When the founder of a garden maintenance firm met a former paratrooper the pair spotted a business opportunity. Ten years later Gritit is a leader in winter risk management thanks to innovation, teamwork and the pursuit of quality
Alastair Kight In 1992, I founded a garden maintenance business, and eight years later I had a phone call from my machinery supplier who wanted to know whether I would be interested in doing gritting work for a supermarket up north. I had never done it before but I accepted and was given 10 sites. When I was offered sites in Surrey, I put out a call to recruitment agencies and Jason got in touch.
Jason Petsch I started out as a lieutenant in the South African paras. In 1994, I joined the family business, which dealt with wholesale agricultural equipment. I was the fourth generation in the business, but I didn't want to have a preordained future, so in 1999 I came to the UK without an agenda. I had £180 and a bag. I was free-spirited, but adamant that I wouldn't be returning home empty-handed.
Alastair Kight In 2004, I incorporated the business, registered the company and got the name – we knew it was something we would grow into a decent business. For the next two years I just didn't have the time to make it happen because I was so busy running my other companies. In 2006, we decided that there was a significant opportunity, but we wouldn't be able to grab it if we didn't do it properly.
Jason Petsch It was tough to get our first client. To be a kid in a playground and decide that you are going to be different from any other kid is tough and to do so in the business world is even tougher. Most people would look at conventional ways of doing things.
Alastair Kight The benefit we have in operating a seasonal business is that we have been able to dismantle the business every summer. We look at what we have done well and not so well, and how we can improve. The focus is always on how we can do things better.
Jason Petsch Gritit is the first company in the UK to just focus on providing gritting services. For most companies they're an add-on. The industry has a very casual reputation, but we sat down with corporates, focusing on why they wanted the service. Most of our clients are big companies that want to manage risks. If you're going to position yourself as a market leader you have to continue to innovate. We want to keep challenging ourselves and the industry, as well as improve our track record – we did 110,000 service visits last winter and 99.99 per cent were delivered within our contract.
Alastair Kight We both have vision, but Jason sees opportunities I might not spot. I might see a wild animal running about, but he sees a meal. Jason is the hunter and he is sharp and quick to spot opportunities, and is fleet of foot when it comes to chasing them. I am more interested in the detail and I'm a little more cautious. I'm not averse to taking risks but they need
to be calculated.
Jason Petsch We have changed the mindset of the industry from spreading salt to managing risk and we want to alter it even further. We have introduced fixed costs instead of variable charges. We put tracking in our vehicles five years ago, and we offer a guaranteed service and innovation through technology and products such as weather derivatives, which we use to hedge risk for our clients and ourselves.
Alastair Kight From my business experience I learnt that the toil I put in was not terribly smart energy because I never went into any of those businesses thinking how I might profit from selling a company. If you don't know where you are going there is nothing more certain than winding up in a place where you don't want to be.
Jason Petsch We have grown around 83 per cent for the last four years. We're still forecasting positive growth and have made a big investment in our infrastructure. In 2007, our turnover was £845,000 and in 2010 it hit £5.2m. This year our forecast is around the £10m mark.
Alastair Kight We do not want to be the biggest business in the UK tomorrow. We want to be the best business in the UK.
Because the business has grown so rapidly we haven't had a problem satisfying our need for fresh stuff – it's always changing. The fantastic thing is that so much of it is delivered by a team who come up with so many ideas to improve.
Jason Petsch We have separate skillsets and strengths – as commercial director I focus on the bigger picture and how we get there. Alastair, who's managing director, is interested in the detail so there is never a crossover. We disagree on a healthy basis but I can't think of a time we have argued over anything in a negative way.
