David Richmond - Batch’d - (Leeds Business Podcast) Podcast Details

Description

In this week’s episode we speak to David Richmond who tells us about growing a one-man sticker company into a 500 person mega-business serving the likes of Argos and the government and how a costly error triggered its sale. He also shares how a drink in a swimming pool sparked the launch of a nationwide taxi firm and how Covid destroyed it all. And he ends with how that actually gave birth to his latest business, Batch'd. He also teaches us how to stay positive as a business owner.

INTRODUCING DAVID RICHMOND

David Richmond founded Scorpio Products in 1986 as a print brokers, specialising in character stickers. This later became Scorpio Print Finishing, which, at the time of its sale in 2003, was producing over a billion magazines a year for clients including Argos and the UK census.

He then purchased two Leeds taxi firms in 2004 building Arrow Taxis into the largest airport taxi company, and the UK’s 3rd largest taxi company (excluding Uber). It was decimated by Covid. During the pandemic he used the drivers and cars as a food delivery service which he called ArrowFresh, which in turn, morphed into Batch’d, which today has 25 stores nationwide selling sweet treats. In 2004 he was part of the ‘Krasner Consortium’ that bought Leeds United, following the club’s infamous financial meltdown under Peter Ridsdale.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

[00:01:00] Disney, Garfield and The Simpsons and the growth of Scorpio Print

[00:03:00] How a visit from the BBC sparked a change in the business

[00:08:00] The seven week sale of Scorpio Print

[00:10:00] How a holiday in South Africa triggered the entry into the taxi business

[00:12:00] Leeds Bradford airport and the growth of Arrow Cars

[00:18:00] The destruction of Arrow Cars by Covid

[00:26:15] The birth of Batch’d

[00.31:00] How to stay positive

KEY TAKEAWAYS & BUSINESS LEARNINGS