As ProCook publishes its maiden results following a stellar IPO, Retail Week sits down with founder and chief executive Daniel O’Neill to discuss his future plans for the brand.
“At the moment our brand is quite a secret, compared with Le Creuset and Tefal – we’re catching up with them in terms of turnover, but we’ve done it stealth-like,” jokes ProCook founder and chief executive Daniel O’Neill.
Sitting in the cookery-class kitchen above his flagship Tottenham Court Road store, which opened in September, O’Neill looks quite at home with a cup of tea.
The brand’s first results since its London float might explain why he is sitting so comfortably – ProCook registered revenues up 34.4% to £32.1m in the 28-week period to November 17.
While underlying profit before tax dropped 11% to £3.6m in the same period, O’Neill says this was in line with expectations due to increased spend on digital advertising, new store openings and investments for further growth, such as its range expansion.
Reflecting its increased marketing spend, the business grew its active customer base 42.5% year on year, with 319,000 new customers on board.
With just 53 stores, the kitchenware specialist is small but punching above its weight and O’Neill hopes to take it to the next level following its successful IPO.
Going against the grain
While the London Stock Exchange hosted a swathe of IPOs in 2020, many of the lockdown digital winners, such as Deliveroo and Made, failed to capitalise on the early momentum.
ProCook fared better – it was valued at £158m at the time of its float, raising £39.5m to invest in its future.
When asked why ProCook decided to float the business despite the high-profile retail flops of that year, O’Neill is bullish.
“I had a really good trade sale offer from a large European company and, going along to the meeting, all their plans for ProCook sounded good. But as soon as they had the keys to the car, I had no idea what they would do,” he explains.
“I felt that if I put it into public hands then it would just take on its own energy and grow. Then, even if I’m not here, we’ve set it rolling”
Daniel O’Neill, ProCook
“I’ve spent 25 years building it to where it is today and I just couldn’t get myself around giving it away.
“As part of the IPO, we gifted around 12% of the equity to the team, which was great to share with the people who built the brand. I wasn’t really ready to go and I felt that if I put it into public hands then it would just take on its own energy and grow. Then, even if I’m not here, we’ve set it rolling.”
When ProCook first began the IPO process in March, it was one of many brands “fighting for investors’ time”. However, when the listing in November came around, O’Neill says much of the competition had “fallen by the wayside”.
“The forecast valuation dropped around 40% from the early look to the actual IPO, but I still felt it was worth it,” O’Neill adds.
“It was incredibly hard work and I didn’t want to go through all of that again if we postponed.”
The IPO success has given the brand much to celebrate, but O’Neill and his team aren’t content to rest on their laurels.
From its new Tottenham Court Road store, ProCook runs daily classes for customers, both in store and online, during which participants are displayed on a huge fit-for-purpose screen.
O’Neill hopes the cookery classes will help to grow the brand’s awareness in the UK to compete with some of its more established rivals. He is also using social media content filmed from classes with celebrity and Michelin-starred chefs to drive further engagement.
ProCook has even started working with a recipe-box delivery service to allow customers all over the country to take part in its classes.
O’Neill plans to replicate the store in other city centres, adding to ProCook’s new stores in the capital at both Westfield Stratford and Westfield London, complete with upstairs class kitchens.
Whipping up a bright future
Having successfully navigated an IPO, O’Neill is also set to expand ProCook’s range to include small electricals, such as toasters and kettles, next year.
“Everyone’s aspiration is to own a Dualit toaster or a Magimix food processor, but it’s a very small percentage of people who have that amount of disposable income,” he says. “Where we can really excel is making those products more affordable.”
ProCook’s strategy is to cut out the middleman – the retailer – and reduce costs by going straight to the consumer.
“With the demise of department stores, where else do you go to get tabletop?”
Daniel O’Neill, ProCook
Starting out as a mail-order catalogue with just one 12-piece cookware set, the brand has grown its expertise into adjacent categories, which now includes tableware, glassware, stoneware and gifting.
“With the demise of department stores, where else do you go to get tabletop?” asks O’Neill, explaining his thought process.
“There are lots of places to get everyday, lower-entry price-points – supermarkets, for example, where you can pick up a box for £29.99, etc. They do that well so we didn’t want to go into that area. Our customer is very much in the mid to premium market.”
The Tottenham Court Road store is laid out in departments, offering customers everything they need to complete their kitchen, along with inspiration to buy after taking a cookery class.
ProCook plans to grow its store estate to between 70 and 80 over the next couple of years, focusing on more city stores and “infills inside the M25”.
“I don’t think we need to go much bigger than that because we’re quite particular about where we put them,” O’Neill adds.
The majority of the brand’s stores are located in designer shopping outlets, garden centres, leisure locations and big shopping centres “where shoppers would go for a day out”.
Its main focus, however, is on growing its online direct-to-consumer business, which currently represents just under 50% of its total revenue.
O’Neill says the predominant driver of this growth will be international. Having had success selling through Amazon in both Germany and the Netherlands, ProCook has opened a European hub in the Netherlands with plans to roll out dedicated websites for both countries, as well as France, next year.
Unlike some of its peers, ProCook has proven that a pandemic IPO can work in a brand’s favour, even if the digital shift slides back.
While hospitality may have reopened, O’Neill is adamant that now people have started enjoying cooking for themselves they’ll find it hard to go back to ready meals and Deliveroo – and he’s got the perfect recipe to keep ProCook’s momentum going.
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