The kbbreview Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast, your host is Andy Davies, this is Episode Two of Season 13 and we've got a great one for you today as we look into the world of distribution with one of the biggest names in the sector - Waterline.

We have a great interview with Michael Marriott, who's the new CEO, and sales director Rob Taylor who's chalked up an astonishing 39 years with the company.

Waterline is, of course, owned by Crown Imperial and Michael is the grandson of the founder, continuing the lineage of the family-run business. His brother Barry Head is the current MD of Crown.

There are huge changes happening with distribution in the KBB industry - with consolidation, buy outs and big names calling in the administrators. Big brands who always relied on distributors are starting to go direct and margins are getting tighter and tighter across the chain.

Against this backdrop, Waterline has just launched its first ever bathroom range - an ambitious move into a very crowded market.

So why have they done it, what do they think about the direction of distribution in general, and how does a new CEO get under the skin of such a well-established company?

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Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast, your host is editor-at-large Rebecca Nottingham and this is another of our very special Rising Star episodes where we meet the upcoming superstars of kitchen and bathroom retail.  

Between August 2024 and March 2025 we’ll be picking a monthly Rising Star to feature in the magazine, online and this very podcast. Those eight monthly winners then become the shortlist for the overall winner which will be revealed at the kbbreview Retail & Design Awards 2025 in April.

It's done with the support of our very good friends at Blum and you can find out more about them at Blum.com

You can nominate your rising stars, or indeed nominate yourself, via the awards website kbbreview.com/awards and there are only two rules:

They must be currently employed by a retailer - which we're defining as a company that sells direct to the consumer and they must be under 30 years of age on March the 4th, 2025. 

Other than that, they can perform any job role within your business – admin, design, sales, finance, installation, we don’t mind as long as they’re a star!

So let's meet our Rising Star for September, Georgia Astley. She's the branch manager at Kutchenhaus Lutterworth. At just 22 she's already clocked up experience in installation, design, project management and running a showroom and, as you will hear, she's loving every minute of it...

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Welcome to a very special bonus episode of the kbbreview Podcast, your host as always is Andy Davies, and today we're looking at one of the areas of kitchen design that doesn't get the recognition it deserves, and that's the panel finishes that make up the furniture.

When you actually think about it there's hundreds of colours, textures, grains and patterns all following, and often setting, the trends before they ever get near being made into furniture - and manufacturers are doing so at a speed that is mind boggling.

It's such an important part of the design journey that it definitely needs more attention so Andy is talking to Lauren Barker, the head of marketing and design for Lawcris.

Lawcris leads the field in wood based panel products, laminates and edgings with big brands such as Emporio Skin, Kronospan and many more. With over 40 vehicles in their fleet, they can provide next day delivery on all stocked products. You can find out all about them at lawcris.co.uk

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Welcome to this very special bonus episode of The kbbreview Podcast and, in fact, it's the first in a very special series of bonus episodes looking ahead to 2023.

Your host as always is managing editor Andy Davies and in this series we'll be talking to some key business leaders in the kbb sector and asking them where we are now and where we're going in the next 12 months.

Where are the opportunities?

Where are the pitfalls? 

What's the consumer going to do?

 How are they planning for their own companies?

First up we have Nathan Maclean from Virtual Worlds - it's leading the way in virtual reality solutions for retailers as well as offering hugely successful design packages. And Nathan himself has always been a real forward-thinker, applying very conceptual ideas to create practical applications so it's great to hear what his view of 2023 is.

This bonus episode is commercial content.

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Welcome to the kbbreview podcast, your host as always is Andy Davies and this is episode five of season six.

Couple of great bits of advice today - and we start with Trevor Scott from RFK and Sofia Charalambous from Origins LIving as they're two of our business judges in the kbbreview Retail & Design Awards 2023. 

And why are we talking to them now?

It's because entries close on this coming Thursday - that's November the 17th at 5pm. There will be no extensions, it's called the closing date for a reason.

So if you're there beavering away on your entry you'll want to hear some insight from the very people who might be reading your entry. What are they looking for? What do most entries not do enough of? And why waffle is your biggest enemy…

Then, in a total change of gear, we're talking mortgages and the housing market with friend-of-the-show Iain Swatton from mortgage tracking and comparison site Dashly. What happens to the market is, of course, directly linked to kitchens and bathrooms and with everything that's happened in the last couple of months, we all definitely need a bit of expert help to get our heads around it.

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Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast, your host as always is Andy Davies and this is episode 4 of season 6.

We've got a couple of features for you today and they couldn't be more diverse.

Firstly, we're looking into what help is available to you and anyone who works in the wider kbb industry if you fall on hard times. 

This is, unfortunately, depressingly relevant  as we begin what could be a long period of economic hardship to which no one is immune. We're talking to Sue Dean from the Furniture Makers Company - a charity that covers the vast majority of those that work in this sector.

It's definitely worth a listen because it could happen to any of us and if it's not you it might be someone you know that you could help just by pointing them in the right direction.

Then sometimes it's worth featuring a story on here just because it's really fun, so we have retailer Steve Root from Roots Kitchens Bedrooms Bathrooms telling us how he set off on a quest to claim a little 3m by 3m square of a Corsican hillside for this industry.

Trust me, it's a good 'un, it has goats, hitchhiking, a record breaking storm and a non-slip shower tray.

LINKS

Roots Kitchens Bedrooms Bathrooms 

Steve Root travel videos

Furniture Makers Company

Sue Dean email: [email protected] 

Sue Dean phone: 07366568458

Mental health text service: Text COMFORT to 85258

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Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast, your host  as always is Andy Davies and  this is episode three of season six.

That's the official classification, but much more  importantly this is Part Two of our top retailer round table.

Last week was Part One of this in-depth discussion that took place at the KBSA Conference a few weeks ago.

And we've got a roster of some of the most high-profile kbb retailers in the UK talking about some of the biggest issues. We have…

• Tony Robson from DayTrue in London
• Keith Myers from the Myers Touch in Winchester
• Diane Berry from Diane Berry Kitchens in Manchester
• Paul O'Brien from Kitchens International in Scotland

and

• Ron Mascari from Mascari Design in Nottingham.

And you'll also heard from Dawn Short from Callerton and Stephen Johnson from Quooker giving the supplier's point of view.

In Part One we covered two big topics - how business has changed post-covid - including a great discussion on who is still running by appointment only - and we also looked at how our retailers are approaching the thorny subject of sustainability,

So if you haven't listened to that yet here's a link to listen now in your browser, or if you're using a podcast app you can find it in there.

In Part Two we're going to deal with another couple of BIG subjects, including probably the biggest of them all at the moment, the floundering supply chain in some categories and the disruption it is causing the retailers day-to-day business.

And then we talk training, development, apprentices and the next generation and whether or not this industry really has a plan.

Two big subjects for Part Two of this discussion, so don't miss it.

Don't forget that entries close for the kbbreview Retail & Design Awards 2023 at 5pm on Thursday, November the 17th. It's totally FREE to enter and you can get all the details at kbbreview.com/awards

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Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast, your host as always is Andy Davies but that's really not important, the bit you actually need to know is that this is episode 2 of Season 6 and we're off to a flying start with the first of a two-part special.

Yes indeed, a double whammy this week and next. 

We're going to hear from a roundtable of top retailers discussing some of the biggest topics in the industry - post-lockdown business, supply chain problems, training and sustainability and it's all such good stuff that we're splitting it across two episodes.

At the end of September the KBSA ran a very successful conference and part of it was a fascinating on-stage discussion between Rob Mascari of Mascari Design, Paul O'Brien from Kitchens International, Paul O'Brien from Diane Berry Kitchens, Keith Myers from the Myers Touch, and Tony Robson from Day True. We'll also hear from Dawn Short from Callerton and Stephen Johnson from Quooker representing the suppliers.

There's a lot to unpick but we've dug out all the best bits for your delectation. In this first part we'll be looking at how their business has changed during and since the lockdowns, including some really interesting comments and opinions on working by-appointment only, and then we'll move onto sustainability and they're very candid about their views on who is responsible for what and whether consumers are actually bothered.

If you're interested in the episode mentioned by Tony Robson, here's the link

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Welcome to The kbbreview Podcast, we’re back back for this first episode of Season 6, and in the next ten weeks we’ll be running up to Christmas with top guests, big name interviews, industry updates, fun stories, great case studies, in depth analysis, loads of hints and tips to help you run your business better.

Your host as always is Andy Davies and we're afraid you’re stuck with him, but don’t let that put you off as we’ve got a great season opener for you.

We’ve got an exclusive interview with Anthony Sant, he’s the managing director of AO Business – now over the last couple of years many of you will have turned to AO with a furrowed desperate sweaty brow to try and fulfil those elusive appliance orders.

However, AO have their eye on the independent kitchen retail market for more than just those very distressed purchases. They want to be a major supplier and distributor, they want you to come to them as a first resort not last. 

And you can see why, they have a hugely impressive logistical network, massive warehouses, the latest IT and there’s a huge chunk of the appliance market there that they just don’t have.

But, as you will hear from Anthony Sant, the USP is not the delivery part, it’s that they will take the old appliances away. The retailer’s legal responsibility for the removal and safe disposal of electrical waste will soon, Sant says, become an onerous burden for retailers and they will be looking for partners that will take care of it.

Please rate, review and follow us wherever you get your podcasts, and feel free to drop Andy a line - [email protected]

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Welcome to the kbbreview Podcast, your host is Andy Davies and as well as being episode 10 of Season 5, and it is also the last episode of Season 5. We're going to take a little break and we'll be back with Season 6 later in October.

But we're rounding this season off with a discussion about a topic that affects every single retailer in the country - what and how do you pay your staff?

In particular we're looking at sales designers - do you pay low salary and high commission? Or high salary and low commission? And how do you even work out what that commission is going to be in the first place? Is it based on turnover or profit? And if the whole point is to motivate people to sell, what does that mean for those who simply want to design.

We're talking all this through with two friends of the show - consultant Toby Griffin and top retailer Elizabeth Pantling-Jones.

It may be the end of Season 5 but we're right bang in the middle of entries for the kbbreview Retail & Design Awards 2023. As always, it's totally FREE to enter and we have categories for kitchen and bathroom designers, retailers, installers and suppliers. The closing date is November 17th and if you want to find out more you can either go back a couple of episodes of this very podcast or go to kbbreview.com/awards.

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