August/September 2025
housewareslive.net
PEOPLE Brief Encounter
Kuhn Rikon’s Paul Marchant, Business Development Manager, shares his housewares journey.
What is your current role and how long have you been doing it? My job title is Business Development Manager. I joined the business in 2020 but having bought product from Kuhn Rikon for many years and also having been a sales agent for Kuhn Rikon, my association with the business goes back 30 years or so.
What does your role entail? That’s a hard one, my responsibilities are so varied but include marketing, merchandising design, promotional calendar, product development and managing our excellent team of agents.
How did you get started in the industry?
I had a sandwich shop and catering business back in the eighties. When I sold it, the plan was to get a proper job. As nobody wanted to employ me, I needed to do my own thing again and as cooking was the only thing I knew anything about, I started a cookshop..
What roles were you doing before and how did they prepare you for this one?
My original career was hotel management which taught me so much about understanding people - staff and customers alike. To be good in hospitality one has to learn to anticipate one’s customers’ needs and to be ready with something before it is asked for. That is great training for any customer-facing business. Add to that twenty years of retail, a partnership in a cookware brand with responsibility for manufacture comprehensive and unique industry perspective.
What would you like to achieve in this role? Our goal is to get Kuhn Rikon as widely recognised as a brand in the UK as it is in Switzerland and other European countries. The UK Industry now has a much better understanding of our brand and values, and consumer recognition is growing nicely as a result.
What has been the highlight of your career so far? Our aim is to be the best in cookware supply so recognition of that at some point would be wonderful.
What do you see as the main issues for retailers and the industry at the moment? Retailers are having it so tough right now, made much worse by the last budget. Retailers raise an enormous amount of tax through corporate tax, income tax, VAT, national insurance, and business rates so pay far more than their fair share for local services. To be all but abandoned by law enforcement in the face of a shoplifting tidal wave is simply not right. Our challenge is ensuring that our retailers are able to make a decent margin from selling Kuhn Rikon products. Retailers housewares retailers in recent years, but I do believe that there are great opportunities in market towns that supported Steamer Trading stores. I’m too old now, but if I wasn’t………….
What one piece of advice would you give yourself at the start of your career? If you believe in something, could be an idea or a new in-store range,
What keeps you busy at the weekends? Mrs M’s deep joy is her garden, so I am head grass cutter. When that’s happy place.
If you’re at the bar, what are you drinking? G&T or Guiness depending on my mood.
I don’t think I have a favourite book, but I recently read John Boyne’s The Brian, simply brilliant.
and why? Peter Ustinov. Only your older readers will understand!
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