The Watercress Company (TWC) has been different from day one. As current MD Tom Amery explains: “Our US growing operation was set up in 1994 when Peter Old established the business. He immediately made that investment, which was fairly radical at the time, and hasn’t been replicated by any other watercress grower. We’re the only UK watercress supplier that has tri-sourcing, and that’s what’s led to our success and growth.”
It’s not hyperbole. TWC might be small compared to some of the fresh produce industry’s giants, but the niches it has carved out for itself – spearheaded by Amery in his eight years at the helm – have enabled the business to triumph.
The business’ core growth area in 2014 was its sandwich operation, which grew by 44 per cent. TWC doesn’t sell directly to supermarkets for its products’ used in sandwiches; instead, it uses a producer marketing organisation, creating a relationship with the retailers that Amery describes as
“exciting”.
He adds: “Retailers need to see change, modernisation and growth, and if anything they can be achieved faster if you’re not directly associated.
“You’ve got somebody else working in between, and so the emphasis comes on getting the job done, and getting it done on time. And that’s how we’ve grown our market.
“Price isn’t a route to market. What is, is providing value, and defining that value may be different from one retailer to another, and they all have different agendas at different times, and you have to understand what that is, and identify a solution to deliver that change for them to get it done.”
As with any business/retailer relationship, though, there have been bumps in the road. Amery says: “The E. coli outbreak in Sainsbury’s in late 2013 had a phenomenal effect on the market. We expected that to take a year to recover from, and it did. So 2014 was a year of two halves, and it wasn’t until around week 30 that we saw confidence in the market start to rebuild.”
Amery, as charismatic and passionate a leader as you’ll meet in the industry, tells FPJ that stability will be “key” for TWC over the next five years, although he notes: “We are a small company, and so we have to be agile, as you have to adapt to market change.
“When you’re so focused on watercress and baby leaf, that means you don’t necessarily have to diversify out of those products, but put them in new diverse markets. It’s not all about creating new projects like wasabi every year, it’s about understanding where your products fit into the market and focusing on that. If you say, ‘I’m just going to sell watercress’, it’s pointless: you’ve got to break it up into sections, and look at where the value is added.”
Thus, and returning to that point about the company doing things differently, TWC sells powdered wasabi and watercress to the likes of high street cosmetics retailer Lush, along with pharmaceutical companies.
Watercress, which holds a top-three position in the baby leaf category in terms of sales in the UK, is a product people buy for a reason – namely, its health benefits.
The pepperiness that makes watercress taste the way it does is the bit that makes it healthy too, and that means that it is difficult to tinker with the flavour to give the product more mass-market appeal.
Amery, though, doesn’t let this faze him: “It’s about how you communicate its use,” he says. “So you can soften the hit by merging it with other products that can affect the flavour profile and make it more acceptable.”
Getting that knowledge across to the next generation of consumers is among the items topping Amery’s agenda over the next few years. “It’s a big challenge, and with the way media has changed and PR is represented, we need to adapt to that,” he says. “It’s not just as simple as social media, and tweeting about it is not going to drive sales. We need to build up key awareness and understanding.
“As for baby leaf as a whole, we need to stop the market being so confused. There’s a huge range of products on the market, so some consistency would benefit. Watercress, spinach and rocket have been around for a long time and have been very consistent, and I think the market could learn from that.
“A constant rearranging and replacement of the shelves may satisfy some of the challenges and criteria of buyers, but it’s not a long-term solution. Core lines need to be there constantly to build loyalty.”
One of the hot topics in the industry right now is season extension. TWC has started baby leaf production in the UK earlier this year, utilising some new methods, but Amery preaches caution: “In the UK, it’s easier to extend your season than it is to start earlier due to the nature of the weather, as you can keep your crops out as long as possible, but at some point you have to make the manoeuvre to go overseas, because you have to time that right,” he says.
“Yes, we would want to start earlier and finish later, but you’ve got to be realistic. Are we trying to be efficient, or are we trying to showcase? We have to take a line between the two.”
Further growth in terms of production capability is on the cards at TWC, with a new site in the offing in its main home of Dorset that will increase the business’ UK production by 22 per cent.
When asked as to whether this will elevate TWC onto a new level in the revenue stakes, Amery says: “As long as we increase our overall market, turnover will go up. But you can’t just rely on market share; you’ve also got to grow the market.
“And if you benefit from growth in market share, that’s fantastic, and you won’t turn it down, but our primary focus has to be on increasing sales in the overall market.
“Will we double over the coming years at the same rate we’ve seen? I don’t think so. It’s not all about turnover – it’s about innovating, delivering value in terms of growth, and specialising in what we do, and so niche products are definitely the area for us. We’re never going to be a company that’s looking at very broad scale production, it’s about adding core value to the market and industry.”
Amery says that it’s “very possible” there will be changes in the watercress market that will deliver a future based on increased collaboration: “We have our own ideas and views, but sometimes you have to let the natural course take effect,” he muses.
As an individual, Amery describes himself as being “really passionate” about what he does.
However, he notes: “The problem with being so passionate is that you end up constantly excited. Every day has to be different, and driven with something new happening.”
If anyone is going to drive salad sales and make new things happen, it’ll be Amery, leading the company that makes doing things differently, but exceedingly well, its USP.
The Watercress Company (TWC)
- Formed in 1994 from the merger of Bedford and Jesty, and Barter and Mills
- That merger was achieved by TWC chairman Peter Old
- New to the industry, Old saw an opening to bring the two together and invest
- TWC grew “significantly” from 1994 to 1998
- When Amery joined, the business “needed to decide what it was going to be”
- So the factory, the centre of that business, was sold to Geest
- That move let TWC focus solely on growing, reinvesting revenue from the sale of its packing function
- Since 2000, TWC has grown as a business by around 105 per cent
- Its turnover in the most recent financial year was nearly £13m
- TWC also grows and supplies other baby leaf salad crops and wasabi
- Its growing sites are in Dorset, Hampshire, Spain and Florida
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