Page 9 - Charlie Bigham CS

For Bigham this showed that in business luck plays a large part in
success:

"I set up a food business just as interest in food was
blossoming in this country. Suddenly there was a

wealth of TV chefs, and the national newspapers all
added food sections at weekends.”

"And the supermarkets were all being brave and
looking outwards towards new suppliers. There was

no planning or forethought about all this on my part, it
was pure luck."

However, supplying Waitrose presented its own problems.

Waitrose had informed Bigham that his premises did not meet its

stringent health and safety standards and if he wanted to continue
supplying them he would have to move to larger premises. He replied
that he would be delighted to do so as long as Waitrose gave him more
business to help finance the move.

Waitrose agreed and overnight tripled their order.

“We were supplying three different dishes to Waitrose
one day, and then overnight went to supplying 30 to
70 stores all in one go. When you grow by 2,300%

overnight, it’s interesting.”

Bigham acquired new premises, five times larger than his old one, at a

cost of over a £1 million. He funded this through a £70,000 grant from
the Department of Trade and Industry, a £30,000 grant from a local

Enterprise Agency and a £250,000 bank loan secured through the
Small Firms Loan Guarantee scheme.

This sudden expansion might well have caught many small businesses
out but Bigham had his earlier business experience to fall back upon.