Family Business: Personal service sets Hammonds apart

DRINKS distribution business Hammonds of Knutsford is on a drive for constant improvement and service.

The Cheshire-based business, now run by the son of the founder, is able to take a long-term view on investment, and has recently committed significant resource to developing a new IT system, which it believes could be sold to other businesses.

Hammonds of Knutsford is featured in TheBusinessDesk.com’s 20-page Family Business Supplement sponsored by North West accountants Hurst and law firm Kuits. Click here to download for free.

The business, which is based in the grounds of a secluded Cheshire farm, employs around 20 people – many of whom have worked for the business for many years.

Mr Hammond’s now retired father, Tony, founded the business in the late 1960s. To begin with the company supplied bingo tickets and then moved into supplying and stocking cigarette vending machines to pubs and nightclubs.

By the 1970s the business had evolved further up the value chain as Mr Hammond became an  importer of Havana Cigars and then champagne and other drinks.

Today it supplies hotels, bars, private clubs, and universities as well as independent wine merchants,  independent retailers and regional brewers with a wide range of wine and spirits.

Jonathan Hammond joined the business in 1986 straight from school age16, says: ““e have no exit plan, we are focused on growing and evolving and making the business better. We love getting a new customer – it’s like making a new friend.

“When I find something to make the business better – it’s really exciting – over the last few years we’ve been developing a new IT system for instance, which I think is the most advanced, slickest and efficient around.”

To read more about Hammonds of Knutsford, download our Family Business Supplement here.