Mike is one smart cookie!
IT takes a tough cookie to run this Bury-based business, but Michael Booth believes he’s in for a treat. Last week Michael took over at the helm as managing director of Millie’s Cookies.
He’ll be the third leader at the top of the retail chain which was recently bought, along with its sister companies, by a Swedish venture capital fund.
But, despite several changes of ownership, Michael says Millie’s is still true to its brand value of “an indulgent treat”, and its identity has not been swallowed up by a corporate giant.
Advertisement your story continues belowNevertheless, Millie’s nestles along side the likes of Caffe Ritazza, Upper Crust, Whistlestop and Harry Ramsden as part of the Select Service Partner group.
SSP was a subsidiary of the mighty Compass catering empire, but in June this year was sold to the Swedish fund EQT in an £1.8bn deal.
Michael, who joined Millie’s as commercial director from Allied Domecq, where he looked after a number of its food brands including Baskin Robbins and Dunkin Donuts, says that EQT wants to grow the business through investment before eventually floating it on the London Stock Exchange.
“As part of the deal, all the SSP board directors are still in place, and EQT are investing heavily in the group, so it is really business as usual.”
But stock market flotations and billion-pound deals are a world way from Millie’s humble beginnings.
The company was founded by Mario Budwig in 1985. Two years later, he joined forces with Irishman Richard O’Sullivan and together, from a converted garage, they introduced the nation to American-style cookies.
The first Millie’s Cookies store opened in Selfridges on London’s Oxford Street.
And after its huge success, Mario and Richard began rolling out the concept across railway stations and shopping centres across the UK.
In 1997 they bought the company’s major competitor, Cookie Jar, and almost doubled the size of the business overnight.
In 2003 the business was sold to Compass for £24m. Richard initially stayed on to manage its smooth integration, but since his departure he and Mario have struck a deal with the ultra-successful Australian company, Boost Juice Bars, to roll out the concept in the UK.
Today Millie’s Cookies has a turnover of around £30m and employs 1,100 staff across 121 outlets nationwide.
In 2005, the group opened its first international store in Paris. Three more sites have followed, in Frankfurt, Berlin and Hong Kong.
Michael says he has ambitious international expansion plans, including trying to crack the land of the cookie itself – America.
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