New dawn for baldwins
The owner of the company that has bought Baldwins
Travel tells Lucy Huxley about his plans for the agency and how it could form part of a new broader travel group
J
ack Mason, 31, is founder and chief executive of Inc & Co Group, a company that describes itself as
a “business collective which is building a dynamic portfolio of retail, property, digital, food & beverage and logistics brands”. Three weeks ago, it added travel
to that list. Inc & Co bought Baldwins Travel,
the 126-year-old, award-winning retail agency chain boasting eight branches in Kent and East Sussex. The deal saw Inc & Co take
100% ownership of the miniple, with director brothers Nick Marks and Chris Marks staying on as managing and commercial director respectively. It also saved the jobs of all 52 staff,
brought everyone back from furlough immediately and reopened all stores. Inc & Co was only founded in
2019. The name derives from its guiding principle of being “inclusive and collaborative”. Its website says:
8 7 OCTOBER 2021
“It’s what our name stands for but also what we stand by.” Mason told Travel Weekly: “My
background is digital marketing and tech but I had an idea to create a business collective supporting businesses with their top-level strategies, such as marketing, HR, recruitment, finance and sales, allowing them to focus on their core services and products.” Alongside business partners
Dave Antrobus and Scott Dillon, Mason’s initial aim was to acquire “ambitious digital agencies”. That was certainly the format for the company’s first six months, supporting growth in the team to 23 people. But then Covid hit and, over
the past 18 months, Inc & Co has diversified into sectors such as commercial property, logistics, retail and food & beverage. Its brands now include salad bar
Chop’d, dry-cleaning app Laundrapp, oat milk brand Gut Instinct and
We like to acquire a business and bring the leadership team on board to run it. We don’t hyper-manage
luggage label Knomo, to name but a few.
“I never thought we’d go into
retail, but we now have a number of brands so have established Inc Retail Group,” said Mason. And travel was always on his
radar. Mason said he had been known to take more than a dozen holidays a year, and had dreamed of owning his own hotel – something now achieved having just bought his first, in Turkey.
‘Great fit’ Owning a travel agency chain, however, was not a target – but he was approached to invest to support
Baldwins through the pandemic. “Our creative director Ben
Perman lives in Tunbridge Wells, where Baldwins is based, and knew what a good brand and business they are,” said Mason. “After several conversations with
Nick and Chris, we realised we could absolutely fit Baldwins into our business model. There were synergies that meant it would work perfectly. “Their team is at the forefront of their business and they have a close connection with their customers. “It’s an old family business
which works for us because we like to acquire a business and bring the leadership team on board to run it. We don’t hyper-manage; we just give businesses a new lease of life.” The first thing Inc & Co did was
pay off all Baldwins’ debt. “We paid off their CBILS loan
(Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme), all their customer refunds and their suppliers. They are
travelweekly.co.uk
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