Family Business Scale-ups: Breaking Barriers to Growth
W&R Barnett is a fourth-generation family business based in Northern Ireland with more than 3,500 employees and around £2 billion in turnover from importing and processing agricultural commodities, trading global molasses, manufacturing corrugated packaging, and, thanks to its latest acquisition, manufacturing fitted kitchens. Each business functions independently, with overall group growth of between 4 and 8% per year.
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The businesses
Bettys & Taylors is a family-owned Yorkshire business known for its tea, coffee, and iconic café tea rooms. It produces leading brands including Yorkshire Tea, which holds over 40% of the UK tea market. The company employs more than 1,600 people and generates annual turnover in excess of £350 million.
Strathberry is a founder-led luxury accessories brand established in Edinburgh in 2013 by husband-and-wife duo Guy and Leeanne Hundleby, who have scaled the business from inception into an international brand. Built from a £25,000 Kickstarter campaign, the company now serves customers in over 100 countries and has grown from its Edinburgh base into a globally recognised name, demonstrating that a modern luxury house can scale beyond traditional fashion capitals.
Macphie , founded in 1928, makes food ingredients including sauces for pubs, restaurants and global Fast Food operators, bakery ingredients for most bakeries across the UK, and Ice Cream inclusions for Ben & Jerry’s. The Scottish firm also has a property and alternative energy business, which supplies 70% of its power needs. CEO Ed Widdowson is the nephew of former chairman Alastair Macphie, himself great- nephew of Macphie’s founder, making it a fourth- generation business. Turnover hit £73 million in 2024, with 19% growth.
The Bennie Group was founded in 1935, in Kettering, Northamptonshire. What started as a contract ploughing and contracting business over 90 years ago has since evolved into a group of companies focused on material handling equipment and specialist loams and soils. Current Managing Director Matthew Ayres is the fourth generation to run Bennie, which employs nearly 200 people and has a £40+million turnover. His mother is Chair, and his grandmother remains a shareholder.
JW Lees’ brewery, pubs and inns group began in 1828, when retired cotton manufacturer John Lees established the Greengate Brewery in Middleton Junction. Today, Manchester-headquartered J W Lees has 138 pubs across the North West, with £106 million turnover. It employs 1,600 people and currently has the fifth, sixth and seventh generations of the founding family involved in management roles.
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