Industry Insider: Mark Dodds, Roythornes

We first met Mark back in July when we attended the NPD Food conference that Roythornes organised and hosted. It’s great to have Mark as an industry insider - we caught up with him to hear a little bit more about the work that Roythornes do and to get an interesting insight into the food industry through a legal lense.

Tell us a bit about yourself! Who are you and what do you do?

Roythornes is a top 200 law firm with a strong presence in the agri-food sector.  In a nutshell we help food businesses face the challenges and opportunities which are all part of running  a business.

How do you help small businesses?

For small businesses this involves giving a great deal of advice on how to establish a business, how to make sure the all-important paperwork is in place and how to ensure that any innovative ideas are protected as much as they can be.  Companies (and not just small ones!) sometimes ignore paperwork and just get on with running the business, but sadly when something goes wrong – a supplier goes bust, and employee lodges a tribunal claim or a customer doesn’t pay, they realise how important it is.

What does your typical day look like?

Our daily routine is as varied as the food sector.  On a day to day basis we could be advising a large fresh produce supplier on their dealings with one of the ‘big five’ supermarkets, helping a small whisky producer defend a claim from an American law firm, or drafting a non-disclosure agreement for an entrepreneur with an idea that could revolutionise the way his sector trades millions of pounds worth of product a year.

At the end of the day, much of the advice we give is ‘business advice’ rather than pure legal advice, and I think clients appreciate this. Because we know so many people in the chain, we can put people in touch on packaging design, transportation, recipe development and specialist food public relations.

What does ‘artisan’ mean to you?

To us ‘Artisan’ is typified by the product rather than the scale of the business.  It means a product where extra care and attention is given to the ingredients, their supply chain and the production, resulting in a quality product.  Artisan producers often have a massive stake in their own business and a passion which is great to see.  Big corporates don’t always have the same belief in their product as they have many more stakeholders and their efforts and focus can be diverted elsewhere.

How can small artisan producers stand out?

Artisan producers can stand out by ‘sticking to their guns’.  It’s very tempting to keep driving costs down to make more profit but when this comes at the cost of using cheaper ingredients, or sub-contracting the product quality can drop.  It’s much better to increase profits by looking for more outlets and broadening product ranges.   Their passion also helps – when you have someone at the top that believes in their product and knows it inside out it makes such a difference.

How do you think small artisan food businesses should be supported?

Artisan producers need to know where to go for advice.  They should look for specialists in the sector who know for example, how retail contacts work, how to handle product recalls and who have contacts that may be able to help.  There needs to be opportunities for them to get together and share ideas – it’s very easy to become isolated as a small producer and any opportunity to exchange ideas, successes and failures(!) with similar businesses should always be grabbed.

What do you think is the toughest part of starting a small food business?

Apart from the isolation,  I guess the toughest part of starting a small food business is scaling a ‘kitchen concept’ up into production and sales.  For someone who does not know about the logistics of doing this it can be quite daunting, and this is where good advice pays dividends.

What do you think is the next big opportunity for small artisans?

I think there are a number of opportunities for artisan producers.  The first is in the growth in ‘free from’ foods.  There’s a real opportunity for producers of quality food products to provide food for those who have allergies which isn’t mass produced.  Just because someone has an allergy does not mean they don’t appreciate fine food!

The other opportunity is of course in maintain the principles of quality food.  The recent scandals over horse meat [and] unlabelled halal chicken in the food chain make consumers question where their food is coming from and what it contains.  There is more questioning about ingredients and some sections of consumers are coming round to the fact that if they can buy 8 burgers for 80p they may want to question the source.  People will pay for quality and it’s up to the artisan producers to shout about the provenance of their food!

What are your words of wisdom for someone starting out?

At our recent conference on new product development the head of our food team, Peter Bennett said “If you take one thing away from this event, it’s speak to no one without a Non-Disclosure Agreement in place.”  This is a document which protects your ideas and products if, for example you are talking to a retailer, and yes, it’s good advice to get one drawn up.

From my point of view I would say really think about what makes your product stand out – is it the flavours, the health benefits, the producer or even the clever packaging?  Once you have identified that you can build your business – making sure you have the right documentation in place from your lawyer of course!

What do you think of our big ideas and what we’re trying to achieve?

It’s so difficult for small producers to get a route to market these days as there are often costs involved which make some of the routes prohibitive.  Projects such as Kitchen Table Projects are so valuable to the sector in giving exposure to some amazing producers.

How can people find out more about you and get in touch?

We’re very happy to talk to artisan food producers about any situation they find themselves in.  We realise that sometimes people are scared off lawyers by the costs, but we’re not that sort of firm and you’re not going to get a bill from us for a quick chat, so please do give us a call.

Roythornes can be contacted on 01775 842500, or e-mail markdodds@roythornes.co.uk