Ice-cream firm is praised as perfect example of success story

R&R Ice Cream provides an "almost perfect" example of how to grow a business, according to a leading corporate lawyer whose firm supports the Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards.

Neil McLean, senior partner of DLA Piper in Leeds, praised the development of the Northallerton-based company and said others could learn from its story.

R&R, led by chief executive James Lambert, won its category in last year's awards.

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Mr McLean said: "Planning for business is very hard at the moment – whatever nature of business you are in. Many businesses which did not get pulled into the excesses of the past five to 10 years and sat on their cash and gearing are in the position, if they are brave enough and well-researched enough, to find and take good opportunities."

Citing the case of R&R, Mr McLean said: "If you look at the history of the company, it started as a small family farming business that moves into ice cream, takes over another local company, starts building and gets private equity involved, starts expanding into the supermarket supply sector, aligns itself with some good brands which are going for the growth markets and then opens its eyes to the international stage.

"That's almost the perfect example of how people with a good idea have steadily built a business, built their own brand and led to the development of other parts of the food sector. Neither have they massively overstretched themselves. It's been semi-conservative, looking at markets carefully and being in a strong enough position to take a good opportunity following their lead customers."

R&R Ice Cream announced this month that it is buying France's third biggest ice-cream manufacturer in a deal that will strengthen its position as Europe's largest ice-cream maker.

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The group, which has production sites at Leeming Bar, in North Yorkshire, and Crossgates in Leeds, has an annual turnover of more than 340m. The Rolland acquisition will boost this to more than 420m.

Mr McLean said there are parallels between the expansion of R&R and DLA Piper, which grew from Yorkshire roots to become one of the largest law firms in the world.

He added: "Our original strategy of growth in the UK was very much grow and grow with our clients. That's made us go into Europe, the Far East and the United States. You have to look outward. I think that's what a lot of Yorkshire businesses are getting better at doing.

"You have to look beyond traditional markets and see what your clients and customers are doing. See market opportunities and see where growing markets could be. Accept there's risk. This is about sensible risk management, rather than going too fast."

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DLA Piper, which employs about 3,500 lawyers worldwide, opened a new office in Istanbul, Turkey, after studying the emerging market that straddles the East and West.

"That's cautious growth, but a willingness to be opportunistic when the right opportunity appears. R&R is a good example of that. We are a good example of that. You have to accept you won't always get it right.

"If you don't overstretch yourself you should be able to deal with that sort of issue. That's where good intelligence and good advice is important. People are lifting their eyes."

R&R Ice Cream was created in 2006 by Oaktree Capital Management merging Richmond Ice Cream with Roncadin following its 180m purchase of Richmond Foods plc.

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Last year it won the award for companies in the Yorkshire region with a turnover of more than 50m, the category sponsored by DLA Piper.

R&R said the Yorkshire Post award was particularly important as entrants were judged across a whole range of criteria including innovation, business performance, customer service, risk management, health and safety management and employee motivation.

How to enter excellence awards

Companies have until June 22 to enter this year's Yorkshire Post Excellence in Business Awards.

George Osborne, the Chancellor, is guest speaker at this year's ceremony, which will be presented by Jon Culshaw, the impressionist.

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The main categories are Young Business of the Year, sponsored by Yorkshire Forward; Companies with a turnover under 10m, sponsored by Yorkshire Bank; Companies with a turnover between 10m and 50m, sponsored by PricewaterhouseCoopers; and Companies with a turnover of more than 50m, sponsored by DLA Piper.

The other categories are Best Company to Work For, sponsored by Bradford University School of Management; Yorkshire Post Young Entrepreneur of the Year, sponsored by O2; SME Manufacturer of the Year, sponsored by the Manufacturing Advisory Service; Innovation of the Year, sponsored by Drax, and Exporter of the Year, sponsored by thebigwordGroup.

Enter online at www.yorkshirepost. co.uk/excellence

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