Businessman lives by motto: Drive forward by grinding

Apr 2 2008 by Alex Turner, Liverpool Daily Post

Alex Turner meets MARK BOLER, owner of catering recruitment company Gilds

IN THE depths of recession in the early 1990s, Mark Boler, then aged 19, found himself selling carcasses as a wholesaler to the catering trade.

It was a long way from where he had been 12 months earlier, at the independent school, Millfield in Somerset. But despite A-levels in maths, accountancy and busi-ness studies, and the opportunity to go to university, Mr Boler was keen to get his hands dirty in the real world.

“I got my A-levels but I didn’t really enjoy it,” he said.

“We set up a business selling carcasses when money was tight for people.

“It became a good business, but they brought someone in above me, then so I went to GUS in Eccles and White Arrow, working for other people. It was a wonderful experience.”

His school motto was Molire Molendo – drive forward by grinding – and despite his academic reluctance, the young Boler seemed to embody this, eschewing a more comfortable path that was open to him. For he could have got a job in the family firm, headed up by his father and Cheshire entrepreneur, Stephen Boler.

His father, at one time or another, owned Kitchens Direct, Moben Kitchens, Sharp Bed-rooms and Dolphin Bathrooms, among others, employing thousands of staff.

But his youngest son chose to continue his early career away from the security of an elite education or the family business.

“You learn a lot through working,” said Boler. “The biggest thing I learnt was the importance of listening to people. Their problems are big to them and you need to solve them.”

His experiences have made him a firm advocate of vocational learning for those who are not academic.

“If people are academic, they should be encouraged to go to university, but there are just as many people who don’t enjoy the classroom environment,” he said.

“I think vocational learning should be done from 16. It’s not an opt-out, the country is desperate for skilled labour.

“When I was younger, I used to work on a farm and a golf course alongside people on youth opportunity schemes.

“One of them who was on the scheme still works for me and there are others who found what they are good at. They are talented boys in their field.”

This frustration at the lack of skills in the workforce is behind his latest acquisition, the cater-ing recruitment company, Gilds.

Along with five-star hotel chef Matthew Barrett, he bought the company, which has offices in Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds, out of administration last month.

“The growth pattern is to im-prove the training,” he said. “We need to up the tempo of the qual-ity of staff we send out, we need to improve the training. It’s going to take six to eight months.”

Business partner Barrett has been the managing director of Barretts Event Caterers for the previous seven years, which requires staff from companies like Gilds, and Boler’s other activities will also benefit directly from improved staff.

“I have always been involved in catering – Mere Golf and Country Club has catered for up to 1,500 people. I want Gilds to give the quality of service which is what I feel is needed,” he said.

“I have used Gilds for 10 years at Mere, but latterly I haven’t because I felt there were problems afoot. I am here to solve those problems and get everyone focused.

“It’s a good brand and is renowned for quality, that slipped off. We have a good team at Gilds and I want to get involved with the team.”

He is also keen to make the most of the opportunities in the region that 2008 presents.

“It is going to be a busy year in Liverpool, and Gilds needs to be involved,” he said. “We have got the infrastructure to be able to do that. It’s important for me to do well in Liverpool.”

But he is acutely aware that infrastructure is only part of the solution. In seeking to improve Gilds’ fortunes, Mr Boler will take his experience from running Mere Park Golf and Country Club for the past 14 years and also from his formative years, when he didn’t become a professional golfer.

He said: “I would have loved to have been a professional golfer when I was 15 or 16, but I didn’t dedicate myself enough to it.

“You need talent and direction as well but if you are going to be good enough to golf, you have to dedicate yourself 100%. There are no short cuts. I do look back at it. With Gilds, I will dedicate myself 100% to make sure it is right.”

Golf remains a passion for Boler, who plays off a handicap of one, has just returned from a fortnight in South Africa, playing at the exclusive Leopard Creek Golf Club on the southern border of the Kruger National Park.

And it is golf, in the form of Mere Golf and Country Club, that has been at the centre of his business interests.

Originally bought by his father in 1984, Boler started running it as a 22-year-old before he took over three years later.

In 2000, he bought Hawkstone Park, in Shropshire, which is home to two 18-hole golf courses, a 66-bedroom hotel, conference and banqueting facilities and the Hawkstone Park Follies. He sold it to Principal Hotels after receiving what he described in his understated manner as an “acceptable” offer, reported to be around £11m.

He is looking to reinvest that sum in new facilities at Mere, which had a £4.5m turnover in 2006.

He said: “We are looking at planning to go in next month for an 85-bedroom hotel and a new health spa which will go alongside our members’ golf club.”

And as well as looking to grow his existing operations, he is casting an eye over other opportunities.

“We are looking at several sites at the moment, from garden centres to hotel sites in the Cheshire region,” he said.

It is a period of flux for Boler, who last year sold his 19% stake in Manchester City to former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, after 18 months on the football club’s board, a period he described as “fascinating”.

“It is a good business, Manchester City was well run,” he said. “It was good to have a bit of time learning about the infrastructure of a football club.

“In general, football clubs are run with the heart. Sometimes they use the heart and spend a lot of money because they want to please everyone. Sometimes you have to have a bit of nerve to say no.”

Boler’s share of the sale proceeds from Manchester City is £15m, which presumably is where the cash for his latest ventures is coming from.

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