The Partnership
The double act
Everson Hewett
New Loom House, 101 Backchurch Lane,
London E1 1LU
Tel: 020 7680 5140
Managing director: Stuart Everson, 46
Director: Jon Hewett, 36
When started up: December 1995
Initial investment: £80,000
Turnover: £7.8m (profit £53,000)
Contracts: 48
Staff: 479
Insider tips on setting up a partnership
\ Ensure you are all going in the same direction - have a strategy.
\ Listen, and hear each other's views and look at all the issues.
\* Make sure you get on well personally - you don't need to live in each other's pockets, but you do need to have fun together.
\ Complement each other's skills.
\ Don't be afraid of letting one partner emerge as the leader.
Meeting Jon Hewett and Stuart Everson for the first time is fun. They're a bit like a double act - one minute they're bickering and the next they're bolstering each other. They're also very different.
"If we hadn't met when we did, I wonder if we would have ever met, because we do different things and have different personalities. But we do have the same direction and values," says Hewett.
So how did it all begin?
Like many partnerships, theirs started at work. Hewett and Everson met on a training course at Sutcliffe and later worked together on the company's flagship contract at Cable & Wireless. Everson was the general manager and Hewett the area manager.
It was toward the end of the Baxter & Platts era, and they saw there was a need for independent caterers. They wrote a business plan, got third-party start-up investment through a broker and resigned.
Everson describes the first year as the most exciting and hyper. But it hasn't all been good times. One year, he recalls, they didn't win a contract at all.
Surely that sort of stress chisels away at the foundations of even the best relationship?
"Trust is the reason it works. At times it's awful, but it doesn't last long," remarks Hewett.
Trust is, indeed, crucial. The investors have a 40% stake but don't wield any power, although one sits on the board. Everson and Hewett split the rest of the shares equally, and "so long as we vote together, all is well".
Reminiscent of Bartlett Mitchell, Everson adds: "It's like a marriage - it either works or it fails. Deep down something bonds you."
Also like Bartlett Mitchell, Hewett reckons the key to a good partnership is for one person to assume leadership. After about a year they realised this role would fall to Everson.
"Someone has got to be the leader - all that joint MD stuff is codswallop. We still have the same goal, but one person says this is how we do it… We know Stuart is our leader because he's older," says Hewett, who can't resist the odd friendly dig.
Studiously ignoring the dig, Everson adds: "With a 50-50 partnership you end up with tremendous conflict. You can't start getting bigger than the company."
What could rock the boat is the fact that Everson's wife, Clare, has been the operations director for the past three years. But Hewett says he doesn't feel at all sidelined. "We spoke long and hard about it and decided it was good for the business. She used to be with Catering & Allied, so she brought good stuff with her - our master strategy is to use the good bits of High Table and Catering & Allied."
So what is their key to success? "Partnerships who bicker are no good," says Hewett, adding quickly: "We bicker like an old couple, but it isn't malicious."
Good communication throughout the business is imperative, and that goes for the partners, too, although Hewett says they know each other so well they almost don't need to discuss it. "I know when you have unauthorised thoughts," interrupts Everson.
So what do they think of each other? "Stuart's old, emotional, lovable, loyal, thorough and tenacious - and surprisingly organised, given how much he does," says Hewett.
"Jon's very naughty," says Everson. "But he works directly on the running of the company, developing business and being creative."
"That's another reason why we get on so well. I've not got a set job," laughs Hewett
The Friends
Bartlett Mitchell
42a High Street, Egham, Surrey TW20 9DP
Tel: 01784 471411
Web: www.bartlettmitchell.co.uk
Directors: Wendy Bartlett, 42, and Ian Mitchell, 53
When set up: January 2000
Initial investment: £40,000
Turnover: £3.75m
Contracts: 28
Staff: 148
Wendy Bartlett and Ian Mitchell aren't even an item, but they admit they're like a married couple - they even finish each other's sentences. "We row like a married couple but we can't get divorced," jokes Mitchell. "Still, I wouldn't have done it [gone into business] with anybody else."
Bartlett expands: "You've got to have a solid foundation, not just what's written on paper - you've got to have firm principles to start with."
Their partnership was put to the test while they were both still working for Eurest. Having made the decision that they would like to try to set up a company together, they started to research its feasibility.
A technical hitch speeded up the process, however, when Mitchell tried to print out a rough business plan while at work. Unfortunately, the pages didn't come out of the printer until two hours later and landed slap-bang on his boss's desk. Faced with an ultimatum, Mitchell committed himself to the new venture and resigned there and then - quite a leap of faith, seeing as Bartlett was incommunicado on holiday in Australia.
"But Wendy stood by me," he says, adding that that's a big test of any partnership. "You must stand by each other."
Bartlett chips in: "You've got to have trust and follow it through," she says, "because when times are not going too well, you need to support each other. That's our strength."
The pair started working together in about 1987. Initially, they worked at Sutcliffe on a British Airways contract, and later Eurest, where Mitchell was managing director of London and then East of England and Bartlett was operations director of London and the City.
But Bartlett warns: "You'd be a fool to go into a partnership thinking you can get on just because you've worked together."
Their partnership is founded on shared values. Discussions about starting a business together were sparked by their mutual frustration at working for a huge company and being unable to give clients their personal attention.
They also recognised they had complementary skills. Bartlett, whom Mitchell describes as a "tough cookie", has a strong business head and focuses on sales and administration, while Mitchell, who Bartlett reckons has a softer personality, is good at client liaison and motivating people.
This has led to a discussion on how their roles will develop. Although both partners have equal shares - there's also now a third director, David James, who has a minority share - they've agreed that as the company grows Mitchell will become chairman and Bartlett will become chief executive "and actually run the company".
There doesn't seem to be a trace of disharmony over this decision. As industry insiders, they've watched other partnerships disintegrate because of egos. "There can only be one leader," says Bartlett, who, despite having strong views, seems happy for that person to be Mitchell. "When partners don't recognise that, or when they feel threatened, they fall out."
One problem they both acknowledge is that it's increasingly difficult to find time to talk, and they are aware how easily this can lead to a build-up of issues. If they do disagree on something, they use their initial mission statement as a guiding principle.
"We made the decisions for the right reasons, so we stand by them. We moan about each other, but we agreed at the beginning that we wouldn't compromise our friendship," says Bartlett.
As a result, Mitchell doesn't resent the fact that Bartlett takes lots of holidays, and neither does he take his moans home to his wife.
And, at the end of the day, the partnership is protected by legal documents. There's even - God forbid - an arbitration facility should one of them want to sell. But both claim that will never happen. "Our key uniting factor is that we want to work," says Mitchell.
The marrieds
Charlton House The Clock Tower, Wyfold Farm, Wyfold, Reading RG4 9HU
Tel: 01491 683400
Chairman: Tim Jones, 43
Chief executive: Robyn Jones, 41
When set up: July 1991
Turnover: £25.9m in the year to September 2002 (budget for September 2003, £30.6m-plus)
Contracts: 85
Staff: 900
While the Bartlett Mitchell team, and even Everson Hewett, might joke about their partnership being "like a marriage", for the Charlton House duo it's a reality.
Robyn started the company back in July 1991 during recession after being made redundant as general manager of catering at construction company Higgs & Hill. She used her small redundancy package to buy a computer and a second-hand car. To minimise the risk, she set up in the back bedroom of the house she shared with husband, Tim, who was then a financial director. Unlike many of her competitors, there was no outside investor, so he initially supported her.
Robyn confesses that she felt very lonely at first, but by March 1992 the first contract had come in and Tim gradually started working with her part-time. He eventually came on board in 1998.
The couple have 50-50 shares and have registered the company at Companies House but, other than that, have no other formal documentation. "You could say that's na‹ve, but we'd both smack each other if either one suggested a contract, because it would suggest one of us might ‘do' something… " says Robyn.
As Tim says: "In business you have to trust each other, and in a relationship you have to trust each other. For all the paper and thousands of pounds we could spend on lawyers, it wouldn't put us in a better position. I guess people not in marriage situations would have to work on exit strategies."
Like Wilson Storey Halliday (see below), each has their own role in the company. Robyn's the caterer and Tim's the accountant and, according to them, that's partly why it works.
"There's rarely any stress," she says. "Both respect each other's expertise, and if one were to overstep the mark the other would tell them to back off - but it isn't an issue.
"We know each other well and worked well as a team in our marriage. I can be assertive, and he is cautious, and our professions complement each other."
The benefit of running their own business is that they can work hours to suit themselves and their children. The couple have managed to raise two children - one seven and the other nearly four - while building up the business.
Tim says: "Our quality of life has benefited by working together and being married. Now we can understand each other's problems if one has to work late, or whatever."
Robyn concedes that the three board members are conscious of them being married and that they find it amusing when the two of them have formal meetings together despite the fact they talk about work non-stop - she admits that it isn't unusual for them to look at papers in bed at 10.30 at night.
"You have to have a strong relationship and the same principles, ideas and ethos, otherwise it would cause a rift. I am eager and he is cautious, so this balance pays off," says Robyn.
Tim adds: "If you don't like living in each other's pockets, then don't do it. It was easier for us, because it evolved - I started off part-time."
They do disagree on some things, of course. What turns Tim off is when Robyn wants to spend their hard-earned profits on brochures and marketing.
So who has the last word? "I usually tell him it's me," she says.
The threesome
Wilson Storey Halliday
Imperial House, Oaklands Park, Wokingham, Berkshire RG41 2FD
Tel: 0118 989 0330
Managing director: Alastair Storey, 50
Human resources director: Linda Halliday, 44
Finance director: Keith Wilson, 41
When set up: Wilson Storey was set up in September 2000 and merged with Halliday Catering Services in December 2000
Turnover: £45m
Contracts: 152
Staff: 1,500
From the outside, the Wilson Storey Halliday set-up looks fraught with potential tensions. For a start, Linda Halliday is the resident partner, while the other two, Keith Wilson and Alastair Storey, in effect came on board when their fledgling company Wilson Storey merged with Halliday Catering Services in 2000. Second, there's the potential imbalance of a male-female divide.
Wilson dismisses such speculation: "There's bound to be an external view that there are two of us against Linda, but two years on, if that were the case, we wouldn't still be here. That kind of tension would have broken us up."
Halliday is reluctant to dwell on the possible downsides of the deal, but she does concede that it wouldn't work for a control freak.
"I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. If the company is yours and you like it like that, then it would be very difficult," she says.
Fortunately, Halliday doesn't feel that way. The partnership has helped her bring in more expertise to take the business - which had a turnover of £23m at the time - forward.
In what is starting to seem a tradition, Wilson and Storey met at Sutcliffe and worked together on and off for 15 years before they set up Wilson Storey. They knew Halliday from just being in the industry. "Our vision is the same. There is no fundamental point of difference," says Storey.
Storey has "slightly more" shares than the other two. They have formal board meetings every quarter, plus intermediate meetings, and they speak every day.
"It's a small business, but we are professional about writing business plans and proper budgets. Everything is written down, and we try to include the teams," says Storey.
All three describe each other as having a strong personality, so it's probably just as well that each has their own specific role. Wilson won't be drawn on who has the most important job. "Obviously me," he says, laughing. "But seriously, we have slightly different strengths and come from slightly different core functions but share the same desire to be successful, so the partnership has to work well."
So what do they think is crucial to a good partnership? "It works for us because we get along well," says Storey. "But business is business. If we didn't have differences of opinion I'd be horrified. If one person feels strongly about doing something, we can easily refer back to the strategy and decide whether it would be logical. Sometimes it's good to give way if someone feels strongly, because it means they will make it work."
What if one of the trio goes? Halliday is adamant: "It wouldn't dissolve the partnership. I'm sure the other two would bring in a third person."
And what would they look for? "It would have to be someone like-minded, not somebody who just wants a big profit margin. We want to build a sustainable business," says Storey.
So is three a crowd? For Wilson, size doesn't matter. "Ironically, I don't view it as a threesome. There are a number of people involved in this company, from sales to catering teams."
He doesn't advocate spending too much free time with his colleagues, though. He's got four children, Storey has five and Halliday has two.
Storey explains: "We are friendly, but it's important to have a work-life balance. Frankly, I have a wife and five children and on Friday night I want to go home and spend the weekend with them. I'm not a workaholic."
Expert tips on setting up partnerships
To be a partnership, you need to be in business with at least one other person. This compares with a limited company, which can be formed by and operate with just one person, writes John Davies.
\* Make sure you set out as much detail as you can in a partnership agreement. If you do not do this, then the law will either imply certain things, such as a right for all partners to have an equal say in running the business and sharing its profits, or matters may be left uncertain, in which case legal costs may have to be incurred to resolve disputes or uncertainty.
\* Understand the implications of being a partnership. Unlike a limited company, or a limited liability partnership (LLP), the partnership does not have a separate legal existence. This means that the individual partners act not as agents of the firm but of their fellow partners. So, whereas the actions of company directors are carried out on behalf of their company, the actions of partners are on behalf of the firm's partners as individuals. Each partner is ultimately responsible not only for his or her own actions but for those of his or her fellow partners.
\* Given that partners are exposed to personal responsibility and liability, there is no requirement for partnerships to disclose information on their business affairs, such as the firm's profits or the individual partners' share of those profits. This contrasts with both limited companies and LLPs, which are required by law to file annual audited accounts and other information on the public record at Companies House.
\* The profits of partnerships are not subject to corporation tax. Instead, the individual partners in the firm are taxed on a Schedule D basis as if they were self-employed.
\* As with any other business, you should register your partnership for VAT purposes if its taxable supplies fall within the registration thresholds (if its total taxable supplies over the past year amounted to £55,000 or more, or if its taxable supplies over the following month are likely to amount to the same figure).
\* Even though, technically, the departure of a partner or the appointment of a new one brings the "old" partnership to a close, your VAT registration will be unaffected by changes in membership of the partnership.
John Davies (Tel: 020 7396 5972) is head of business law at the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants
