The Threesome
From the outside, the Wilson Storey Halliday set-up looks fraught with potential tensions. For a start, Linda Halliday is the resident partner, while the other two, Keith Wilson and Alastair Storey, in effect came on board when their fledgling company Wilson Storey merged with Halliday Catering Services in 2000. Second, there's the potential imbalance of a male-female divide.
Wilson dismisses such speculation: "There's bound to be an external view that there are two of us against Linda, but two years on, if that were the case, we wouldn't still be here. That kind of tension would have broken us up."
Halliday is reluctant to dwell on the possible downsides of the deal, but she does concede that it wouldn't work for a control freak. "I wouldn't recommend it to everyone. If the company is yours and you like it like that, then it would be very difficult," she says. Fortunately, Halliday doesn't feel that way. The partnership has helped her bring in more expertise to take the business - which has a turnover of £23m at the time - forward.
In what is starting to seem as tradition, Wilson and Storey met a Sutcliffe and worked together on and off for 15 years before they set up Wilson Storey. They know Halliday from just being in the industry, "Our vision is the same. There is no fundamental point of difference," says Storey.
Storey has "slightly more" shares than the other two. They have formal board meetings every quarter, plus intermediate meetings, and they speak every day.
"It's a small business, but we are professional about writing business plans and proper budgets. Everything is written down, and we try to include the teams," says Storey.
All three describe each other as having a strong personality, so it's probably just as well that each has their own specific role. Wilson won't be drawn on who has the most important job. "Obviously me," he says, laughing. "But seriously, we have slightly different strengths and come from slightly different core functions but share the same desire to be successful, so the partnership has to work well."
So what do they think is crucial to a good partnership? "It works for us because we get along well," says Storey. "But business is business. If we didn't have differences of opinion I'd be horrified. If one person feels strongly about doing something, we can easily refer back to the strategy and decide whether it would be logical. Sometimes it's good to give way if someone feels strongly, because it means they will make it work."
What if one of the trio goes? Halliday is adamant: "It wouldn't dissolve the partnership. I'm sure the other two would bring in a third person."
And what would they look for? "It would have to be someone like-minded, not somebody who just wants a big profit margin. We want to build a sustainable business," says Storey.
So is three a crowd? For Wilson, size doesn't matter. "Ironically, I don't view it as a threesome. There are a number of people involved in this company, from sales to catering teams."
He doesn't advocate spending too much free time with his colleagues, though. He's got four children, Storey has five and Halliday has two.
Storey explains: "We are friendly, but it's important to have a work-life balance. Frankly, I have a wife and five children and on Friday night I want to go home and spend the weekend with them. I'm not a workaholic."
Article taken from Caterer & Hotelkeeper Magazine 13 - 19 March 2003.
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