Family owned health company targets £50m turnover in next two years

A family firm in Gloucestershire has set itself the ambitious target of reaching a turnover of £50m within the next two years.

Lanes Health, which employs 250 staff, is currently run by the fourth generation of the Lanes family in the shape of Jonathan Groves.

Although not a household name the company makes and sells some of the best-known health brands in the UK.

Their brands include Olbas, Kalms and ProPlus as well as the throat lozenges Jakemans.

Jonathan is rightly proud of the legacy created by his great-grandfather almost 100 years ago.

Gilbert Lane and his wife Grace founded the business in 1930 and throughout the generations it has stayed true to its principles.

Gilbert was a pioneer and passionate about improving health and quality of life through a good diet and supplements, using carefully selected plants and nutrients.

He began writing and selling books on diet and health, alongside recipe books and kitchen utensils from his home in the Forest of Dean.

The company developed several natural remedies and quickly outgrew their premises in Newent and after several moves, it established its headquarters in 1939 in a Victorian pin factory in Gloucester.

Lanes stayed put until moving to their current purpose-built factory in 1974 in the Longlevens area of the city.

The company has evolved over time from health foods to manufacturing products which are sold in supermarkets and shops across the country.

In 2007 Lanes Health added to their portfolio and acquired Jakemans the popular menthol lozenge brand based in Boston Lincolnshire.

Jonathan is keen to grow the business while always staying faithful to the founding principles.

He said: “Whilst it’s important to stay true to your roots – ensuring that your morals and company values still remain the same – embracing change and investing in new technologies to keep up with supply and demand are key.

“Don’t be scared by change, that’s probably what made the business successful in the first place, because you were doing something different.

“We do not look at the best commercial opportunities if it is not a good fit for our values and vision, if it doesn’t work for us as a family then we won’t go there.

“In terms of our staff it is about treating them in the best way possible. We are always looking at ways we can do things for them, it doesn’t have to be massive but the right gestures can go a long way.

“For us the people who work for us are a part of our extended family, without them we would not be successful.

“We have people who have worked for us for more than 30 years, we have some people who have been with us for years and years.”

He added: “Our leading brands have strong recognition but we have been doing such a good job getting the brands out there we are seeing strong growth in sales across the board.

“We have some really exciting campaigns planned which will help in terms of getting the product into more hands in different markets.”

Last year Lanes enjoyed £44m in sales across all brands, the aim is to reach the £50m target by the end of 2026.

Jonathan said: “The majority of our sales are in the UK, we don’t sell a lot internationally at the moment and it is going to be one of our biggest growth areas.

“We do have well-established customers overseas, but we want to expand into new areas internationally and we have had some really positive feedback.

“We are looking at new areas such as India, China and South Korea. The lifting of restrictions in terms of Covid has helped us a lot it means we can get out to do face to face meetings. “

Jonathan said Covid meant a lot of people’s focus turned to health and well-being.

He added: “People started thinking about how they were feeling, in some ways Covid was quite good for us but in other ways it was challenging.

“Because people were separated from one another, things like cold and flu did not spread as much. We did see a drop in sales, because a lot of the shops were closed we saw a drop in sales.”

Being a family run businesses means Lanes has the freedom to be able to adapt quickly to the landscape around them without the sign-off, rigmarole or input from external stakeholders.

The company is also fully prepared for any potential acquisitions that might come its way.

Jonathan said: “We are always looking for different investments, but it has to be the right fit for the business.

“We have been looking internally at our systems to make sure that we have the capacity to make an acquisition if the opportunity comes along.

“The bank is very happy to lend to us if we want to expand, but we would not look for any other partners or investors. We want to retain who and what we are.

“As a business we have always been very wary about relying on outside parties for funding, it can upset the harmony.”