Phil on Andy I've been managing director of the family fruit company for 12 years, but Andy and I met about 18 years ago. I had only just started in the family business and Andy was working for R&K Wise, making desserts for Marks & Spencer. We worked together on the development side. Northern Foods bought R&K Wise in 2000, putting Andy back on the job market, so I managed to convince him to come to work for us as business development manager. He is well respected and capable, and fitted our need to gain better knowledge of the desserts industry. Andy and I are quite similar in our approach to business and dealing with customers, although he is more tolerant and patient than I am. It means we complement each other well. I can trust him to look after the company's interests, which he does in a similar way to me. He's very diligent in pursuing company goals and can keep a cool head. Andy has done a lot of work on cost reduction and recipe manipulation for us - he's very good in that area. Now our fresh fruit products and fruit fillings are going into all the major manufacturers. We'll be using some 10,000 tonnes of apples this year - 1,300 tonnes of which are grown here. Andy on Phil I've had known the company for years before I joined as we developed cold chain fresh apple products together. Since I joined the business, we've developed a range of fresh and frozen fruit fillings including a whole host English Bramley products, fruits of the forest, blackberry and mincemeat. I was responsible for introducing the company to the joys of mincemeat making as one of its biggest components is apple. Phil and I always got on very well, right back to when we had a supplier-customer relationship. We complement each other in many ways. I like the way he has taken the business forward since he took over from his father. He has foresight and passion, and has driven turnover from £5m per year in 2003 to £9m now. My role before joining Fourayes was more technical so it's really nice to branch out of that into sales and business development - I owe all that to Phil.

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