Mark Hall is moving kitchen design up a gear. Interview by Paul Rouse.
When Mark Hall retired from his senior management career in the automotive industry, he and his wife Shelly were looking forward to taking life a little easier.
“It didn’t last long,” he smiles. “We soon got bored. And needed a new challenge.”
It came in the shape of signing a franchise agreement with Schmidt, one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of bespoke home living solutions (primarily kitchens, dressing rooms, lounges and bathrooms) and setting up Schmidt Solihull in a prestigious showroom on the High Street in Knowle, which opened in March 2022.
A year on, how are things going?
“We have certainly learned a lot,” says Mark. “I would be the first to admit that, at the outset, I probably didn’t know a lot about kitchens per se, other than from the viewpoint of being a consumer. But we have some very talented kitchen designers working with us.
“The products are superb. And first and foremost, I understand business, and business models. Many of the same principles – relating to sales, distribution, customer service, management and the like – apply in the interiors sector just as they do in the motor industry. And that was what first attracted us to Schmidt.”
Educated at Solihull School, Mark’s career – primarily with Toyota/ Lexus, Hyundai and Jaguar Land Rover – saw him working in the UK, Belgium, Germany, China and Myanmar. “After 35 years in a corporate environment, however, once I decided I wasn’t ready to put my feet up, I knew I wanted to run my own business, to prove my capability as an entrepreneur, offering outstanding service. Along with Shelly, we looked around at numerous options, and pinpointed Schmidt as a quality brand with outstanding products and a growing presence in the UK. We don’t do things by halves, so it’s our objective for Schmidt Solihull to become a benchmark for kitchen retailing – which in reality is about 70% of the company’s business – in the West Midlands.”
Agreement
Mark is now among a select number of just over 30 Schmidt retailers in the UK, mainly in the south of the country at the moment, but with plans to expand. The company’s franchise agreement covers not only Solihull and surrounding areas such as Knowle and Dorridge, but as far afield as Coventry, Kenilworth, Leamington Spa and Warwick, and it is in the last two locations that they have plans to open new showrooms in the not-too-distant future.
“Again, going back to the business model with car dealerships, it’s about having a presence in a defined but manageable area: enough to become a recognisable regional brand but not so large that you spread yourself too thinly. And I’d extend the car analogy to the products. I’d place Schmidt at the upper-middle end of the market. The parent company – which is still family-run – has been around for over 60 years and has 500 retail outlets throughout Europe. It started in Saarland and is now based in Alsace. So you’re buying German quality combined with French flair.”
The showroom in Knowle, a conversion overseen by Mark and Shelly of the old NatWest building, has over 200 sq. metres of display space, highlighting a range of sample kitchen styles for a variety of budgets: although it is only a fraction of the products and designs Schmidt has to offer. “Our service is fully bespoke,” explains Mark, “and whether you are remodelling your existing facility, adding an extension, or building from new, we will work alongside you to give you exactly the kitchen you require.”
Stages
The customer ‘journey’ involves several stages, beginning with taking full measurements, which go into a CAD system. This is followed by an extensive consultation with the customer to discuss their family set-up, lifestyle and cooking/entertaining
requirements, as well as budgets, designs, materials, colour schemes and equipment: Schmidt are essentially manufacturers of the furniture and fittings, working alongside leading brands such as Bosch, Neff and Siemens when it comes to the appliances, and specialised craftsmen for the work surfaces.
“One of our experienced in-house designers – Harpz, Ivana or Chloe – will then work on the project for around 4-5 days before we make a full visual presentation to the customer back in our showroom, including samples, swatches, computer graphics and virtual reality, giving customers the ability to literally ‘see’ their new kitchen before it goes into production. If changes or re-designs need to be made at that stage before we start on the final installation, it’s no problem: it’s important to get everything right at the outset. A new kitchen is a major investment.”
Having said that, Mark is at pains to point out that the company’s kitchens are not always as expensive as some people might think!
“We’re not a DIY supplier, so obviously we are not going to get customers dropping in to buy a new set of taps, or a self-assembly flat-pack. But we can and do work to a range of budgets, and offer kitchen styles that appeal to different tastes, and which are suitable for different types of properties: country, ultra-modern, deli-style, bistro-style, urban chic and so on.”
And there’s certainly an element of kudos in choosing a brand that perhaps isn’t as commonplace as others. Schmidt was only introduced into the UK in 1986, and even then was only supplied through independent kitchen and interiors specialists; the company’s first exclusive showroom didn’t open here until 2012.
So you won’t see them everywhere. Although when Mark puts his foot to the floor, you can guarantee there will be more than a degree of acceleration…