Minoli Tiles has evolved from its humble beginnings in Islington in the late 1940’s when Luigi Minoli, who started the business, produced and installed Terrazzo. In the 1950’s, the business moved to Oxford and built a Terrazzo factory in Divinity Road and phased in supply of English and Italian tiles alongside the existing Terrazzo business. In 1960 the company moved to its current site on Transport Way and continued to develop and mature into one of Oxfordshire’s most respected businesses and also one of the leading independent suppliers of high quality tiles in the UK, under the stewardship of Jonathon’s late father, Peter. The recently opened corporate showroom symbolises the ethos which drives the business to continue improving, to ensure there is a platform for growth well into the future and to never rest on its laurels and become complacent.

This is a business which quite obviously coarses through Jonathon’s veins. Working alongside his father since the late 1980’s, he has only ever known one way of doing business. “My father was and still is this business. Without him, I wouldn’t be talking to you today. His business principles and everything I know live on with me and I very much see myself as a custodian of the business, holding the fort until the next man, or woman comes along, whether that’s one of my children, Lucy or Luca, or someone outside of the family, perhaps one of the younger team members here who are showing such promise.

“We are simply building on the foundations laid by my father, the ethos, the mentality, the way of addressing clients, suppliers, the team, everything stems from how we did things during my father’s tenure. Business was always conducted properly under my father, and he taught me to never be greedy, never to be dishonest. It sounds really basic, but these guiding principles are the reason why we are still here today. That was the education that was offered and it stuck.”

Following the loss of his mentor and guiding light (Peter passed away in 1994), Jonathon wasn’t totally alone far from it in fact. “My mother Kate also worked in the business, predominantly on the buying side, and we had to take over the running of the business, it was good to have Kate to bounce ides off and provide me with some guidance. Without her, it would have been a much harder furrow to plough.”

Kate Minoli retired from the business in 2007, even though Jonathon left her desk untouched for a good six months. “I honestly didn’t think she would leave, but it became clear she had moved on and, in hindsight, it’s quite remarkable that she stayed for so long after losing my father. She was a real rock and we still talk daily about the business, so she still has a ‘desk’ here, so to speak.” Jonathon says with a wry smile, pointing over his shoulder”.

The foundations laid by Jonathon’s father and the continued support of his mother are therefore key reasons behind Minoli’s success and Jonathon is clear in his mind why the business works as it does today. “My father made a lot of good decisions a long time ago and we have stuck by those. He was risk averse but, at the same time, took risks, so I suppose the phrase is ‘calculated risks’.

For Jonathon, the business is about the team, a principle clearly defined during the company’s recent rebranding. “We talked a great deal about the new identity we wanted the business to have going forward, prompted by our upcoming fifty year anniversary. For me the business only functions with the team, which may sound obvious, but outwardly displaying that we are a team gives everyone an even greater sense oftogetherness and common purpose.” The result was a separate branding on workwear and delivery trucks with the logo ‘Minoli One Team’. Simple but effective.

Team Minoli is a close unit which can boast an impressive list of long term members which have supported the business since Jonathon first joined at the age of Nineteen. “We have a phenomenally low staff turnover, and to that extent we are exceptionally lucky. Personnel have matured through the business, they have developed and have moulded themselves into the obvious candidates for roles at the next level. I couldn’t have asked for a team unit with so many essential qualities, but the consistent theme running through the team are the principles instilled by my father many of whom worked with him. More recent joiners quickly get to grips with our way of doing business, so it is a continuous process of succession which works very well.

“Chris Richards, our Warehouse and Transport Manager, has been with us since he was seventeen, over twenty five years ago. Douglas, who assists him, has been here for just about thirty years. On the sales side of the business, Darren, our wholesale sales manager, has been here since 1996. Daniel, who works with house builders and developers , one of our key areas, started with us as a Saturday boy and has progressed through the showroom and marketing department.

“Laurence Parsons has been in the showroom for eight years and my accounts team, including David Wright, who looks after all the finances and started with us in 1997. The sales and administration is run by Sophie Doran, who has been here since 1995 and started as an office Junior

The market for Minoli is essentially business to business, as much as 90%, as Jonathon elaborates. “Our area of operation is London Centric, London and the Home Counties, although we have an extensive client base on the corporate side from the Midlands down, incorporating Bristol through to Essex. On the wholesale side of our business we have at least two very good clients in every major town, and on the development side in some cities we have a large number of excellent clients, although we are in the middle of a very quiet time for developers, to say the least.

“In context, we would be referred to in our industry as a major independent. We are relatively small compared to the multi-nationals, but we offer an exceptional product which is sourced predominantly from Italy. We can more than hold our own and have a solid reputation in the industry for being reliable with a product to match. Big enough to cope and small enough to care sums us up.

“We are still on first name terms with the vast majority of our customers. There is a strong bond with our clients, typified by our relationship with Renault for whom we have supplied every showroom & workshop for almost a quarter of a century.”

Following on from record years in 2006 and 2007 and the first three quarters of 2008, the recession has certainly had an impact on the business, however, the business is strong enough to come out of the recession intact and well placed to capitalise on the upturn. “When the housing market fell away, it was bound to have some effect. I honestly can’t see the recovery many experts are predicting. It’s going to be tough and with so many of our clients dependent on construction, we have to be cautious.

“The direct consumer business is a relatively small but important part of our business as we tend to supply through wholesale clients, but we have to raise the profile of that side of the business locally. I think the common misconception of our business is that we are solely consumer facing, and I would like to think that our reputation on the wholesale side will translate to and help us to develop the consumer market.”

The impressive new corporate showroom is, for now, the showcase of the business and was officially opened to Minoli’s clients during two Open Days in late June, which were a great success according to Jonathon. “We felt that we had to separate our professional clients, as their needs are very specific and often need to be addressed without interruption. This new space provides that facility.

“The feedback we received before the Open Days was great, but we were overwhelmed not only by the attendance but the compliments which were made to the team over the two days. I wasn’t sure we would attract the numbers we wanted because we are all focusing on our businesses even more during these testing times, but the support we witnessed and the positive feedback received during and subsequent to the event has been most gratifying.”

The new showroom completes an identity overhaul for the business, an identity which had its roots in a hand-drawn logo which Peter Minoli painstakingly created in the 1960’s. “I was personally very fond of my father’s designs, but time moves on, and it was made clear to us that the branding of the company didn’t reflect at all what we did, where we had come from and how we had evolved. Some clients had commented that how we portrayed ourselves externally wasn’t a true reflection of the real business, so it was a change we had to action.”

The evolution of the new brand was as painstaking as that created by Peter Minoli, but the new look, which was adopted in 2006, has gone down well with customers and the industry. “We are very happy with the look. It is clean, crisp and unfussy. We were recently awarded with Excellence in Tile Industry Marketing Award and we were also first runner up in the Excellence in Distribution category. I have always been reluctant to get involved in the awards scene, but, on reflection, it has been good for the team to receive recognition for their hard work and definitely boosts morale.”

The day to day workings of the company are fairly low key, Jonathon acknowledging that his role is merely to ensure his finely tuned team are continuing to do what they have been doing so well for so long. “Every department within the company has a manager and I will sit with them formally, weekly, and just catch up, make sure everybody’s doing what they’re supposed to and that we are all moving forward in the same direction.

“My role outside managing the company is to maintain relationships with our larger corporate clients, which involves a significant amount of travel throughout the UK and Europe. I keep in close contact with the vast majority of the manufacturing plants which are predominately in Italy, some in Spain and a small but growing number in the Far East.

“We can see business starting to pick up, and hopefully by the Autumn we will begin to see the fruits of the substantial investments made and building begins again and confidence in the general economy increases”

The established source of Minoli’s product probably always will be, Italy, and it’s that foundation of supply that is the key to the company’s future. “Despite sourcing some product from emerging markets in the Far East, if anything, we’re sourcing more product from Italy. Our customers rely on us because we have established and reliable lines of supply, and it’s hard to find that anywhere else.

“We have two Italian producers with whom we have built up relationships in excess of thirty years. They get it right in terms of quality and design and there is no reason to change a model which has served us so well for so long and is still developing.”

Generally, Minoli turn around an order in twenty four hours, and this next day service for its corporate clients has been pivotal to the company’s overall success, is central to their offering and has created a loyal and regular client base.

“In the last two years, when the economy has been difficult, we have had to look at our service levels and of course pricing. As we have always been very competitive, we have had to be very creative in making sure the offer to our clients is ultra competitive, and an entire range of ‘Core Essentials’ product was launched this year and has been extremely well received. Some clients had their heads turned by competitors with low priced product, but they don’t seem to stay away very long, as service and quality are crucial”.

“Many of our wholesale clients regard us as their ‘warehouse’ and the relationship borders on partnering. We have a very smooth chain of supply that is especially beneficial to the south east House builder, where next day delivery is often crucial. It is our reliability that cements our position in this very competitive market.

“The cornerstone of our business is our warehousing and the huge investment in stock. But this is something we have always done – it’s ingrained into our psyche. It has always been our way to have a large amount of stock which is closely monitored, with our own fleet of trucks, our own drivers and everyone in the business is employed. So we have complete control over every aspect of the business and as good a level of control as you could hope to have over our suppliers.

“We have been very fortunate to align ourselves, purely by coincidence, with suppliers who share our vision, our ethos and our business practices. It all works like clockwork, although, unfortunately there have been some casualties as some suppliers have struggled to operate during the recession. Interestingly, it is the family owned companies which have survived, those who almost entirely reflect our modus operandi.”

Nothing would please the current custodian of Minoli more than to see the family business move into a fourth generation of ownership, but, for now, Jonathon Minoli and his team are continuing to build for the future.

“We have come through a difficult period in the company’s history, but we know we are as strong as we have ever been. I take immense pleasure from running this business with a team that share my enthusiasm and will to succeed. We have been fortunate with the staff and supplier relationships which have been cultivated and nurtured over the last fifty years, but, above all, the original Minoli business remains at the core of everything we do. As long as we don’t lose the passion and commitment which has become our trademark, then this business will continue to flourish well into the future.”

www.minoli.co.uk