water consumption, its energy usage, and then on a safety level, kettles are one of the most dangerous appliances in the kitchen.” Mr Johnson said that, primarily, people have


invested in a Quooker tap because it offers instant, on-demand, boiling water. “Within a property, energy and water costs


are hidden there, they are the talk of the nation at the moment, with increasing energy costs and increasing utility bills, but the biggest gift of all is it gives you four months of your life back,” Mr Johnson said. “because most people stand by a kettle watching it boil and on average it’s around four months of your life you spend watching a kettle boil or waiting for a kettle to boil. “In an office environment, it’s normally a two person job.” Mr Johnson said his ambition is clear – he


wants every household in the UK and Ireland to Quooker tap installed in it. “I think that’s a good target and good


objective to have, and we’re a long way off that,” he said. “Additionally, we want to make sure that


we offer a world class service with it. Not only do we want to supply the best product in this category, we also want to give a world class service with it. I’m 15 years into this journey and the future is progression and more of what we’ve done. “We’re still at the very early stages of getting people to understand how bad a kettle is, that’s really our mission. We want people to understand that it’s not a good appliance, it’s dangerous it’s expensive and it wastes water.” Mr Johnson said the challenge he sees is getting people to understand that delivering boiling water from a tap is a fast, safer and more efficient way than delivering it from a kettle. “That’s something that we’re seeking to


address, but as I say we’re 15 years into this journey and just scratching the surface,” he said. Mr Johnson started the UK business on his


own in 2006 and now employs more than 100 people. Central to this, is the business does everything itself. “We sell the product ourselves, we design


it, we make it, but equally we attach a great deal of significance to the service side of the business,” he said. “We have an engineering team, so if something goes wrong with a tap we look after it. We maintain it and we repair it. In the UK, half the country is full of scale, so we supply a product but we then have to look after it and maintain it and that’s about giving a good service. “All we want our partners to do is display, promote and sell the products in the best way


July 2022


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It’s one of the only


appliances that actually saves you time, energy and money – it’s an investment.


they can. Once the product has left the dealer and is installed, we take over and look after it.” At a time where sustainability is a hot topic, no pun intended, Quooker has a role to play. “One of the least sustainable area in the


kitchen is around the sink, where we’re wasting water boiling kettles,” Mr Johnson said. “Our focus is to make it more sustainable and safer, and getting people to understand that. “Independent research suggests boiling a


kettle costs around 3-5p. The problem is you don’t have a bill when you boil, so there is a hidden cost and nobody feels that pain. Equally, nobody understands how inefficient the kettle is.”


With a million new kitchens sold each year in the UK and there being 26 million households, Mr Johnson said this highlights the significant opportunity that Quooker presents. “The most relevant part is the sustainability


aspect,” he said. “Quooker customers are saving energy, saving water and the safety aspect – people don’t always perceive a tap to be safe. “It’s quiet as well because we use vacuum


technology.” For retailers stocking Quooker, Mr Johnson


offers the following advice. “It’s always important for people to see them


working,” he said. “You want somebody to be able to engage with the tap, use it, touch it, play with it and understand it. When dealers are displaying it, we really encourage them to display a live working model. “I’ll do anything to have Quooker sold in


more independent electrical retailers. If you gave everybody in the country a Quooker tap,


nobody would give them back. It’s an amazing gadget but in-store it’s about communicating that to people and getting people to understand that. “We train all store staff on how to sell it and


promote it, but they’ve got a difficult job to do if they’re selling a kitchen and a range of appliances. It’s how you present it and how you sell the products and that a constant work in progress for us.” Mr Johnson suggest to anybody designing a


kitchen the first thing you should be put in the design is a Quooker. “It’ll be the most used appliance in a kitchen,”


he said. “If you think what you spend on oven, or a fridge or a dishwasher, the challenge for us is to get people to look at a Quooker and understand it in the same light of that and how much it’s used. “The fridge doesn’t give you a payback, your


oven doesn’t give you a payback, your Quooker does. It’s earning you money and it’s making the kitchen safer and that’s message that we have to get across to people.” “Quooker delivers true boiling water from the end of a tap, some of the others don’t.”


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