Fábian Busto, Website Product Manager at JB Commercial Group, talks about the company’s historic milestone as well as how it has adapted following major changes since Brexit and Covid.
It is often said that businesses must be nimble, able to adapt and consistently evolve to navigate through the good times and the uncertain periods. For contract furniture supplier JB Commercial, the company has strived on all three attributes to not only future-proof the business, but deliver growth, all while keeping it in the family.
This year – actually this month – marks a special milestone for the Irchester-based business as it reaches its 20-year anniversary. Starting life from a home office back in 2004, JB Commercial is now spearheaded by the children of its original founder and has grown into an outfit that has surpassed £1million in turnover.
“The company was founded by my parents back in 2004,” says Fábian Busto. “Now they are mainly retired and myself, my brother (Dominic) and my sister (Francesca) run things. We all manage different aspects of the business and it has worked well. The transition has been slow and steady, which I think was very helpful.”
As part of this transition, the business had to adapt to Brexit and then Covid, which presented a number of challenges but also opportunities, as Fábian explains: “At the very beginning of 2020, we had to adapt to the changes that Brexit would create whilst looking at the new opportunities it could bring.
“The main part of the former was the new regulations brought in, namely exporting to neighbouring countries. We had to evolve our process to make sure that we were compliant with new standards while never passing on needless stress to the client. We are proud to say that the team were able to adapt and continue the first-class service we are known for.”
A far greater challenge was on the horizon, however. The Covid pandemic and the ensuing lockdown severely affected the business model and decimated the hospitality sector. “We found the mettle to change the way we operated for the ‘new normal’,” continues Fábian. “We ventured forth with a reduced team and moved operations to our respective homes to guarantee that our standards would remain high, while we could preserve the safety of our colleagues.
“New products had to be integrated into our catalogue, especially the necessity of protection screens and devices to make everyone’s workplaces more secure. As people around the country returned to work, we continued to provide new solutions to help the process while assisting the recovering hospitality sector. We assisted with new ventures intended to kick start the market and our Interiors arm were involved in updated projects around the country.”
Having navigated through the unprecedented times felt across the wider industry, JB Commercial has continued to implement changes, bringing back production for some of its products to the UK. “The last 12 months have been hard to judge,” revealed Fábian.
“This year has so far been one of our busiest yet and last year was more quiet than usual. Like any family business, things are often up and down – we are fortunately able to react quite quickly with things as we work fully remote and can jig things around when/if we need to.
“We plan to rejuvenate our Premier Range of furniture with items that were made in Poland. We stopped using Poland for this range goods shortly after Covid/Brexit, due to the amount of paperwork and costs paired with the uncertainty of post-covid life, but we’ve found a factory and a solution and all had the relevant protocol training, so we are working on this range as we speak. It was very popular, so we look forward to bringing this back.
“Furthermore, we are finding our solid marble tops (finished in the UK) are selling exceptionally well. Our UK made sofa beds are also gaining traction, which is very positive.”
As mentioned, October marks the official 20-year anniversary and Fábian added that the company will run a special discount to celebrate the occasion, while also reflecting on the journey so far: “It feels great to be part of such a big milestone. Looking back to when I was a little boy helping around the warehouse/the office and assembling my first office chair at around 8/9 years old after school (under supervision of course!), I would never have imagined being here today running things with my siblings.
“It feels amazing and I’m very lucky to be part of something which has stood-fast and even grown considering the tumultuous few years we’ve all had! We’re excited for the future and look forward to celebrating our anniversary as a team. Here’s to the next 20 years and beyond!”
www.jb-commercial-furniture.co.uk
