William Opie on being the fourth generation in a family run business celebrating its 130th anniversary this year, his role as Chairman of Produced in Kent and keeping fit by cycling and climbing glaciers
Bennett Opie of Sittingbourne celebrates 130 years
William Opie on being the fourth generation in a family run business celebrating its 130th anniversary this year, his role as Chairman of Produced in Kent and keeping fit by cycling and climbing glaciers
The Opie story begins with a young Cornish minerwho set off to make his fortune in London in 1880 with just �5 in his pocket. Initially selling eggs and bacon in the capital, business prospered so much that by 1912 he was able to open his own company in Kentish Town – Bennett Opie Limited.
Current managing director and Bennett’s great-grandson, William Opie, was born in north London and when the provision side shut down, the family moved to Kent in 1971, joining William’s uncle Tony in the cherry manufacturing business that had been quietly ticking away in Sittingbourne since the 1920s.
“Grandfather bought the site because it was in the middle of the Kentish cherry orchards and also has its own bore hole – we’re based in Chalkwell Road which, as you can imagine, means that there were once a lot of natural springs in this area, making the location ideal,” says William.
“The whole family moved here and the business really began to grow. We turned the warehousing that was here into production, renting outside warehousing for a time and then built our own purpose-built warehouse on the nearby Eurolink industrial site.”
Initially known for its glac� cherries, a new trend for cocktail cherries started to emerge during the 1950s and although the processing side is very different now, Opie’s is still best known as ‘the cherry specialist.’
“After cherries, we decided to get into cocktail pickles and that grew into various types of olives,” says William. “We have tried to build the business around a few key products – I’d rather be a large player in a small market and known for our cherries, lemon slices and pickled walnuts than a big player in a small market.
“There are larger producers than us, but we do it all by hand and a lot of bigger companies don’t want to do all that hand work. You have to have segregation for nuts, for example, so there can be no contamination with other products, so for pickled walnuts we’re pretty much on our own.”
In these highly automated days, it is a bit of a shock to see 80 people on the factory floor, including a number of women from the Ghurka regiment based in Maidstone who supplement the full-time workforce. There’s a lot of pride at stake in speeding up production times and hitting targets, with some tangible benefits, too.
“By starting at 7.30am and finishing at 5.45pm, they can work their 39 hours in a four-day week, which allows Friday to do overtime, for example,” says William.
“Some of our equipment takes a huge amount of time to heat up and we used to operate up until lunchtime Friday, but we’ve saved a huge amount of energy by working a longer day over four days and with shorter breaks.”
The product range today is very extensive, with everything from small specialist lines such as Kentish Bramley Apple Chutney with Biddenden cider, sold via a separate company called the Garden of England Preserving Company but packed by Opie’s, to the Monin syrups introduced 20 years ago but finding renewed popularity today with our booming coffee culture.
William, who had originally planned to study archaeology when he left school, was working in the family firm one holiday when he was 18, the office manager became ill – and “the rest, as they say is history,” he laughs.
“I was the first in my generation, so there was a bit of pressure. When you’re family, you have to work doubly hard to prove yourself and to gain respect, so I worked in all the different areas of the factory, then on the export side. We won the Queen’s Award for Export in 1988, which was useful.”
A new string to his bow this year is as Chairman of Produced in Kent. “As a company, we recognised years ago that local food and local origins was always going to be an important area – it ticks all the boxes,” he says.
“I’ve been involved with PiK from the beginning and I think it’s a wonderful organisation. It meets the requirements of the fantastic producers in the county, from the packaging to new products like Kent cheeses and apple juices, and brings all these people together so we can network.
“As chairman, I see my role as waving the flag, helping producers – from the farmers to the colleges and the butchery side – so that we have a wide level of help to call upon. The whole idea for PiK over the next two years is getting as self sufficient as possible, working closely with Hadlow College, who have given us fantastic support, then helping a lot of the producers develop their skills set.
“This in turn will increase their business overall so we can get more people employed in the food production sector and demonstrate the added value of being a Kentish business. We’re not just looking after the producers, it’s about getting consumers to buy local, too.”
William works alongside his brother Philip, who is chairman and technical director, and admits: “Succession is something my brother and I need to get to grips with eventually. We’re fourth generation so I think we have a chance – they generally say the second builds it up and the third flogs it!”
William and his wife Dianne live near Lynsted and have two grown-up daughters and a 15-year-old son who wants to be a Playstation tester but has been known to help out his dad at the Kent County Show. A nephew is in the Kent food industry, working in sales at VeeTee Rice in Rochester.
So what does William love best about the job he has done all his life? “I like it when people write in and say they like a product – it still gives me a real buzz, that’s the rewarding bit.”
His own favourite is pickled walnuts and he used to run the Walnuts Club in West Malling. But having to bring in 200 tons of walnuts a year from France, Italy and Bulgaria is not something he wants to continue doing and William believes that with climate change, Kent could become perfect for walnut orchards and production.
“We could do fresh and shelled as well as pickled and even have local walnut oil,” he enthuses. “It’s a very healthy product, walnut orchards are stunningly attractive and the wood is quite valuable. But it takes 10-12 years before you start to see crops, so many farmers are seeing it as an investment for their children.”
Keeping fit is all part of the journey for William, who tries to do a 10k run at the weekends and is a real cycling fan – and loved it when the Tour de France came through Kent.
When he was 50, six years ago, William decided to mark the occasion by climbing a mountain in the Alps, where he has a lot of family, including a French mother. He has climbed every year since, mainly glaciers, together with his wife’s brother: “we’re gradually getting up higher and higher!”
Another passion is classic cars and William has three MGs and an old classic Porsche. “I just like to get them right and to use them as a modern car, not as museum pieces,” he says.
He and Dianne are very fond of Canterbury, and enjoy visiting nearby Faversham and eating out at places like Reads or The Three Mariners at Oare. “And of course we have some great country pubs in Kent,” he says.
Just don’t offer him a cocktail cherry with his pint...
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Bennett Opie Ltd, Chalkwell Road
Sittingbourne ME10 2LE
01795 476154
