Julian Graves founders back in business and looking healthy
THE entrepreneurs who launched the Midland-based Julian Graves health food chain are back in business.
JG Foods has been set up by founder Nick Shutts and business partner Nigel Morris. The pair have set up base at the Pensnett trading estate in Kingswinford and have already opened 10 new retail outlets.
The retail outlets, which are branded Grape Tree, are situated around the UK and sell dried fruits, nuts and confectionery.
The business has so far employed 30 people but this is expected to grow under plans to expand the company to 50 outlets.
The business partners have taken a lease on a 5,490 sq ft unit at Pensnett, which is owned and managed by London and Cambridge Properties Ltd (LCP), to use as their distribution centre.
The duo have long-established links with the estate but it also serves as a centre point for the current chain, which includes shops in Chester, Kendall, Horsham, Poole, Eastbourne, Worthing, Hasting, Ipswich, Gloucester and Leicester.
“We are back working with former colleagues in a business we know well. We already employ over 30 people from a standing start and the short term aim is to have a chain of 50 shops,” said Mr Shutts.
“We understand what the public wants and even in a tough retail market we are confident our new business will be a success. We have built up businesses before and can do it again. I believe that if you put great value out there in front of customers they will come in.
“We set up our administration and distribution centre at Pensnett because I know the LCP team well and they helped us to grow in the past.”
Mr Shutts, who lives in Bewdley, started his own business in 1984 from a market store in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire. Three years later he opened his first shop in Brierley Hill under the name Food for Thought.
After Nigel Morris invested in the business in 1993, the men used their middle names to create the name Julian Graves. It grew to a 350-stores £75m turnover business which was sold in 2003. Mr Shutts stayed on until 2008 but left when it was sold again.
