Alice Edgcumbe-Rendle, Edgcumbe
Brewing Business Globally
Alice Rendle stepped up to the leadership of Edgcumbe tea and coffee merchants in 1986 from her husband and father-in-law and grew the five-year-old company to become a leader in its market. It now has a turnover of approximately £340,000. Like many small businesses, it was literally started on the kitchen table and has grown to offer a huge range of coffees and teas along with associated products. Edgcumbe supplies many different businesses, including hotels, restaurants, hospitals, care homes, offices, schools and universities, and relies on international suppliers.
As a working mother in the 1980s, Alice felt that she faced a stark choice between growing her employed career at the expense of having a meaningful family life or changing her career path to manage her own business. She chose the latter, with no regrets other than frustration at not fully developing her potential. “I have had to make choices between having a family and growing my business,” she admits. “While raising my family, I made the considered choice to keep the business at a manageable size. However, this has enabled me to fully appreciate and understand business in terms of managing people, cashflow, finance and sales. I feel I have built up the knowledge to take my company forwards, now that I am ready to expand it.”
Being a woman business owner has its advantages for Alice: “I rely on my ability to successfully multi-task and to see things from the customers’ point of view. My staff consists principally of part-time working women, who are able to flourish in the working environment that I have created to achieve a favourable work-life balance. As a woman, I understand their motivations because we face the same issues.”
Importing ingredients from all over the world, Alice has always felt strongly about choosing ethical suppliers, including products supported by Fairtrade, The Rainforest Alliance and Cup of Excellence. “Sourcing fair trade tea and coffee really translates into product value because of my customers’ increased awareness of it over the past couple of years,” says Alice. “Whole towns and councils are now sourcing exclusively fair trade products as it is an easy way to show corporate social responsibility and the products are high quality.”
From strength to strength
In her local area, Alice found Business Link Sussex offers great support to small businesses. “Business Link Sussex provides useful information and events for all entrepreneurs,” says Alice, “and Business Link would be a great place to start if you are looking to expand your business overseas. You can access trade fairs, one-to-one advice and they can point you in the right direction if there are any grants available.”
As a working mother, Alice loves the freedom afforded to her by running her own business and has noticed a greater respect for entrepreneurship in more recent years. “As a business woman, I feel that there is an increased acknowledgement of setting up your own enterprise,” says Alice. “A lot of work has been done at national level investing in small businesses and people now see it as an aspiration. The current drive for entrepreneurship is helping many people overcome barriers that in the past would have prevented them succeeding. There has never been a better time for women to ‘go it alone!’”
Having run a business for 20 years, Alice worked through the last recession and has learnt a lot from that experience. “I recognised the onset of this current downturn a couple of years ago, giving me a chance to put my affairs in order,” she admits. “For me, this recession holds huge opportunities to grow my business, as people will continue to drink coffee and tea as an affordable luxury. You have to learn to take the rough with the smooth and remember that for every tough time, there are some really good times. The bad times don’t last forever, and if you remain focused, it does pay off.”
