[ SPOTLIGHT ] Jo Baker, managing director of MJ Baker Foodservice
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Baker sponsors Exeter Chiefs rugby club and Somerset County Cricket Club. Who has been the biggest inspiration to you? It’s a cheesy answer! My biggest inspiration is my husband Malcolm because he is resilient in spite of setbacks. What most frustrates you in business (and in life generally)? Getting people to understand that change is a good thing. If you stand still you go backwards. MJ Baker has grown because we embrace change and implement innovative and beneficial processes, procedures, technology and a way of thinking. There are often time or cost investments at the outset, but the long-term benefits far outweigh them.
‘If you stand still you go backwards’ What has been the major milestone or turning point of your career? Creating MJ Baker Foodservice from scratch in 1999. When I worked at Booker we all believed that independents had no place in the market place! Malcolm Baker – my husband – then went to work at CDA (now Country Range), made up of successful independent wholesalers. It was very much apparent that independents could not only operate in the market place but also thrive. From that moment on, starting our own business (Malcolm is chairman) held no fear. This year we will achieve a turnover close to £27 million. How do you maintain a work-life balance? It’s very important to me to have the right work-life balance. Technology has made it more difficult to achieve this but I don’t access my work emails on my phone as I wouldn’t switch off. I am, however, a prolific Twitter user and run 14
June 2018
the MJ Baker Foodservice account 24 hours a day. Away from the office I’m a big sports fan and you will often find me with family at rugby and cricket matches. This ranges from club level to international level. We’ve even been to Australia to watch the Ashes. (Jo is pictured with her husband Malcolm and children Rosie and Ellie watching Australia v England in Sydney.) MJ
If you were able to retire tomorrow, how would you spend your time? I enjoy visiting Cornwall so I would spend more time at our house there. What advice would you give someone starting his/her first job? Don’t forget to smile! What type of business would you go into if it wasn’t wholesale? Something in the catering industry as I am a passionate home cook. If you had a million pounds to invest in business, how would you spend it? I would buy a flat in London so I’d have CCM a base to watch cricket at Lords.
Booker base led to launch of own business After four years of working at Nielsen, Jo Baker studied retail management and marketing at Oxford Brookes University as a mature student at the age of 22. She then joined Booker Foodservice as a graduate trainee. During her four years there, she learnt the basic principles of foodservice wholesaling. Jo and Malcolm (her husband) set up MJ Baker Foodservice, a
www.cashandcarrymanagement.co.uk
member of buying group Fairway Foodservice, in 1999. She is the managing director and oversees the 120 employees. MJ Baker Foodservice has grown to become a £27 million turnover business and continues to invest in its staff, fleet of vehicles and 35,000 sq ft premises, which includes office space, warehousing and a freezer.