WHEN Dave Langford left school in the 1960s, all he wanted was a job that was ‘not mundane’.
He started as a linotype operator at the Jersey Evening Post but three years later decided that the fumes and chemicals used to make up newspapers at the time were too much for him. There followed some short-term jobs, including selling butter and cream for the Jersey Milk Marketing Board.
Then, one day, Dave was strolling down Palmyra Road and saw the premises of the food distribution business, Easenmyne. He remembered they were advertising for staff so walked in and was met by the boss, Clarrie Surcouf, who Dave describes as a ‘good, old Jerseyman’, who at first advised him to reply to the ad if he was interested. He then changed his mind and sat and listened to Dave explain his work experience.
That was enough for Clarrie and Dave was soon in a refrigerated van, taking as many as 40-to-50 different food items to sell to some of the 100 small grocers who were around at the time.
Thus began a career which has spanned 57 years so far, and which gave Dave an encyclopaedic knowledge of the Island’s vital food distribution business. It not only gave Dave a job he still loves but also won him praise and respect from his bosses and colleagues at Easenmyne. They recently showed this by presenting him with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his ‘extraordinary dedication and commitment’ over five-and-a-half decades. Few Islanders can boast such a record.
The award was presented following the recent Fox and Easenmyne’s annual hospitality trade show at which Rachelle Hopley, local manager of the CI Co-op, reminisced about working with Dave over decades both as a customer and, for a short time, a colleague.
‘Always obliging, totally reliable and professional and committed to building solid working relationships, in the context of the CI Co-op he has long since been much more than the agent of a key, trusted supplier, but a friend and a colleague who both the society and I have come to rely on,’ she said.
This was backed up by Martina McGibney, managing director of the merged Fox and Easenmyne business, who said: ‘In addition to his warm and personable approach, he continues to bring a huge amount of expertise to his role [as retail consultant] and we count ourselves very lucky to have him as part of the team.’
The fact that Dave, now 78, is still working for the same company is testament to the enormous experience he has gathered in a complex industry which changes all the time.
His role required close observation of the smallest of details as well as building strong relationships with people he helped, but who then also helped him.
Even selling sausages from the back of a frozen van was a challenge, as he had to plan his route carefully, making sure he got to his customers before other reps did.
Frozen peas and fish fingers were among the most popular items then, as they are now, but every week there seemed to be something new coming out which kept Dave interested. It reached the stage where some shopkeepers were so confident of his experience and willingness to help that he only had to walk through the door to be told: ‘Just fill up the fridge, please, Dave.’
‘I liked the food business because it grew – there was always something new going on,’ he said. ‘I also used to like the independence it gave me; it often felt like I was working for myself.
‘Peter Surcouf (Clarrie’s son who took over the business) used to tell me “you do what you think is right but if you get it wrong, I’ll be on your back”. That wasn’t necessary in the decades we worked closely together.’
Initially, when he sold to shopkeepers from a refrigerated van, he was paid by shopkeepers with cash kept in a wooden box under the counter. Much of his remuneration came from commission, which he earned after reaching a certain target. It might take him Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to earn enough, but then his selling power brought in the rest.
He was so successful that he was getting close to earning more than the boss, so a new way of working was introduced. After more than a decade, Dave was given his own car to go around canvassing customers while on a fixed salary. It was a shrewd move on management’s part because it saved them money but Dave’s expertise continued to bring in the sales, and Dave was not complaining.
‘We learnt as we went along and there were never any major mistakes,’ he said.
And then he discovered ice cream. It was, and still is, one of the top-selling food products in the Island.
Dave described selling ice cream as ‘fun’ and he was clearly good at it as he earned the title ‘the ice-cream boy’. This was in the heyday of the tourism industry and the beaches were crowded, so when Walls asked Dave how many promotional beach umbrellas he needed, he responded 200 – much to their surprise.
The food market continued to change and grow and Easenmyne made acquisitions, took on the Findus agency and started selling into the CI Co-op. One day Peter phoned Dave and asked whether they could they handle the very big Walls agency. Without hesitating, Dave said yes, and only subsequently did he start thinking about how they were going to manage.
‘I always said that he who hesitates is lost,’ Dave said, reflecting on how important he thinks it is to act quickly to meet customers’ requirements.
The growth of the big supermarkets cut the number of small shops and initially provided competition for Dave, but this soon turned to co-operation in many cases when the food distribution companies helped the supermarkets to fill their shelves with other, sometimes better, products.
That was progress, of course, and Dave welcomed most of it, although he said that it sometimes took away some of the ‘traditional, gentlemanly ways of doing business’. Competition became fiercer and costs were reduced, with many businesses cutting back on local storage.
The Co-op’s Jim Hopley was one of those concerned by this trend, something which he and Dave used to chat about over a cold beer in Jim’s office after a long day’s work. They had a long and friendly business relationship.
The rise of technology initially complicated the old way of doing things and Dave was sceptical at first. But he was also quick to admit that it cut distribution time when Peter Surcouf developed the company’s own computer system.
While cost rises are nothing new, Dave worries that new pricing practices from major suppliers help to push them higher and more quickly now.
Small grocers in the old days always had their margins to achieve, but they were not too greedy, Dave said. Suppliers also used to increase prices every year but only modestly. Now, almost every month, they can go up by 15% to 20%, particularly following Covid.
This, in turn, has contributed to a rise in shipping costs, says Dave, recalling that a pallet of food used to cost anything from £20 to £40 to ship, whereas that figure is now £115 to £125.
All of this complicates the job, but Dave is determined to keep on top of the problems. ‘We’ve always found that the distribution side of food is the more expensive part,’ he explained. ‘Technology has helped but the boat still has to come across the water, and we don’t get the visitors we used to that could have helped.’
With no plans to retire just yet, Dave will continue in his efforts to keep ‘Jersey’s food distribution business efficient and economical’, as he has done with the ‘many fine people’ with whom he has worked over the past 57 years.
