If We Can, You Can

Author:

Greg Phillips

Business:

North East Bakery

Published:

10/11/2008 11:14:00

When I graduated from Newcastle University I wanted to stay in the area because my family and friends were here. Besides, I had a season ticket and still wanted to go to the matches.

But I found that a lot of businesses in the local area weren’t taking on graduates without work experience. My uncle had a small sandwich company in the west end of Newcastle and he said why don’t I come and work for him for twelve months, then put whatever it is down on your CV and get a step further into employment.

So I was driving vans, making sandwiches and just doing whatever needed to be done. Gradually I got more and more involved in the business. I was saying “We can do this,” and “Why aren’t we doing that?”

I really began to like the responsibility I had; I liked the challenge and in a strange way I liked the hassle. When things went wrong I wanted to be at the sharp end of things so I could sort it out.

We increased the sales quite significantly in those twelve months so my uncle said, “We can’t really afford to lose you really. Why don’t you buy into the business?”

That original plan for me to go on and do something else was sort of shelved. Two or three years later we’d grown quite a lot and had spent so much money on bakery products that we decided to acquire our own manufacturing facility.