How Yorkshire plant nursery Johnsons of Whixley saw turnover reach £15m for first time in 100 years

The commercial sales department is also celebrating a successful ten years in which revenue has grown by 50 per cent to more than £10m. The team recently appointed third-generation family member Luke Richardson as sales director.

The plant nursery in North Yorkshire, which has anywhere between five and six million plants on the ground with 26,000 different stock variants, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.

Graham Richardson, managing director at Johnsons of Whixley, said: “Our success is primarily down to the hard work and dedication of all our staff, from the quote process right through to the lifting of orders and dispatch.

“Demand remains high as a consequence of a greater appetite for a greener world, considerable exposure from our improved website, expanded PR campaigns and significant social growth with an increase of 377 per cent since 2017.

“These elements have played a key factor in the 30 per cent increase of new customers. This is an exciting time for the business as Luke brings experience, motivation, compassion and an unrivalled knowledge of the market and our family business.”

Luke Richardson said: “Commercial sales have exceeded all expectations, driven by strong performance in our core business and new custom.

“Reorganising our structure gives us a great foundation to improve our service offering, further incorporate new technology and drive sustainable growth.

“Despite the pandemic and Brexit, our upcoming annual budget is ambitious and reflects high confidence in the team.”

The re-structure sees Iain Richardson focus on the general direction of the business. He will retain several key accounts.

Tony Coles will head up key accounts and will be supported by Andrew Barker, who takes on the position of key accounts manager.

Vicky Newell returns to the business and assumes the responsibility of general amenity sales manager with Jack Witham taking on home area sales, Hannah Smith the North and Laura Holmes the South.

Corrina Mills is the company’s estimator and Eleanor Richardson will continue to work alongside the sales team as marketing manager.

The sales team sell six million plants annually throughout the UK and are responsible for providing more than 10,000 quotes per year, up to 17,000 orders and 12,000 deliveries each year.

Johnsons of Whixley is situated between York and Harrogate. It was founded by Eric Johnson, who set the business up after returning in 1921 from the First World War.

“He fought right up to the Armistice and stayed behind in Europe to help during the big humanitarian crisis that resulted from the war that smashed central Europe to bits,” Graham Richardson says. “He was there to help with refugees, rebuilding etc.”

On his return to Yorkshire, Mr Johnson took some land and started growing and selling garden plants.

In 1964, Mr Johnson was ready to retire and that is when John Richardson, Graham’s father, acquired the business.

Mr Richardson said: “Out of respect we have always retained the Johnsons name and as far as I am concerned always will do.”

The custodianship of the business will remain in the hands of the Richardson family with succession plans already in place.

“Their responsibility is increasing and there will be a gradual transition to the next generation who will bring new ideas,” Mr Richardson says.

His advice to the next generation is “by and large stick to what you know and what you are good at and recognise that the customer is increasingly wanting convenience”.

Last year, at the height of the first lockdown, the business was rocked after thieves ran over around 10,000 plants with a dumper truck that they stole off the site to tow a bowser containing 1,000 litres of fuel.

However, the business bounced back.

“It was an annoyance particularly when we had other things that were distracting us at the time anyway,” Mr Richardson says. “We lost in the region of £5,000 worth of stock at production cost.”

Plant buying has become more inspired in recent years, according to the managing director, with people wanting form, colour and texture.

The pandemic has also brought on a “massive” shift with more and more people taking up gardening.

Mr Richardson added: “Our industry is suggesting there are three million new gardeners since the start of the pandemic. We’ve seen that reflected in the number of customers that we are enrolling on an ongoing basis.”

Seeing climate change impact

The business is at the coalface when it comes to seeing the impact of climate change first hand.

Graham Richardson says climate change makes “the science of growing more tricky because everything becomes more variable”.

Mr Richardson added: “Because our produce is entirely reliant on climate and seasonality, when it’s more variable we have less control.

“You’ll get periods of extreme wet, which makes life difficult in the nursery. That cools everything and stops it from growing as fast.

“You’ll get periods of extreme drought.

“That means we’re having to put more water on than we had ever envisaged doing.”

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James Mitchinson