Anchor navigates its way through troubled waters

When local businessman David Clapin took ownership of Anchor Foods in 2002 and attempted to rebuild the fledgling company, he faced a stark proposition from one of the leading supermarket chains.

"We had one of the guys from the major retailers lean over the desk and say 'you and your business mean nothing to me', and that was the starting point," Mr Clapin said.

Rekindling those relationships with the nation's retailers was just one of the challenges Mr Clapin has endured in rejuvenating Anchor's reputation and, more importantly, repairing its bottom line.

Over the past seven years, the 154-year-old business has transformed itself into one of the nation's leading food suppliers, achieving 250 per cent growth and launching or repackaging more than 500 of its products.

Annual turnover for the Fremantle-based outfit has increased from $26 million three years ago to more than $32 million last financial year, and the company forecasts that to grow beyond $36 million this financial year.

And staff numbers have reached 120, an increase of 30 per cent over the last two years.

That's quite an achievement considering the previous owners Goodman Fielder let the business wane, with sales falling from $100 million to below $15 million in 15 years.

"It wasn't so much deliberate, it was actually sheer neglect," Mr Clapin said. "In that last five years it was really starting to go backwards.

"The general manager here had 11 different reports in five years in terms of who he reported to.

"So there was no consistency, no support, no execution.

"It really lost all of its capabilities. It had no sales forces, no marketing people, no supply chain. It became a factory."

Clearly in need of critical attention, Mr Clapin, a former chief executive at Osborne Park-based Kailis & France Foods and one-time finance director of the Holmes a Courts' Heytesbury Group, spent about $7 million purchasing Anchor and has now created a "contemporary food company based on heritage values".

"It was never what it was, it was always what it could be," he said.

"It was a business that had incredible brand heritage and tradition amongst its whole portfolio of products, but the business had got hopelessly out of date under the east coast management.

"We've been able to take all those beautiful traditional, heritage positions that had existed there in people's kitchens and pantries for the last century and half and basically bring all those products into a much more contemporary offer."

Anchor part-owner and sales and marketing director Lloyd Constantine believes the company's focus on innovation, or as he describes it "Anchorising" their product lines, has delivered the greatest results.

"What we had to do to get back into the retailers, and then get back in front of the customers, was we had to provide innovation within those categories to actually have a point of difference and a motivating reason for consumers again," Mr Constantine said.

"A couple of good areas where that's worked is flour and vinegar, both are available nationally through the retailers so we got our spot back on the shelves, but not just in WA but got it back nationally.

"And now we're putting marketing programs behind those areas, so there'll be a vinegar campaign, a flour campaign, which will be ongoing, and really trying to step it up and drive those brands within those areas."

Mr Clapin puts into context just how far his company has come.

"We've just had the Coles national category buyer with us for the last two days, working with them to provide the needs for their national solutions," he said.

"That's a huge progression from those initial comments that could've come from either of them, to now where they've come to us and work with us to provide solutions for them."