Fonds Sananwathananont, MSc Management student, shares her experience of taking part in a study trip to two businesses in North West England as part of her course:

The purpose of the trip

I came to Booths to understand something that's hard to learn from a textbook: how a family-owned business sustains quality, loyalty, and a distinctive identity over generations while competing against far larger national chains.

I wanted to explore its people, its supplier relationships, its supply chain, its brand, and how it adopts new technology without losing what makes it special. Booths, founded in 1847 and now in its fifth generation, was the perfect place to study all of that in one day.

Booths’ people-first approach

The clearest message of the whole day came from Edwin Booth, chairman of Booths. He told us the story of his great-great-grandfather, Edwin Henry Booth, who started the company in 1847, and how the founding aim has barely changed since: to sell the best food and drink in welcoming stores, staffed by genuinely good people.

That last part is the bit Mr Booth treats as non-negotiable. Booths hires for good, kind people first and develops the skills second.

You can see that philosophy paying off everywhere. For example, in its people’s tenure.

The average Booths employee stays 10–15 years. We met Colin Porter and Peter Read, who have each been with the company for over 30 years, and who helped Booths develop its first-ever in-house tea and coffee brand, which is now an award-winning range.

Dewlay Cheesemakers: quality over everything

Dewlay specialises in traditional Lancashire cheese. Their award-winning creamy, crumbly and tasty Lancashire, alongside Garstang Blue are made just outside Garstang, a town in North West England, from milk sourced from local farms.

Dewlay is a major supplier of cheese for Booths, and its cheese can be found in every Booths store.

Dewlay's Commercial Director, Conor Daunt, delivered a message that mirrored Edwin Booth's almost word-for-word, just applied to a different craft: quality comes first, and nothing is allowed to compromise it. Technology and automation are absolutely used to make operations more efficient, but only where they don't cost quality.

What struck me most was how that same long-term, relationship-first mindset extends to sustainability. Dewlay works closely with its own suppliers and partners, and reuses by-products rather than wasting them.

The whey left over from cheesemaking is given to local pig farmers to feed their pigs: a simple, circular arrangement that reduces waste and strengthens a local relationship at the same time.

The value: what I’m taking away

Three things will stay with me.

First, a practical strategy: hire for character, train for skill. It sounds obvious, but Booths actually structures its whole training and Academy model around it, and the loyalty, tenure, and customer love it generates are the proof.

Second, a way to think about technology: adopt it boldly but anchor it to your identity and your strengths rather than chasing it blindly. Quality and people set the boundary; the tools serve them, never the other way around.

Third, a shift in perspective. I came expecting to study supply chains, marketing, and operations as separate systems. I left understanding that in a business like Booths they're all expressions of one underlying value: people. I learned that this, more than any tactic, is what lets a 175-year-old family grocer remain genuinely loved.

A heartfelt thank you to Edwin Booth, Colin Porter, Conor Daunt, Peter Read, and everyone at Booths and Dewlay who made the day so memorable.

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