Page 38 - Articulate Files

In March 2010 David Milner, the former boss of Kettle Chips,

Australia joined Tyrrells as the Commercial Director heading
up a six member sales team and a marketing team of two

based at Tyrrells' farm headquarters in Herefordshire. His

key responsibility would be to spearhead expansion into

overseas markets.

His immediate priority was to improve distribution of the

crisps in the UK, which were then stocked in Waitrose,
Sainsbury's and The Co-operative Group.

Milner had a three pronged strategy in mind:

1. to get Tyrrells into all UK supermarkets

2. international opportunities and

3. to innovate e.g. develop premium snacks
Milner told his staff to concentrate on other growth

opportunities and he would take on Tesco as a personal

project. In this he succeeded and Tesco amongst others

stocked Tyrrells product range.
However, tripling the size of the company in three years put

pressure on Tyrrells manufacturing. So more machinery and

space had to be acquired and acquisition were undertaken.
In 2012 nearly 30% of Tyrrells’ sales came from outside of

the UK. Within two years this was expected to rise to 50%.

Part of the reason for this lay with the exchange rate which

benefited the company.
Milner ensured that the strategy remained consistent

globally negating any brand confusion across or between

markets. In essence, he focused on a single brand truth, and

kept telling that story across the globe.
Tyrrells is no longer a small, niche producer of premium

potato chips. The business has grown rapidly since it was