The Business Village People E10 "We've got a golden ticket"

This is the Business Village People podcast. Hello, hello, hello. I'm David Markwell and welcome to the Business Village People podcast. This is season one, episode 10. The Business Village is a community of companies, service providers and entrepreneurs.  And this podcast It's all about their stories. We celebrate success, encourage collaboration and showcase companies who operate at the business village here in Barnsley, South Yorkshire.

 

And you can find other additions of the business village people podcasts  on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts from. Just search business village people and we should pop up and then press subscribe. That way you'll never miss another episode. OK, let's go!  In this episode of Business Village People, we discover how buying a touring caravan has resulted in one man owning four Volvos at the same time.

 

I'll introduce you to the woman who can sell you French real estate, a luxury car, teach you how to achieve Grade A on the piano and save the environment. And that's all before lunchtime.  Plus, you don't need pure imagination anymore. The business village has won its very own golden ticket because there's a real, proper chocolate factory opening on site soon.

 

And I'm sure that'll put a smile on every officer's wonker.

 

This is the Business Village People Podcast. Some breaking news now for you, and the Business Village is set to lose another of its leadership team. Jonathan Noble, the site's management accountant, has finally decided to put the abacus away and snap the end of his quill off. By the end of June, Jonathan Will have retired, giving him more time to polish his Volvos.

 

It means I'm looking after sending out the bills and getting the money in. I do like to think of it as more than just that. Getting to know the people is the main thing. Finding out if they have got problems and if there is a problem can we help with it. Working with the whole team of course. We support people and that's, that's what we give.

 

We give more than just a business unit to people. How did it all start for you? In finance, I started with Barclays Bank many moons ago, and then moved into accountancy. My bank manager was just sitting on their jobs and wouldn't, didn't want to budge. So I went into accountancy because my father was an accountant.

 

Moved from practicing to working for companies. I enjoyed far more, instead of auditing, actually working inside a company and trying to make a difference. It's a very difficult thing to do, uh, but a few times where you go into a business. Try to understand what, what they do and then gradually change it into something that's working a bit better.

 

Did you always want to work in finance? No, not particularly. I set off, I was going to go to, in those days it was a polytech in Bristol, to do charter surveying. But I got the job back. And in those days you got a job and, and drifted into it and that was the way it went, yeah. Do you regret not becoming a chartered surveyor?

 

Not particularly, no. I've, uh, had a much chequered career, seen all sorts of things. I can't just say isn't the, isn't the boring, uh,  existence that people think. There's a lot, it's all to do with the people. Yeah. Yeah, I've seen the good and the bad and the ugly, I think, the way, on my career path.  So we're in January now.

 

Is this a busy time of the year for you? It's getting busy, yes. Um,  from various reasons. Um, you're coming up to your year ending in March. Um, tax returns are all due by the end of January, so there's a couple of days yet for people to bring you up and say can you help with your tax return.  Desperate for a bit of help, that has happened.

 

The worst people are your friends, of course.  So, yeah. It's, it is a busy time. Um, and with my eye on the future now, I'm looking to try and make sure everything's ready and in place before I depart.  Well, let's just say that you're retiring, you're not thinking about doing anything else, are you? Uh, work wise, I don't think so now.

 

I'd like to go to China and see my son in China. Generally riding my mountain bike, playing music and doing as much of that as I possibly can. And are you looking forward to that? Very much, yes.  Um, there's lots of things to do. Um, I've already seen a job list starting at home. Um, there's plenty of things to do, and we have a very old house, which is always in need of repair.

 

Um, but yeah, we're hoping to take it a bit easier, but do a bit more travelling. And now we're, now my mum's in her home and being looked after. Um, we should be far more free to, uh, to do this sort of thing. Yeah, it's quite tight, morning, noon and night, basically.  Where do you fancy going? Oh, just,  well, we'll start somewhere warm, I think.

 

I think we're probably going to  See if we can get to Corfu in, uh, not long after, uh, I retire. My sister's got a place that, uh, they hire over there. So we're probably gonna go with them.  Somebody told me that you've got a keen interest in motorcars.  Yes, I do. One particular brand? Yes, I've got a few Volvos, yeah.

 

How many? At the moment four. Why Volvo's? It was, it all came about when we decided we'd do caravanning.  Um, and we urgently  needed, found, found a really nice caravan that had no tow car.  Uh, ended up having to buy something to pull it. A caravan which in those days was basically a Volvo.  And from there on, uh.

 

That was it. Stuck to Volvo. They're  dependable, reliable and safe, so.  And, uh, the odd one with, they're quite, uh, fun to drive as well. They aren't a slow car, really, if you can buy the right one. Are you actually from this part of the world, from Barnsley? Absolutely Barnsley, through and through. Bread and buttered?

 

Yeah, bread and buttered. I was born at the Jessop in Sheffield. Oh, hang on a minute. It doesn't come with that deed harness. It was a cesarean. I think that's the only place. They did them in that, in that year, 1954. That was, uh, it was quite a new thing.  And yeah, first house was Holbart Lane, uh, two up, two down Gardner's Cottage.

 

Stone flag floors. I don't remember it all, but my mum tells me all about it. And then an outside privy. Yeah.  Then just around the corner to Westville Road  and then up to Pogmore up in Taylor Lane, and then, uh,  and then got married and lived at Hardsley.  And now we're just off Huntersfield Road, so  Arlesley's been the furthest out of town I've ever got.

 

So yeah, yeah, my sister escaped the Cotswolds, but yeah. So what are the plans for the future for you? Are you gonna still keep hand in business, or is it  I can't see it, I'm, uh  I've had enough of the deadlines. Life led by deadlines, it's, I've had long enough of that. I want to, uh, I definitely, I've got a neighbour who plays lots of guitars.

 

He's done the lot and, uh,  he's just bought yet another new guitar. So, uh,  he's a, he's a, he's a guitar teacher as well. But, uh, I'd like to spend a lot more time doing meals a year. Never miss an episode of the Business Village People podcast.  Simply subscribe and follow from wherever you get your podcasts.

 

Thank you.  Calling all grade A wonkers. You'll be pleased to know that the Business Village has its very own chocolate factory about to open. And it's just not about producing chocolate. It's about engaging children with engineering, production, and taking ownership of the creative process. I've been for a look around the factory and met up with its owner, Jamie Ashpole.

 

We are building a chocolate factory, which is all about getting kids involved in engineering. We'll create a pack chocolate's grown, how it's farmed, and then how it's processed. Then they'll learn about what machinery, uh Is used in the production of chocolate. And then they'll design a bar as a class, send us the designs, we'll create a 3D mold, and then, uh, they'll come across and make it,

 

it's a heck of a piece of equipment we've got in front of us. It looks like a, I was joking when I came here. I said it looked like a giant barbecue. Tell me what it is. So the, the, the chocolate process, we start off with liquid chocolate, about forty two, forty five degrees. We then call the chocolate down, uh, and every.

 

Chocolate is different. So we have multiple settings that we run with and then we slightly reheat we create crystals within the chocolate that when you snap a bar, it goes with a snap and it's the crystals that create that. So we've got tempering and then the long barbecue looking machine that you're referring to is the cooling tunnel.

 

So what we have here is a mini Pilot plant, but effectively the likes of Mars Cadbury's Nestle all have the same sort of equipment, but there's is obviously considerably bigger than ours. And how did you get into the chocolate business? Basically, what was working in the food industry and have been working in the food industry for about 20 T three years  started in the dairy industry and traveling the world, um, repairing machines, installing the machines, and then had enough for travel.

 

And then I was offered an opportunity with a German company. Um, and that was 13 years ago. I started with those guys and then had the opportunity of starting up my own company. 11 years ago, uh, JJ8PAC. Um, that's what I did. So,  um, we've grown ever since year on year. We've got a small team and we work for the likes of, you know, Cadbury's,  uh, Thorntons, CSM, Barry Calabell, all of the companies that most people have never heard of, but they contract PAC for the likes of us.

 

Costco,  Starbucks, et cetera, et cetera.  Wow. And all this is coming from South Yorkshire. It is. Yeah, absolutely. And did you set out as an engineer or a food person or did it, was it like a collision? No, I, uh, my, my first summer job was actually creosoting fences on the landfill site. Um, and where did it all go wrong?

 

I know.  No, I basically, I went to work for a company called Packaging Technologies, um, who made, um, filling and sealing machines, and they were short on site for Bisto Gravy, one job, so, uh, I was asked if I would go and be a gopher, um, for the job, and that was it. Ah, Bisto. Yeah, indeed.  What a great job making gravy.

 

Yeah, absolutely. So, uh, we were only doing the, the sealing, say the, uh, the cardboard tubes with the paper seal and the plastic cap. That was what we were doing on that particular job. Tell me why you've come to, uh, Barnsley and particularly business village. Barnsley was basically, um,  I moved up here 20 years ago ish.

 

Um, for work, um, and then all of my work went out to the Middle East, so I could have stayed down south. During my travels, I found that there are, you know, most engineers are my age, so pretty old, and we need, uh, we need the younger generation to come through. So, you know, I see my kids, I've got two 13 year olds, um, and they just, you know, sit and play the games, and, you know, they want to be YouTubers or whatever.

 

So I wanted to, you know, try and get them out of that and get the younger generation. Inspired into chocolate or not chocolate, but engineering, but what better way than with chocolate. So, and, uh, we were looking for premises somewhere to do it. And we reached out to Kevin here, um, came along and we, we got on well and they like what we're doing.

 

So that's why we're here. So how are you going to entice the kids apart from to get some chocolate? And now how do you convert that into getting kids interested in engineering? So this is just stage one. So we're going to start off small. We'll get, you know, the younger generation. So key stage one, key stage two coming in.

 

Um,  so we've got a local school shaft and or outward academy shaft and are coming in. Uh, there are pilot school just happens. That's where my kids go as well. They're going to be like our test case. It's just that initial spark to get them involved in the technology. And as you know, the Center grows, um, we'll be able to invest more money in new equipment, robots, et cetera, et cetera.

 

And then the kids will just have, you know, one of the greatest chocolatey technology experiences ever.  never really called that before. No, me neither. But I just, you know. And is there a possibility to develop this further than just. Within schools. Yeah. So we obviously need to make sure that it pays for itself.

 

So we're looking at, um, you know, chocolate experiences, people coming in, doing workshops. But then ultimately, we see this as a genuine innovation center. So we want to include the older students, you know, maybe getting the older students come to site and then teach the younger kids, you know, so, you know, Barnsley College and people like that.

 

But then we're looking at, um, Siemens, uh, sending their practices here as well. So they will be here for up to 20 days a year learning about real world applications of their equipment. But we want it to become an  innovation center. You've got a strong relationship with Siemens. How did that come about and what do they provide you with?

 

Um, so we've worked with Siemens for ever since I've Had J. J. A. Pack. Um, say any technology that they manufacture that we can use in the process industry will use. Um, and it's just been formed over, you know, 11 years of just  if I need something, you know, they'll get me something I need. We also have another innovation that we're using here.

 

We actually won an award for it last September where we can predict failure in machinery. So we use Siemens platform. Um, But it's all of our IP, um, so we, we'll monitor a machine 24 hours a day, and then, uh, we can start to predict, based on history, when a machine is going to fail, and, you know, stop people from losing 1.

 

8 million pounds. Have you thought of going on Dragon's Den? No.  Now, everything we're doing, we want to do ourselves. We're not looking for, uh, investors. We're looking for sponsors, definitely. Um, but we want to make sure that we're not influenced by one party. You know, we want all suppliers to be able to use this place as an innovation.

 

Um, Siemens are a massive part of our business and our history. Um. But we want to give everyone that has much experience in the engineering and electrical fields that we can. So where are you at the moment in the process of of kitting out this this building and  getting people in? So on the uh, 5th of uh, February we actually have the first call coming in.

 

This is when we make the promotional video. Um, from a production point we are, I would say, 99 percent of the way there. We've got a few more tweaks to make. Um, but on the 29th of February is when we have the, uh, main opening, um, which the managing director of Siemens Digital Industries UK is coming to, to open for us.

 

So yeah,  soon after that. And if anybody wants to get in contact with you,  how do they find you? Uh, sales at JJASnack.  com.

 

Finally, time to meet the latest recruit to join the support team at the business village, Florence Cooper Smith. She's working alongside business development manager Kevin Steele to produce social media and communications for the village. I caught up with her a little bit earlier in the bistro for a chat.

 

I've come in to basically help Kev with With everything Business Village related, started out, sort of, to help with social media, but it's sort of expanded everything. Like, every week's different. I do bits of writing. I'll, I write the newsletter every week. Edit things for the website. Do, like, help with blogs.

 

Yeah, obviously do the social media as well. And then lots of, sort of, admin stuff. Every day is different. Never know what Kev's gonna fire over for me to do.  What part of the job do you like the best?  I think the writing side, I've always liked writing. So any chance that I'm able to, like doing the newsletter every week is great, because I can look for things that have happened and yeah, make it, make it sound really, really good and fun.

 

So where did this interest in communications and marketing and social media come from? I think over the past I've, I've done lots of different varied jobs and I think it's just the part of those jobs that I've liked the most and definitely not having a small job description is, is great. I love doing lots of different things in a job and outside of jobs.

 

So yeah, when, when I can. Coming to work and not, not know what it's gonna be, like, I really enjoy that. Yeah, tackling new issues all the time. Now I found it very difficult to try and find any, any kind of gossip or info on you. I, I try and,  before I do an interview, I, I do my research and try and find a little bit, but I can't find anything on you.

 

Apart from what I got on LinkedIn. And it really surprised me. There's not a lot of information, but you are so talented, are you? I guess I have, like, done lots of different things growing up, yeah. And you're only 13. Yeah.  Tell me about the, uh, the, the, the Classically Trained Musician in you. Where did that come from?

 

I don't know where that happened. Well, both my parents play music, so they definitely encouraged me to do that when I was younger. I started in year four or something, I think I was eight, when I started playing piano. So that sort of grew, and ten years later I'd got two grade eights and a grade five theory.

 

And yeah, so sort of building up, working up the exam route and the performing route, like it. It was really challenging, but it's like definitely one of my proudest Achievements I've done is those credits and also you speak fluent French. I did it's um It's been a bit of a convoluted few years with it all  See, I was really interested in French when I was younger.

 

So is that really want to do it?  Yeah, learn it. I really like speaking it and speaking with French people, so yeah. So where did the real estate French link come from and the posh French cars selling stuff come from?  Um, with the real estate it was unfortunately my The university year abroad happened when Brexit happened.

 

Um, but I managed to get a month out in France, um, selling real estate.  And it was in, um It was in the Catalan area of France, so that was, like, an added, like, interesting part about it. My boss was, like, a very eccentric Catalan man and he didn't, he only spoke English when he swore. Oh, right, okay. So, um, he'd give me, I'd sort of help him out, um, with translation and expanding, yeah.

 

What was your French swearing like?  Oh, excellent after working there.

 

It's all building up towards a terrific career this for you in the future. You went to university at Manchester. And what did you study there? Yeah, so I did business and French. So, obviously the French side was doing everything to do with the language and the literature. Doing things like that. And then the business started quite, um, general.

 

And then throughout the degree I was able to  on different aspects of it. So towards the end, I was doing sort of lots of marketing, um, did a few sort of climate change modules, which is What I want to get into, so I was very happy to see that I could take those modules. And yeah, sort of strategy, communications, things like that.

 

The more creative side of business is what I'm, what I'm interested in. So you just mentioned it there a little bit about looking forward to, you know, what you want to do when you, um, reach the age of 15. He talks about the environment and how do you see yourself, your skills being?  Utilising a positive way to help the environment.

 

Yeah, I think it's one of my biggest passions, even just thinking about anything to do with wildlife. Conservation, just the bigger picture of the environment as well, is definitely something that I just want to be a part of. Even using what I'm doing here with, you know, the marketing, the writing, social media, can have such a massive impact  on an area like that.

 

That's why I'm so happy to be part of the Net Zero team here. And, uh, yeah, hopefully can get more involved in that.  Yeah, that'll make a nice sort of transition and,  and yeah, I would, I'd love to balance sort of the more, um, you know, laptop side work with getting my hands dirty and out in nature and stuff like that.

 

So yeah, ideally we'd have a mix, a mix of things like, like I said before, I love doing different things. So a mix of the more, yeah, the, the business y side and.  Sort of doing some volunteering, maybe, yeah. Okay, you've been here a few months now, as you say, is it?  Yeah, three months. Three months, yeah. Yeah. So are you getting to know the team?

 

On, on site. You've already managed to get rid of the chief executive. He's, he packed it as soon as you turned up. He said, I, I, I'm off.  Back to Australia. Yeah, yeah.  Tell us about, tell us about the team that you work with. Are they all good or, you know, is there something you'd like to smack it in with a frying pan?

 

I think, I think Kevin Steele should be the next to go.  Just kidding.  Um, no, absolutely loving.  Uh, working with Kev. Yeah, get on like house on fire.  Great stuff, listen. Thank you for your time, Florence. Um, it's been wonderful to chat to you and learn about you, and if I want to buy some real estate in France that comes with a luxury car that's eco friendly and has a piano with it, you're the person I need to find.

 

Absolutely, I can sort you out with all of that. Very unique. Thanks for your time. Thank you very much, David.

 

For all the latest news from the Business Village, subscribe to our free newsletter at business village. co. uk

 

That's it for this edition of the Business Village People podcast. For more information about the Village and how it could boost your organisation,  visit business village. co. uk  I'd like to thank all our guests on this edition, and thank you for listening. Please remember, if you've enjoyed the podcast, to subscribe and share it with your friends.

 

But make sure you subscribe. I'm David Markwell, and this is a Pod1 Creative Audio Production.