PV Publisher Yvonne Reynolds-Young joined the throng at the launch of Scobie McIntosh’s brand-new, state-of-the-art showroom and demonstration area at Smallfield, near Gatwick.
(Photo credits except for outside picture – Jonathan Hilder of Piers Photography – Also feature picture is of The Family)
‘Once upon a time it was easy’, CEO Andrew Alderson recalled. ‘Everybody we needed to know about Scobie McIntosh, knew exactly what we did, and what we stood for.’
Ah, but ‘the past is a foreign country, they do things differently there’, and these days, thanks to a series of major investments and acquisitions, the family-owned company is not quite so simple to pigeon-hole…
The re-definition of Scobie McIntosh is now underway, heralded by a gathering of vending’s great and good at its Smallfield HQ, in celebration of the launch of a brand-new, state-of-the-art showroom and demonstration area.
I was welcomed warmly, by a lovely bunch of people, every one of whom was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and obviously committed to the business.
Andrew kicked-off proceedings with an overview of the company’s activities. He began by drawing a picture of Scobie McIntosh’s business: it was an eye-opener to learn that they maintain and manage 80,000 vending machines in UK, Ireland and Mainland Europe. Who knew?
Hot on the heels of the company’s 2014 acquisition of GVS, in September 2017 Scobie McIntosh acquired a vending equipment business, followed by a catering equipment maintenance business, critically situated within the M25. At the same time, Scobie’s equipment refurbishment business merged with Multivend and the company started a collaboration with Costco to establish Scobie Retail Services, a shop-fitting operation based in the Lancashire town of Ashton-Under-Lyne.
Andrew’s top priority now is to make sure that clients and potential clients alike are aware of wealth of services that Scobie McIntosh can bring to the table. This was the main motivator behind the development of the new showroom; the first of its kind since Andrew’s father, Geoffrey, opened one at Sighthill, in Edinburgh, back in 1991.
The Smallfield facility is impressive, boasting a ‘from scratch’ artisan bakery, a ‘bake-off’ facility; specialist coffee equipment for barista-led outlets and coffee vending machines for unattended retailing. Also on show are refrigerated units; likewise, the latest generation of fully connected vending machines share space with fully guaranteed refurbished machines.
Andrew’s succinct introduction was followed by a presentation from Director Kingsley Donaldson, who introduced Scobie McIntosh’s substantial Operations and Commercial teams.
It’s now a priority for ‘Scobie’s’ to keep their existing clients close – and even closer! – by revealing to them to the broad range of solutions that’s now available.
My fellow delegates and I took advantage of the opportunity to get hands-on with the machines and talk to the machine suppliers who’d offered their support, such as Louise Wardle from Evoca, Kurt Wood from Crem, Paul Shattock from Crane and Coffetek’s Paul Bannister.
Next came a lively lunch of pastries, breads, and bagels that had been baked on the premises, accompanied by the most delicious drippy cheese and an impressive selection of cold cuts.
The event was well attended by Scobie McIntosh clients and prospects. It was also exceptionally well supported by suppliers. There was a real buzz about the place and delegates went away at the end of the day knowing a lot more about Scobie Mcintosh and what the company brings to the party…
As Kingsley put it, in his inimitable fashion… ‘Scobie McIntosh is not a small company from the ‘arsehole’ of nowhere, but a big company with teeth, big ambition and a very talented team driving forward an ambitious set of targets’.
There’s no arguing with that!
