Meet Elly Durrant, co-founder of Herringbone Kitchens
My husband Will founded the business and ran it on his own for three years. I worked for the NHS and local government as commissioner for women’s services. When our first son turned two, business was really starting to ramp up and I was having a difficult time commuting in to London every day when I wanted to be near my young son, I left my role in the NHS to help run Herringbone Kitchens. Things progressed quickly with the opening of our workshop in Canterbury and our team growing from 5 to 25. We now take care of all our operations in house.
What inspired you to launch your business and what is the end goal?
We’re from a family of business owners. My parents owned a movie theatre when I was growing up and Will’s parent’s had a chicken farm. Will had always wanted his own business, he worked as a kitchen designer for larger companies. It took us a little while to get started as we were set on having a decent name and all our ducks in a row before we launched. Thanks to an evening of pub brainstorming with close friends, Herringbone Kitchens was born. We signed the lease on our first business premises just as I found out I was pregnant with Freddie, our eldest son. I was still working for the NHS as we still relied on that income the first 3 years of the business.
How do you set yourself apart from other businesses in your industry?
Initially we tried to be everything for everyone. In trying to appeal to everyone we actually realised we weren’t really appealing to anyone. It took us a while to be confident in our own style, but once we were, this really helped us set ourselves apart from our competitors. Once we started turning people away that wanted something that was not what we do, everything started to change. Every year our style slightly changes and grows. We stick to what’s right for us but keep moving and innovating our offering. We are a young family, which is rare in our industry. We have progressive and dynamic business model as well as flexible working policies for our team. I think this fresh approach shows in all that we do.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learnt so far as an entrepreneur?
It’s absolutely vital to be confident in your own style. Once we were, that was when our business really grew - on and off the balance sheet. A good team is equally as important. We know we need 100% buy in from our whole team when we’re making big changes to properly drive them forward. We recruit carefully to ensure our team members are not only skilled but are fully bought into our ethos and everything Herringbone stands for.
With all the success stories around entrepreneurship and how innovative people have to be to take the leap. How do you think you’ve innovated your sector and why?
Manufacturing can be a really, really stale sector. It’s an expensive thing to start. You need a lot more than a laptop on your kitchen table at home and as such the sector has been dominated by older, male individuals backed by money, or handed down through generations of the family. It’s traditionally been such a clock on clock off culture too. When Will and I founded Herringbone Kitchens we were a pair of under 30s that had taken out a bank loan and put charge on our house. As our team has grown we’ve brought in flexible working, shared parental leave and a culture more likely to be associated with an ad agency than a manufacturing business. This has ensured we continue to get the best team.
What are your thoughts on failure?
Failure is, of course, a really important part of growing. If you’re not making mistakes, you’re not doing it right! We’re sticklers for team-wide monthly review meetings that have helped us learn and grow really quickly. Even the simplest things like ordering too many handles for a kitchen we want to avoid. We take a step back, see how it happened and make sure we’re avoiding the same happening next time.
In the first few years we didn’t have as clear of handle on our finances and learnt the hard way from everything being paper-based. So hard to imagine when we look back.
What are your top tips for entrepreneurs wanting to get their business out there?
Definitely seek advice from friends and family but remember, you’re not always obliged to take that advice
Have a strong business plan in place. Even if you’re not pitching to investors, imagine you are; stay accountable to yourself/selves
Know your client base really well
Care about what you’re delivering - be passionate about a need you’re addressing and never lose sight of how you’re changing a customer’s life. That’s definitely what keeps me going. During COVID-19 lockdown we’ve received so many beautiful messages from clients that are even more grateful for their kitchen and all it’s given them during this tricky time
Remember what Ford said, if your business is only about making money, it is not a good business. You need to have a purpose. For us we give back to a local homeless charity with the team making meals every few months, we use sustainable products and support our employees to have the best work/life balance.
How important is company culture and what is your top tip to get it right?
Company culture is beyond important to us and responsible for all we’ve been able to achieve so far. We know one ‘bad egg’ can really drag the team down and not leave everyone feeling their best at work. At the interview process we talk about our company culture a lot. We won’t tolerate any form of discrimination. Our company vision has pride of place in the middle of the workshop and is there for all to see. We laugh and joke via our team WhatsApp group and are committed to our monthly meetings happening.
Any new product launches we should know about?
We recently launched our Abigail Ahern range. A move into standard size kitchens was a huge step for us and suddenly made our company accessible to so many more clients. The purpose of this new standard size range is to design an affordable range, made from sustainable materials here in the UK. You are able to buy this range all online.
What’s the single most important decision that you made, that contributed to your business?
For us, the single most important decision we’ve taken as a business so far was to take everything in house - to make our own kitchens, to fit our own kitchens. We’re now much more in charge of our own destiny.
What do you think gives a brand longevity?
Herringbone’s brand longevity will definitely be determined by staying true to our values; values we know clients really respect. We continually set out to leave a lasting impression, address a real client need and not simply go about making money. We care about improving not only the lives of our clients but also those of our team and vulnerable people in our community. Members of the team who have never volunteered before, now love helping make meals for the homeless. We have got everyone to think about sustainability more, and team members come up with great ideas every month for how we can be more sustainable. Recently when we realised there was a lack of PPE for the NHS, members of the team volunteered to help make over 500 visors for local NHS and care workers. My oldest son helped make the visors as well, he also drew a picture for the NHS workers and left them in each box of visors. A week later we had a picture of the NHS staff in our visors holding my son’s pictures.
Keeping an eye on the numbers in any business is important. How do you ensure that you’re always up to date?
We’ve got our eye on the numbers on a daily basis. We’ve aimed for (and hit) 30% growth year-on-year since we started out. With COVID-19, we accept we may need to settle for maintaining our growth for this year. We went paperless a couple of years ago which really helps you keep an eye on the accounts and numbers. We’re never not grateful for having found a superb accountant and check in with them regularly. We’re part of local mentoring groups that are so, so helpful. Many of our family members also have their own businesses so we openly swap spreadsheets and trouble shoot together, quite often because one of the businesses will have faced a similar issue already.
Do you have a morning routine or ritual to get your day started on the right foot?
We have a really busy family life with our two sons Freddie (5) and Finn (6 months). There isn’t a lot of time for morning rituals but without fail we always have a coffee or tea in bed together with the boys before we attack the day.
What plans do you have for Herringbone Kitchens over the next two years?
Growth remains important to us. At the moment we’re completing around 60 projects a year but we’d like to get to 100. But we’ll stop at that, we don’t want to get too big. We are not interested in having multiple studios or a franchise model. Our work-life balance is really important to us, we remain selective about who we work with and do not want to create a business that loses sight of what's important.
How did you fund the launch of your business and what creative strategies did you use to execute a minimal cash flow?
We got up and running thanks to bank loans and further loans from Will’s family. We’ve chosen never to turn to angels or investors as we’ve wanted to retain 100% control of our business. We managed initially by launching our website before having anything else in place. Believe it or not, we actually sold our first kitchen, entirely from the website. That was a huge boost so that when we opened our studio, we’d already sold our first kitchen.
How did you conquer those moments of doubt that so often affect entrepreneurs or stop many with great ideas – what pushes you through?
Will and I conquer moments of self-doubt together. When you notice a weakness it’s important to take a look at your strengths to overcome it. We sit back down together to draw up a SWOT and progress to attack the concerns from there. We are not scared of trying something new, but first need to really plan and run the numbers.
What’s the most important question entrepreneurs should be asking themselves?
Simply - “Would you buy your own product?”
How do you believe the evolution of tech will affect your industry over the next 10 years?
We obviously couldn’t operate without our website and social media is a global marketing force to be reckoned with but in our line of work and ‘making stuff’ there is only so much a machine can do. Machines can support with standard size and mass production - we focus on bespoke and will always need real, brilliant people to get the job done.
What would be your top marketing tip, to grow a business that is so niche, yet incredibly timeless?
Be sure to place your story at the heart of all you do.
Were you nervous at the outset?
Absolutely! I really wanted it to work for Will. I had my own career when he started out and I was so keen to do all I could to help him get there. How do you get back up from a nasty knock? I never wanted him to experience a nasty blow to his confidence and was so desperate (and nervous) to make that happen.
Any moments where you thought you’ve bitten off more than you can chew?
Genuinely, no. We’ve never accepted anything that we couldn’t execute on. There is so much plotting and planning that goes into every decision we make to avoid overwhelm later down the line. We really plan before making any decision and hire the best team around us to help when things get sticky.
