Milsoms celebrate 50 years of a family affair
When a 22-year-old salesman for shaving company Gillette persuaded his parents to stump up £7,000 to buy a roadhouse on the River Stour in 1952, there was no concept of the country restaurant, or indeed the country hotel, and rationing was still in force.
Gerald Milsom made five shillings and sixpence in Le Talbooth's first week, and £98 by the end of the year. Now the Milsom Group's four properties can expect to turn over a net £550,000 in a good month, and nearly £6m net in a year. This year, it will have served nearly 200,000 diners and more than 15,000 residents.
Gerald bought the Dedham Vale hotel (now Milsoms hotel and bar-brasserie) in 1960, followed by Maison Talbooth (also in Dedham) in 1969 after visiting a Michelin-starred restaurant in France that operated its bedrooms on a separate site. In 1978, inspired by the seafood restaurants in New England, he added the Pier restaurant with rooms in Harwich.
Family support has proved crucial. Gerald's London-based parents helped out at Le Talbooth during the weekends and ran the Dedham Vale hotel from 1960 to 1981, until well into their eighties. Sister Heather also pitched in heavily, as did Gerald's two ex-wives.
Sons David and Paul joined in the 1980s and Paul remains as managing director. Much of the interior design is down to Paul's wife, Geraldine, who has proved more cost-conscious than an outside consultant.
Gerald loves being an innkeeper, but admits he would have had to sell by now if Paul had not stayed. He sees succession as a key problem among members of the Pride of Britain consortium he founded in the 1960s.
The concept of family also embraces guests and staff. The Milsom philosophy is that satisfied customers and happy staff will result in a profitable business.
"The industry is a bad employer," Gerald admits. He adds that hospitality is not good at creating "a civilised workplace" where staff feel valued and want to stay.
Le Talbooth can boast two potwashers, Val Schofield and Pauline Easey, with more than 60 years service between them. Executive chef Terry Barber has been with the group since he was 12, when he had to stand on an orange crate to reach the worktop. And Chris and Vreni Oakley have run the Pier for 25 years.
Some guests who have patronised Le Talbooth for 45 years visit weekly and regard it as part of their family, Gerald says. One couple, now in their nineties, come every Sunday and celebrated their silver, ruby, golden and diamond weddings at the restaurant.
Both Gerald and Paul see the current vogue for star-ratings and celebrity names as signs of a short-termism that works against the long-term interests of hotels and restaurants.
Gerald would not hire a chef who hankered after Michelin stars because he would be cooking to his own agenda and not for the guests, who care nothing for Michelin. He regards most restaurant guides as myopic in their tendency to look only at the plate and not recognise that restaurant-goers rate the service, the ambience, the value for money, and the place itself as well. "So many restaurants forget the customer comes first," Gerald says, adding that the experience includes an "element of theatre".
The Milsoms see little future in the personality-based marketing of restaurants, as witnessed within the Savoy Group. "Customers expect Le Talbooth to have a great chef cooking great food," Gerald says. "If the chef changes, they don't expect the whole thing to go up or down. We don't want a seesaw."
He attributes much of this short-termism to the need to satisfy "hungry shareholders". He doubts he would have bought 50,000 bulbs recently to beautify Milsoms' gardens if he had to justify the expense to shareholders.
He fears the future of independent, family-owned businesses is threatened by succession problems and the high cost of entering the market. Many are being bought by groups or wealthy individuals seeking a investment who are not hotel or restaurant operators. "How could you buy a Chewton Glen now?" he asks.
The Milsom group has employed three generations of Milsoms and the hope is that Paul's four-year-old son, Charlie, will continue the family tradition.
