for growers to use the land for development. It doesn’t affect us too much because our production business is concentrated in the Canary Islands but we might expand to the mainland one day, it is hard to say.

With our production sites in the Canaries and the UK, we already cover 12 months of the year so Spain comes in to compliment that. Spain has a very strong home market - they are even bringing in a lot of Dutch product these days - and we have very good relationships with our growers in Spain so we wouldn’t want to upset the apple cart, as it were.

SC: UK production seems to be dwindling but some of the supermarkets are really keen to have home-grown crops. The growers have really high overheads, though. One of our growers is selling electricity to offset costs and he said if he didn’t have that he wouldn’t be able to carry on.

DO YOU THINK THE SEGMENTATION IN THE TOMATO CATEGORY HAS REACHED SATURATION POINT OR WILL WE CONTINUE TO SEE FURTHER ADDITIONS?

MB-C: Growers are always looking for new varieties, with improvements, such as better disease resistance, and these days I think there is a bigger focus on flavour. We did have a new variety in Tenerife but the grower had problems because it didn’t yield very well and when the weather was against them it didn’t come through very well. So, there are always improvements to be made.

But I do wonder if there is too much choice nowadays. When you go into the supermarket it can be quite overwhelming. It explains why classic rouond tomatoes are on the decline because there are so many others that are much tastier.

WHERE WILL YOU BE FOCUSING YOUR ENERGIES IN THE COMING MONTHS?

MB-C: On our nurseries in the Canaries. It’s a big step for us and we have to look at it objectively as a long-term investment. We won’t get much of a return straight away.

It seems growers can tend to come and go with the wind a bit. It hasn’t happened to us, thankfully, but when you have your own secure production it does give you an edge over your competitors. This winter we will have 1m boxes of our own tomatoes and cucumbers and probably another 1m from our other sources.

WHAT IS IT LIKE WORKING WITH YOUR SPOUSE?

SC: It’s certainly interesting - there’s never a dull moment! We work well together, although of course we have our differences at times - not as husband as wife - but just like everyone. I think we’ve got a healthy relationship and I think the business benefits from having both female and male input. We often approach things from different angles.

MB-C: It wasn’t exactly love at first sight! I remember he was wearing a bright yellow shirt when I came to the SV offices but we were friends for a couple of years and then it just happened but we had to keep it quiet for a while.

People ask how I can stand to work so closely with my husband, but it works for us. We were great friends for a long time before we got together and we both have our separate sides of the business.

SC: And a lot of growers like to socialise and bring their wives along so it helps that we are both as interested in talking about business as well as other things.

DOES HAVING YOUR OWN BUSINESS TOGETHER MAKE IT DIFFICULT TO BALANCE YOUR TIME BETWEEN HOME AND THE OFFICE?

MB-C: Steve says I find it very difficult to switch off and he’ll tell me not to talk business at home sometimes but if he’s been out all day and I think of something to tell him, I can’t always wait until we are in the office!

SC: It’s true. I think it is important to keep things separate because when you are at home you probably won’t be as focused as when you are in the office so it can be easier to be more emotional about something.

DO YOU EVER MANAGE TO TAKE ANY TIME OFF?

MB-C: You can’t be in two places at once so you have to have a certain amount of trust in other people but we are both very hands on so we couldn’t not be involved. We are in touch with the office everyday, except maybe Sunday.

People do think I’m a bit crazy sometimes - in 1998 when we had just moved here I was two weeks overdue with our first son, Blair, and packing cucumbers until 10pm at night! And I was back at work after only a few days after both of them were born.

SC: It is difficult but we try and spend as much times as possible with the kids at weekends. I coach the local football team, which SCSMB also sponsors. I look after the under 9s and Blair is becoming a bit of a star player.

MB-C: We tend to combine holidays with business. We have a house in the Canary Islands so we go out there with the boys in school holidays and for a month in the summer and try and do two and a half weeks of business and then the rest of the time we’ll have off. Of course, it never works out quite like that because if the growers know we are around they want to call us all the time.

But the Spanish like to involve the family so we always end up bringing the kids along when we meet them and we develop strong relationships that way - they become like family. When we got married in 2001, we had a second church blessing in the Canary Islands with about 200 growers and their families present.

SC: I think it is good for the kids to see what goes on as well and they are learning Spanish which will be great for them in the future.

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