Schaafsma brings Accolade employees to Broadland

Three former Accolade employees are joining Paul Schaafsma at Broadland Wineries, where he was appointed CEO in late September this year, having left Accolade earlier this year.

Paul Schaafsma has recruited former Accolade employees Andy Cameron, Ian Anderson and Amy White to roles at Broadland Wineries

Schaafsma, who joined UK importer and bottler Broadland on 25 September, was previously CEO at Accolade Wines, the Australian company that owns global brands such as Hardys, Echo Falls and Kumala.

Among his new appointments is Andy Cameron, former head of supermarkets at Accolade, who will take on the same role at Broadland when he joins Schaafsma in the new year.

Commenting on the decision to hire Cameron, Schaafsma told db last week, “He has done an incredible job at Accolade in terms of creating new listings, and he was instrumental in the launch of Echo Falls Spritz and the revival of Hardys; he is a great operator and we are lucky to have him.”

Schaafsma has also brought in Ian Anderson, formerly Accolade’s general manager for strategic development, who is becoming marketing director at Broadlands with immediate effect, having left Accolade in July this year. He has also recruited Amy White, who was marketing director for Accolade Wines UK, and she will also join Broadland this week, having already resigned from the Australian business, following a period of maternity leave.

“The partnership between Ian and Amy is very important,” said Schaafsma, adding, “Amy invented Echo Falls Fruit Fusion, supported by Ian, who gave her the category insight, while the two of them managed the Kumala re-brand, so, from a brand perspective, this is my marketing A-team, and the existing marketing team at Broadland is looking forward to learning new skills from Amy and Ian.”

Schaafsma also told db that he had recruited a new head of commercial finance from Kettle Foods, a crisp manufacturer that, like Broadland Wineries, is based near Norwich, in Norfolk.

Ian Anderson was previously general manager for strategic development at Accolade Wines

Speaking generally to db about the appointments, he said that he was getting Broadland ready for expansion, particularly when it comes to supplying the UK’s major multiple grocers, as well as through the development of branded wines.

“I’m trying to prepare for the new year, because, if we are going to deal with big retail customers we need the people and skill-sets to interact with the supermarkets in an appropriate way – whether that’s from the marketing, trading, logistical or financial perspectives,” he said.

Then, he added, “Secondly, we need in our a portfolio a solution that we can bring to the table… we can do British made wine and fruit fusions – but we need to develop our imported wine business, and to do that we need strong brands to match with our own-label and private-label work that we are already doing for the supermarkets.”

In a previous and exclusive interview with db, Schaafsma revealed his three-pronged development plan for Broadland Wineries.

Currently, Broadland Wineries, which was established in 1965, is primarily a wine importer and bottler supplying branded and private-label wines to the UK, US and Nordic markets.

But Schaafsma wants to expand its existing areas of expertise as well as adding a new aspect to Broadland’s business.

As part of a three-prong approach to enlarging the company, he wants to create an agency business for Broadlands, while also building wholly-owned Broadland brands, and expanding the company’s British made wine and fruit fusion capabilities.

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