November 2011
Lunch with Leonardo, il Marchese de Frescobaldi
The Frescobaldi family produces over seven million bottles of wine a year, according to Leonardo, il marchese de Frescobaldi. As guest for the November “Lunch With” event, part of the Business Life programme, il marchese kindly ensured that some of these bottles containing his family’s showcase Mormoreto wine accompanied his lunch table conversation of a life seeking the very best out of grapes from Tuscan vines dating back 30 generations and 700 years.
As a young man, il marchese went to Louisville, Kentucky to learn of the new world’s marketing strategies. The food was, for his first trip to America from Italy, a little different from home, he confided to the table. There were only compliments about lunch with him in the Segrave Room at which he offered insight both into how the wine his family produces maintains a standard for excellence and how his life in business ensures that each vintage’s popularity matches the undoubted quality.
In explaining the secret behind the Frescobaldi’s greatest wine, the marchese stressed the importance of a family all pulling together and patience. In the 1850s, his ancestor Vittorio planted grapes more typical of France than Italy. It was over 100 years before these began to yield the quality of produce that we know now as Mormoreto, il marchese admitted. He also stressed the importance of reinvestment in the land. As the 29th generation of his family, il marchese modestly suggested that he was a custodian rather than owner of 1000 hectares of Tuscan vineyards and that this mindset was behind the family’s awareness of the need to refresh the land.
After talking about himself and a life today, which involves 150 days a year traveling to spread the word about Frescobaldi, il marchese answered some questions from a packed table of 25. Why did the family use grapes today that are not typical of Italy, he was asked? To be able to compete against the great wines of the world was the answer. The follow-up question was could wine in general be cheaper if it was a blend of many nation’s home production? Frescobaldi wine could not be like the United Nations as they are grounded in Tuscan soil, il marchese shrugged.
Anyone who savoured the Mormoreto ’99, which il marchese described as having undergone an “education over ten years to be ready”, and the 2008 vintage, also a study in quality, established personally that both the wine from Italy that was served and the words of the lunch’s main guest were to be richly savoured.
For further Business Life events, see the next edition, due out January 2012 www.royalautomobileclub.co.uk/events
www.frescobaldi.it
October 2011
Maths and the City – Business Life Debate
Maths and the City; surely an understanding of the former is a prerequisite for success in the latter? At least that’s Richard Knights’ belief and one that he was prepared to contest at the second Royal Automobile Club debate. After all, a senior partner at Deloitte’s, Knights, certainly most well versed in numbers, is personally proof-positive of the point. Moreover, in the Committee Room in October he argued the case.
Offering a counter argument was Jasmine Birtles. Based on the experience of her own business endeavours she, of course, disagreed. Jasmine is the founder of moneymagpie.com, which seeks to de-mystify the world of finance so all can fearlessly manage their own budgets regardless of how paranoid they are about logarithms and the like.
So, to debate. As is now traditional, a vote was taken at the start of the evening ahead of a second at the end. And the winner? That would be the one who changed most minds through the force of their argument.
Ahead of revealing who earned the most plaudits – and prizes – what was it like to argue the toss? Birtles, who at Cambridge contemplated switching from her English studies to law, reflected afterwards that maybe the head of the law department’s counsel back in her varsity days to stick with literature was right.
The memory raised a smile. “The choice of degree wasn’t the only question the debate stirred in my thought,” Birtles admitted afterwards, having articulated that there are more qualitative measures of success in life than the balance sheet. “In the days after the debate I cross-examined myself: am I really the woolly liberal my words convey? Will I ever get my head around the seven times table?”
The challenges of multiplication are clearly not an issue, as anyone who attended would agree. Did the debate produce a crisis of confidence then? Birtles confided: “One of the pearls of wisdom I like to drop in the laps of the people who come to the money workshops I occasionally run under the Moneymagpie umbrella is that the best way to really feel rich is to hang around with poor people.”
She jokes: “The moment you do that, you’re instantly rich, by comparison. Except, of course, Richard and Royal Automobile Club members hardly helped in this.”
Indeed Richard Knights hardly fits such a bill, as Birtles conceded. “In speaking at the Royal Automobile Club, of course, I was going against my own advice and hanging out with some of the most successful people in the city - successful and insightful,” Birtles laughed.
Knights was nevertheless a welcome adversary. Not least as he had stepped in at short notice when Sushovan Hussain, chief executive of Autonomy and Birtles expected protagonist, was summoned to the California offices of Hewlett Packard 24 hours before the debate was scheduled to start. Hussain reported that with HP having just bought Autonomy for £7 billion he regrettably had to head west.
If Hewlett Packard proved irresistible in this respect Knights was also most persuasive. First he made his case, then Birtles took to the lectern both for around seven minutes for opening arguments. Then the pair had four minutes each to refute the other ahead of some cross examination and summary cases. After all this a show of hands revealed that four of those gathered admitted that there were persuaded by Knights to change their minds completely. Ultimately though that proved insufficient to claim the spoils. Birtles seduced the same number from his camp. So a draw was declared.
To Knights, some champagne and club socks. To Birtles, a club compact. To Knights from Birtles, a renewed challenge. “I can’t wait for a rematch,” she enthused.
www.moneymagpie.com
October 2011
Lunch With The Honourable Philip Knatchbull
Philip Knatchbull’s father, the late Lord Brabourne, was one of the most acclaimed film producers and broadcast innovators of his generation. There is therefore little surprise that his son is today at the forefront of these worlds bringing some star quality to October’s Lunch With gathering.
As you would expect on the basis of both pedigree and professional repute, on 18 October Philip, founder of the merged Curzon cinemas/Artificial Eye group, held the Segrave Room table’s full attention. A fascinating insight into the movie industry was served along with the usual fine culinary fare and a unique view of the film business through a specialist’s eyes.
In 2006, Philip brought together the Curzon cinemas group and the renowned Art House film operation Artificial Eye to form a vertically integrated operation that produces, distributes, and exhibits films as well as deals in DVDs and offers films direct to your home or computer via the Internet. Philip confessed that his first work in the business, on a film called Get Back chronicling a Paul McCartney tour, had put him off following in his father’s footsteps. But today, innovations like “Curzon-on-Demand” film distribution via the web show that he has found a role that suits his inquisitive and driven nature allowing him to make a contribution to the film world in keeping with his family’s reputation.
As well as today’s cutting edge developments, Philip also discussed the days back in 1989 when he established the Richmond Film House. His name remains today above the entrance as holder of the liquor licence. Philip could, he confided, today be running the Odeon nationwide cinema chain (his offer for the company was, he revealed, turned down). In fact, the wide-ranging appetite for film Philip displayed to guests in the Segrave Room illustrated that simply supplying blockbusters to the public would have been limiting compared to the opportunities that his current role offers.
The future of film, according to Philip, is exciting, over and above because audiences in the UK have proved immune to the economic downturn. With a grasp of technology, as Philip has, today is a vibrant time with opportunity. A member lunching asked why there was “never anything on” that he wanted to see. Philip reassured that today in the evolving world of film distribution the customer is increasingly empowered.
Of course we had to ask: Philip’s favourite film? The Martin Scorsese epic, Goodfellas, he confided. Appropriately enough for someone who, on the basis of the wisdom he shared at the Segrave Room table, is most certainly a wise guy.
www.curzonae.com (Curzon cinemas & Artificial Eye)
September 2011
Lunch With William Chase
William Chase, founder of Tyrrell crisp and nemesis of Tesco, maintains that he is sometimes not at his very best in the early morning but that this state of mind can ultimately mean that he is more direct and therefore gets more done. Equally, by midday in the Segrave Room for September’s Lunch With event, there was no hint at all in Chase of any edge that might shape of proceedings. Nor was there a sense that opportunities might be missed on the back of prevailing good moods. Instead as the centerpiece for September’s Lunch With event Chase simply provided two and a half hours of shrewd, informative and amicable company for members offering a candid insight into how he has made such a success of his business career to date, and famously prevailed against Tesco in 2006 against the legal and financial odds.
Chase has two businesses on which to draw recollections and wisdom. More if you include his ownership of a hotel in Ibiza and other interests. In concentrating on his mainstays, namely Tyrrell crisps, which he founded eight years ago, and Chase Vodka, a thriving current concern, he covered his path from bankrupt farmer and potato trader to acclaimed entrepreneur. He referenced the “Peter” principle of business, whereby employees are promoted up to the point where they fail, but Chase’s story is no theory or hypothesis. The reality is that he sold his first concern for £40 million and his second has already broken even defying predictions of the highly competitive vodka and spirits market.
Chase is of course rightly famous for successfully contesting Tesco’s right to stock his Tyrrell produce on the grounds that it would damage the brand (and, he explained, the bottom line as the supermarket planned to offer them at £1.60 a bag, down 20p on elsewhere). At the time, he found himself not only locked in a legal battle with one of Britain’s biggest food retailers but also at the centre of a media storm having to complete dozens of interviews about what Chase modestly describes as essentially “bags of air”.
Looking back on the challenges of setting up his two businesses Chase expanded on the difficulties of creating good teams. In staff, he looks for drive and energy, intellectual capabilities and charisma. If you score ten out of ten in these three categories there is not much you won’t achieve in business, he maintained.
Chase also suggested that a benefit of employing women over men is that from the former you are much more likely to receive a straight answer to a question, whereas males can tend towards procrastination. This may be true generally but in the case of William Chase, after two and a half hours of his company, he is personally testimony to the merits of straight talking.
July 2011
Lunch with William Kendall
After flirting with farming, the legal profession, the army, banking and business school, William Kendall ultimately found his way to commercial success on the back of his ability to source cheap carrots. At least that is what he would modestly have you believe.
Those who attended July’s “Lunch With” event on the Terrace Room with Kendall know different. Over the course of two hours at the table, the man rightly credited with establishing New Covent Garden soups – initially in need of aforementioned carrots – and Green & Blacks chocolate as household names gave detailed insight into how he built up these brands into modern-day business success stories.
Kendall recalled his initial struggle to secure space in Sainsbury’s for New Covent Garden soup. On achieving this for a trial period, he urged all his friends to go and buy the stock only for them to report that all was sold and the company profitable after three years. In the case of both New Covent Garden and Green & Blacks, Kendall stressed the importance of attracting the right personnel. Always seek to have executives who are too good for the business they are joining; they will make improve matters until this is no longer the case, he advocates.
Kendall’s means of establishing whether a business is well run is his “Telegraph Test”. This involves the boss sitting at his or her desk reading the newspaper and seeing how long it is before an interruption that needs top-level attention occurs. The headline remark of the lunch was Kendall’s belief that there is an entrepreneur in everyone. Those present for Lunch With are assured an advantage over the competition.
June 2011
Lunch with Lord March
The Goodwood estate is 12,000 acres and includes, at least to begin with, a motor racing circuit, an award-winning organic farm, an aerodrome, a golf course, a members’ club, and shooting facilities. How can one possibly fit all this – did I mention the racecourse? - into a single lunch? In the Segrave Room for the June “Lunch With” event Lord March, custodian of all that invigorates such a large chunk of the South Downs, managed to cover the ground and at the same time relay much detail of ongoing developments such as the release of a new cheese, along with plans for the forthcoming Festival of Speed, the Revival meeting, and five high-quality days of horseracing well deserving of the description “glorious”.
September’s Revival Meeting and the Festival of Speed at the end of June are so much part of Goodwood today. Yet Lord March’s insight into their foundations required guests to, in the spirit of both events, take a step back in time. The preface to the first festival, now nearly 20 years ago, was a long and arduous struggle with local planners. Then on the day, when around 3,000 were expected, there was the problem of where to put the admission fees paid by a crowd seven times that number. Lunch guests learned that any handbag to hand was commandeered for those stewarding to use, with cash being ultimately gathered in the boot of a BMW before being banked.
Lord March took over running the estate from his father, the Duke of Richmond, at the age of 40, in keeping with a tradition established by his grandfather to ensure that the estate ‘s custodian was in his or her prime. On the table in the Segrave Room for lunch was a trophy won by his grandfather 80 years ago. This was very much at home in the surrounds, as was the principal guest, who provided all in attendance with a unique view of a unique location.
May 2011
Lunch with Ben Elliot at the Royal Automobile Club is exactly the sort of occasion for which Quintessentially, the concierge company he founded a decade ago, might be asked to find a place.
Elliot’s success in taking a simple concept of meeting the demands of an exclusive club membership and expanding it to 60 cities and satisfying clients who pay up to £150,000 a year for having every need met proved hugely compelling – and entertaining - to the 24 privileged to be seated around the Segrave Room table. Elliot, whose creation celebrated 10 years last December, confided how a fear that he was unemployable prompted him ultimately to set up his own company.
Quintessentially – a name Elliot credits to the late master London club man, Mark Birley – today offers membership from £1000 and now provides services as diverse as health care advice and speed boat counsel. Along the way, Elliot recalled, demands for a Pink Fur Mitten as worn by a notorious James Bond film and the delivery of a drum kit to the Monaco Grand Prix kept him and his team on their toes. “Renewal of membership and frequency of use is how we keep track of whether we are meeting the demands of our members,” he explained.
In dividing his time amid the many services Quintessentially provides today Elliot told members in attendance that he strives to concentrate on where there is the biggest corporate upside. During the question and answer session at the table that followed an interview during dessert, Elliot reasoned that those who work at Quintessentially seeking to make a contribution put in maximum effort in the knowledge that the preference is to promote from within.
Elliot’s turn at the Lunch With table took place 48 hours after he had hosted the premiere for a new documentary film he has had produced on West Indian cricket called Fire in Babylon, screened to great acclaim at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival last month. Despite the temptation to make this a central topic, Elliot limited himself to a brief summary of his involvement as executive producer and reference to the general release date of May 20 “at a cinema near you”. Instead he selflessly answered nearly 90 minutes of questions from the table. No less than you would expect from someone who has made meeting members’ needs his business, and to great effect.
April 2011
Business Life Debate: How Cool is Advertising?
In a room of over 50 people there will almost always be a divergence of opinion even when many are part of the same club. On April 11 in the Committee Room, Rory Sutherland and Jason Beckley did their very best to unite this number of Royal Automobile Club members and guests under one single opinion in the inaugural debate which considered “Is advertising cool”?
Those who attended had to ponder whether the style and élan of the television series Mad Men, which is set in the New York advertising world of the 1960s, were grounds to consider advertising to be the essence of hip. Proposing, Sutherland, vice chairman of the industry-leading agency, Ogilvy, began by pointing out that if you claim to be cool you are probably the opposite. So rather than brag (as he well might based on his professional success), he skillfully made the case for his profession by quoting the likes of Warhol and Elizabeth Warren.
Opposing, Beckley, director of global marketing for Dunhill, suggested that actually advertising as a profession was “over”. The Internet now gave him a direct, and more authentic route to his markets, he maintained. At the same time, Beckley thanked Sutherland for inadvertently plugging Dunhill sunglasses with a flattering mention in his opening address.
The format of the evening, to encourage the greatest participation and the widest of discussions, was two eight-minute opening arguments from the protagonists, followed by some questions from the floor. Then after five minutes each to Sutherland and Beckley to cross examine the other, there were further contributions to the debate from members and guests, and, in conclusion, a minute each for Sutherland and Beckley to sum up their respective positions.
Before the debate, a show of hands had endorsed the view by a clear majority that advertising was indeed cool. After the debate a second show of hands confirmed this. But of the 50-plus in attendance for one hour of stimulating cut and thrust more admitted to changing their minds over the 60 minutes of discussion to Beckley’s position. So to him the spoils, in this case a club hip flask. While to Sutherland, the evening’s biggest laugh; for a punch line at the expense of the Welsh that cannot be repeated here under Chatham House rules.
The inaugural Royal Automobile Club debate was moderated by Colin Cameron
April 2011
Lunch with Nick Wheeler
For April’s “Lunch With” event, Nick Wheeler, founder of the shirt makers, Charles Tyrwhitt, represented something of a paradox. Though his company, which has just opened a new flagship store on Jermyn Street, sells more white shirts than any other single item, Wheeler himself sat down at the Segrave Room table in a predominantly blue pinstripe. Of every ten shirts Charles Tyrwhitt sells nine are white, Wheeler confided. With his own presumably one of the exceptions.
In what are the now familiar surrounds for “Lunch With” events, members and guests in attendance learnt from Wheeler the story of his company and also his overall philosophy of the challenges to running your own successful business. Charles Tyrwhitt has grown on the back of Wheeler keeping things simple, he explained. The main reason for any stagnation was, he confided, the occasions when he has overcomplicated the process of dressing businessmen the world over via at first a mail order service then ultimately through Internet sales and retail outlets throughout the UK, and in Paris and New York.
Wheeler admitted that he has possessed a desire to run his own business since the age of five. At school and Bristol University he started – with mixed success - a photography business, a shoe import concern and a Christmas tree dealership. The last failed because, he joked, sales dropped off in January. Charles Tyrwhitt was the result of a collaboration at Bristol. Today he owns nearly all the concern and savours recent double-digit growth year-on-year that early indications suggest will continue over the next 12 months.
With some hesitation – after all this was a lunch to learn about Charles Tyrwhitt - a guest asked Wheeler about his wife, otherwise known as Chrissie Rucker, founder of the White Company. Wheeler assured those present that he was not domestically competitive, and that for a wedding present from bride to groom she gave him one per cent of her company. So, as well as the details of how Charles Tyrwhitt is well on the way to meeting Wheeler’s ambition of becoming the best shirt maker in the world, those attending this “Lunch With” event also discovered the secret to a happy marriage.
Lunch With, part of the Club’s Business Life programme, is every month and hosted by Colin Cameron.