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The Happy Hutch Story

The Start 1999 / 2001

In late 1999 I was looking for something to do with my life. I had been on the dole, driven HGVs (which meant staying away from home most of the week), and before that I was market gardening and landscape gardening. One day, as I was waiting for my daughter outside school to take her to the dentists, I bumped into an old school pal and we started talking. She told me that she ran the pet shop in our village and that the old man who had been making her rabbit hutches had passed away. She told me she had been looking for someone to make them for her but it was not that easy to find. It was when she asked me to make them that I fell about laughing. I have never had a woodwork lesson in my life!  When I was at school I did cookery instead of woodwork, my thinking being that if I could cook I could stay at least keep myself alive! Well, when I had stopped laughing we talked some more and I agreed to have a go. She told me the size she needed and off I went.

The first thing I did was to make a workbench in our 8ft x 6ft garden shed. I had a rusty saw and an old hammer, and that was about it. The next day I went out to purchase the wood and bits to make the hutch. It cost me £6 and a full day’s work but, by the end of the day, I had made my first hutch. Off I went to see Janice at her pet shop, and she gave me £5!  Now, most people would say that that’s bad business, but I had enjoyed the challenge of making it, so I worked a proper price out with a little profit and went back to the shop.  Janice was OK with the prices and asked me to make two of each sizes, i.e. eight rabbit hutches.  I was now in business.

Three months later I was making rabbit hutches every day of the week and in my sleep every night. I found a place where I could get cheap wood – a weekly auction in a town 35 miles away. This is where I met and got to know people who told me where to get other things I needed for the business, and at a better price than I was paying (its good to talk!). From the start everyone I knew told me I was mad, that I would get nowhere with it and why didn’t I get a proper job. I just ignored them and carried on. I had to call the business something and it had to be something that people would remember. I came up with the name "Happy Hutch". I think it gave everyone the best laugh they had all year, but it just made me more determined to succeed. I made the shed bigger in the garden and got on with my life.  I told them that I would have the last laugh.

I loved what I was doing - it just seemed right. I could spend 15 hours a day making hutches and not want to stop. By the start of 2001 the garden had been made into one big shed with rabbit hutches and runs piled up everywhere.  My wife and I decided I should look for a small factory unit to work from. Two months later I had found the ideal place; we moved in and  got everything set up by the end of February. I was now working flat out and decided that I should employ someone to help me make all the products. That person was Steve Eggleton and within 3 weeks he was making hutches in his sleep like I used to do.

I had built my small business up over that first year and had enjoyed every day of it. We had around ten pet shops on our books and they would keep us going most weeks. I put as much back into the business as I could and we lived off my wife’s wages. It was hard, but with my wife behind me things were getting better all the time. I went to auctions and bid on saws and tools we had to have. I got a cheap van and had it sign-written which made life a lot easier - I had been using a car and trailer all that first year. It was a slow process, but looking back it was fun.

All my working life and in all the places I have worked, all I ever heard from people was how much they hated their jobs, and how they wished they could do something different.  I didn’t want that from anyone who worked for me, whether it was one person or one hundred, so right from the start I have tried to make work an enjoyable past time. I know that all the lads who work for me will tell you how much they like what they do. The lads who worked for me at the beginning of 2005 found out I was going on holiday to Tenerife so they all came with their wives and girlfriends! To think that they work with me all year and then want to come with me and my family on holiday. That’s about the nicest compliment employees could give their boss.

2002

2002

At the start of 2002 I found a better factory unit to rent but it was on the other side of town. We liked the look of it so we moved (you don’t realise how much you’ve got until you move). We got it all sorted within a week or so, and 2 months later you would have thought we had been there for years. When a friend told me all about the internet and that I should open a shop online I didn’t think it was a good idea at first. I didn’t have a computer, I had never used one, and to me computers were a waste of time - all my son did on his was play games on his. But I looked into it and started to see the potential.  I asked my son Philip if he could show me how to turn his on and give me one or two lessons to get me started. After a couple of weeks I went out and purchased one for myself, sat down with my friend’s friend and we made the first Happy Hutch web site. He uploaded it and it was there for everyone to see.

It was now spring 2002. I was working every day starting at 6.30am in the factory making and delivering pet housing, getting home at 6pm, having tea and then sitting at the computer teaching myself how to do this and that until around 11pm at night (I still do the same most nights).  In the summer I had to find someone to put a credit card payment facility on my site as this is what most of the other sites had.  It got me thinking that people would impulse-buy.  It’s easier to buy online than to write a cheque out and go out to a post box.  I found someone to do this for me, a Hull based company called Web Merchant services and at the same time they upgraded my web site. It cost me around £1,800 (most of my savings in the company). It was make or break and I think I was the only one at that time who could see the potential benefits. Three months later I was taking around £600 a month from the internet. I had to find out how to get happyhutch.com onto the first pages of the big search engines. I found a company called ASK ALIX; they told me they would have me on the first page of Google, Yahoo etc. within 2 weeks but it would cost me around £300. Do it they did, and 4 weeks later I was taking £1,500 a month.  From that time on I have never looked back. We take up to £8,000 a month now on our web site and its getting bigger every month.  In April 2005 we took over £13,000 - I will tell you how when we get to 2005.  We also get lot of email from the USA asking us to send our hutches there, but the cost was so much, I decided to do a set of photo plans so people could build their own Happy Hutch products.  We now send our plans all over the world.

2002 saw The Happy Hutch Company grow and grow. I looked around for someone to come and work with us as we could not keep up with the orders. We got a lad who had just finished a two year joinery course, Philip Sykes (he is still with us). By the end of 2002 I had invested in a fork lift truck, we had got a new compressor and staple guns, and other bits and bobs.  It had been another good year.

2003

2003

Well 2003 would have to be some year to beat 2002.  It started well - we were selling on the net and the shops, although ordering is always a bit slower for us in January / February.  One night I went home a different way, down English St, and there was a 10,500 sq ft factory for sale. As soon as I got home I was on the internet to have a look at it.  It had a 4,000 sq ft basement, 4,000 sq ft factory and on the top 2,500 sq ft of offices, toilets and kitchen.  I couldn’t sleep that night; all I could think about was this building! I am always looking to better The Happy Hutch Company and wanted to buy some premises, as renting is just dead money. The next morning I phoned the estate agent, made an appointment to see it the same day, and BINGO! I loved it. What I needed now was to find £50,000 to buy it, not so easy when no one will take you seriously. I went to see my bank manager but all he did was to snigger at me when I told him I wanted to be the best hutch manufacture in the UK.  I will not put down in words what he told me. I had been with that bank for years but I closed every account with them over the following 2 months. I found a bank and a bank manager who could see the possibilities and with his help, 3 months later, the factory was mine and the wifes.

For the rest of 2003 it was WORK and more WORK. We moved everything yet again, and it took a little longer this time (I hope I never have to do it again!). I had people painting, we had a new roof put on the factory and we managed to keep up with the orders.  Looking back I will never know how we did it, after all there were only three of us. I reckon we were working 15 hours a day, but we enjoyed it. “It wasn’t like work, it was more like an adventure.”  Those were the words of one of the lads. We made the basement into a showroom, the first floor was the factory and I had at last got a nice proper office.  The rest of that year saw The Happy Hutch Company grow.  We had some large dip tanks made so now we could dip all our products in the wood dye instead of using brushes: that saved time and was cost effective on the dye itself as we didn’t use as much, and the finish on the wood was far better than the brush.  People were starting to take me seriously now (I think).  Up to this point I had never had help with grants (no-one wanted to know), it had all been with our own cash that we had taken The Happy Hutch Company this far.  I had never been in the red and never had an overdraft.  The bank manager couldn’t understand how a company could work without one.  He told me that if I ever needed anything just to let him know.

It was coming to the end of 2003 when my wife and I sat and had a long talk about what we wanted to do next.  We were now getting some large orders from some of the garden centres we were supplying.  We decided to see the bank about buying a new lorry big enough to take the large orders in one go.  After talking it over we decided to get a 3.5 ton Mitsubishi Canter 18ft curtain side box van.  We had it made to our spec and sign written.  It was ordered in October 2003 and was delivered to us on the 2nd January 2004.  What a great way to start the year!

2004

2004

Up to this point in time we had been going 3 years and I think someone above was looking after us.  Everything we had done had gone to plan (if I ever had a plan), but I didn’t have much time to think about anything and that was the trouble now - I seemed to be working 24/7.  I had a good long think about how, why and what to do next.  I had to do something:  It was growing faster than I ever imagined it would.  I couldn’t work in the factory, deliver and do the hundred other things myself or I would be dead in 12 months time.  Sometimes it’s a lonely feeling running a company.  It was hard to get help from anywhere.  I sat and thought.  Let’s employ someone else for a start, so in March 2004 I employed a 20 year old unemployed lad called Carl Thomas whom I had known for some years.  I was told by more than one person not to, as he wouldn’t last 2 weeks.  I told them I would give him a chance and I’m glad I did.  He is still with us and can make anything I ask him to.

Now there were 3 working in the factory.  It made life a bit easier for me, but the way 2004 went was past all my wildest dreams.  The internet was in full flow; we had shops and garden centres ordering; new shops asking us to supply them and in no time at all I was back to were I was before.  It was the hardest year, yet for me I think I got through it without going too grey.  The company also went Ltd this year.

We had been selling our rabbit runs in flat pack form for the last 2 years but people didn’t like putting them together with all the screws, so we sat down and designed a run with hinges all round, a fold-up run.  It was a great success.  Then Phil came to me one day and gave me a sketch of a hutch with a run.  The hutch sat on top of the run and also came out in front of the hutch with a ramp for the rabbit to get down.  We sat down and designed it to Philips drawing. This is now our biggest seller.  Philips surname is Sykes so that is what I called it: The SYKES RABBIT HUTCH & RUN COMBO.  Carl then designed a dog den and, since his surname is Thomas, this is known as the THOMAS DOG DEN.  It makes the lads feel good and gives them the credit for their effort.

It was in the last part of 2004 when my wife saw a competition in the Hull Daily Mail newspaper for the Yellow Pages most successful small business story of 2004.  She told me to enter it.  I had only won one thing in my life that was back at school (it was the Christmas cake competition in cookery).  Well, that paper sat on my desk at work until the day it was to close to entries.  I had 3 hours to go and I had to write all about my business in less than 50 words.  I scribbled something down and faxed it to them.  Three weeks later I got a phone call telling me we were in the last 5; two days after that the phone call was to tell me that we had won.  I couldn’t believe it.  We had won and with it came £500.  “That’s for a new compressor”, I told the lads.  Yellow Pages came down with Business Link and lots of other business people for photographs to go in the local paper.  Me and the lads had our photos with all the hutches.  “We are going to be famous”, we all joked.

A large wholesaler had been in touch with me and asked if I could supply them with flat pack hutches and runs.  We had tried to do flat pack hutches before for the internet and given it up as a bad job.  We needed better saws that cut the same every time.  All we had were 2 old band saws and 2 chop saws.  In October I sat down with the lads and had a good talk about it.  The lads told me they could do it but that we would need new machinery.  I decided to go and price up some new saws and everything… we needed to get this off the ground.  The two saws and compressors were going to cost £18,000.  I could afford it:  I mean I had that much in the bank, but with winter coming I didn’t want to spend that much.  That day the phone rang.  It was someone asking if I was interested in government grants.  Now up to this time I had tried everything to get someone to help me.  I had tried for grants in the past with no luck, and now someone from the Hull Trade and Commerce was asking me if I would like some cash.  “Please come down and see me”, I told them.  To keep things short they did and, after I told them what I wanted to do and how it would create 2 or 3 more jobs, I got a grant for £5,000:  this went towards the deposit for the two saws.  I went to see our local machine shop and he told me the saws would be available in January 2005 and that I would have to pay the balance in March.  This is getting better all the time I thought - I think they are still looking after us up there!  We sat down and redesigned all the hutches so we could make them flat pack.  We make around 20+ different sizes and every one had to be made, the measurements taken and logged.  It took us 2 weeks to get things right but it was all done and ready for us to start in 2005.

2005

2005

Christmas came and went.  The large wall saw for cutting the ply wood was installed early on the last day before we closed for the Xmas holidays so we had this to come back to.  What a difference cutting 8ft x 4ft sheets of ply.  This is what we could have done with years ago.  It was February before the up cut saw got installed but, when it did, it completely changed the way we worked.  The flat pack hutches we had designed could be made so easily now.  I had to find out the best way to pack the hutches and, after trying this and that, I purchased a gas poly shrink gun so we could shrink wrap them, and also an automatic strapping machine.  This was fantastic:  It looked really professional.  We now supply pet wholesalers with hutches and runs.  I also changed all the flat roof hutches on the internet so you get them flat packed.  This included the Run Under and the Sykes Rabbit Hutch & Run Combos.  I didn’t know whether selling them flat pack would reduce sales but, over the next 5 weeks, we sold more than in the same period the previous year so I didn’t have to worry for long about that.  The cost of delivery before we started the flat pack was costing £35 + VAT to send our products to people on mainland UK, and £80 + VAT to the Highlands of Scotland.  Now, instead of sending our hutches on pallets, we could send them as parcels, costing around £12 + VAT up to 25kg.  Most of our products are below this so I have passed the savings on to the customer by reducing the cost of our products.

At the start of the year I looked at opening an ebay shop.  I have friends who sell on ebay and do well, so after looking I took some time to put it together and started trading in March.  In November ‘04  I started to teach myself how to use Sage Accounts and Sage Payroll with the help of my accountant.  I now do all my book-keeping on the computer instead of on paper which saves me time and with a click of the mouse I can print out and find out anything I want to know about the accounts of the company.  I also do all the wages myself which saves large bills every 3 months I use to get from my accountants and a lot of time on the phone every week with them.

In February I employed two more full time lads, Tony & Andy, both in their twenties.  They got on with the existing staff and blended in well.  Then in April I looked around for someone whom I could teach the things I do: packing; getting things ready for shipment with TNT; driving and looking after the internet side of things.  I employed Tom at the end of April.  He is in his 40s, had a triple heart bypass 6 months ago and had worked at sea all his life as an engineer, but has taken to this job like a duck to water.  He also helps the lads build the hutches.

From the start of May I took on a trainee called James from Carillion Craft Training in Hull.  James is on a 6 month joinery work placement with us, and then he goes back and we get someone else.  I believe this is the best set of lads an employer could ask for.  They make a fantastic team. We were asked by the Hull ICT Alliance if they could come down to the factory and do some filming for an event they are doing.  We agreed, and they came and videoed the lads working and interviewed myself about the internet.  This will be shown to promote the use of IT in the Hull and surrounding areas at an awareness day at The Deep on the 18th May.

To finish this update, it’s May 15th.  I entered a completion that the father-in-law saw in the Sun newspaper called the GRAFTERS.  I had to tell them in under 200 words why I should win.  I sent in the form and got a phone call 3 weeks later telling me I was one of the 5 finalists.  I was asked to go to London to meet the judges, so the wife and I went and had a nice day and met some very nice people.  Two days later I was told on the phone I was one of the winners!  This was out of this world, from a small back garden shed to this.  We had just won £1000 Business Link help and a Mercedes Benz Sprinter van worth £14,230 + VAT.  I closed down the factory for the day 2 weeks later and took all the lads down to the NEC to collect the award.  This award is for all who work at The Happy Hutch Company.  Without them I would not have won it.

So from a chance meeting with a pal from school and a start with nothing but a small shed in the back garden, we now have a 10,000 sq ft factory, machinery I used to dream about, and a business everyone told me I would never get off the ground.  It has taken 5 years to get this far, 5 hard years.  People called me stupid and that I would never get anything or anywhere out of doing this.  It was harder than hard to find anyone to help or back me, but I had the two things you must have: self-belief and a wife that helps and backs you all the way.  I have never done this thinking I would get rich - I do it because I love it (people still think I am mad when I say this).  This is the story of The Happy Hutch Company so far and if anyone reads this, remember these last words:

"It’s not how good you are, it's how good you want to be"

2005 Continued

Well it’s now the end of December and just a short note.

The first thing I would like to say is that once again it’s been another outstanding year for The Happy Hutch Company.  We have increased turnover, had a lot of success on the internet with both our own web site and ebay, and had a good year with our new products and the Sykes Rabbit Hutch & Run Combo.

We have won another award.  This time it was in the British Business Awards with the Hull Daily Mail newspaper.  When we entered I didn’t think we stood a chance, and still felt like that even when we were around the table on the night of the awards.

When they announced that the winner of the e-Business award was The Happy Hutch Company I didn’t move.  My wife had to push me, I was that shocked.  We also came runner-up in the Design & Excellence Award.  Those awards are for our products and the success of our business on the internet.  It was a fantastic night.  For anyone reading this who has just started in business, never take anything for granted.  If I had not won I would have gone back to work and tried harder.  As it happens I did win, so I went back to work and, yes, tried even harder, as next year I have to make it better than this year, and there is only one way to do that.  You have to remember:  "It's not how good you are, it's how good you want to be".

We had a good October, November, & December and the bank balance looks good to take us into 2006.  This has been a happy year with things happening that I never planned.  My dad says you make your own luck but I think someone is definitely guiding and looking after me up from above (THANKS) and a happy new 2006 to all.

2006

2006

I am just going to outline the things that have happened in 2006.

The year started off slowly as expected and steadily increased.  Then Easter arrived and bang!  I know from the last 2 years that things hot up from Easter but this year has been fantastic.  All the stock we had made in the first 10 weeks of the year was sold in 3 weeks, I took 2 new full time lads on and 3 placement trainee joiners from Carillion Craft Training.  I have invested in a new large band saw to go with the two new saws we got last year.  All employees this year now have new staple guns, air screw drivers and air drills.  We have better security to the premises: last year, sharing our table at the Mail Awards was Complete Access roller shutter doors.  I got them to install security shutters on our main front door and make our loading bay roller shutter door automatic.  This has been a vast improvement for the security of the building.

As far as the internet goes, I have now made a new site, www.happyhutch.co.uk.  this runs alongside www.happyhutch.com and I’ve upgraded my ebay shop too.  I have put a lot of time into the 3 internet outlets this year and in the first 6 months of 2006 The Happy Hutch Company accounts are 33% up in profits on the same period last year.

This year we started with a new hutch and run combo we have called The Washington Combo.  It has been a good seller.  Last year we introduced the Sykes Rabbit Hutch & Run Combo, a flat pack hutch with run under, which remains our biggest seller, and we now do this in several sizes.  After getting feedback from our customers we have made small alterations to our flat pack hutches, and I think we have now got the products about right.

We have also started making breeding blocks of hutches for rabbit and guinea pig breeders.  Looking at the response we have had since we started I think this type of hutch will be a good product for the company in 2007.  We have also started to use Remploy (this is government run to help people get back to work) to make our Sykes Rabbit Hutch & Run Combos, bird tables, tit boxes and garden trellis.  We supply the raw materials and they build the products for us.  This has been a great success for both Remploy and ourselves as it gives us more time to look at new products and expand The Happy Hutch Company.

Last but not least I would like to thank my son, Philip, who helped me with our new rabbit logo.  For the last 5 years we have used a rabbit from Microsoft clipart and it was about time we had our own rabbit.  We sat down and he came up with ‘Jethro the Jester’, a happy rabbit for The Happy Hutch Company.  I have now had him put on the Sprinter van and the small trailer that we pull behind.

My new motto for this year is:

"Dreams do come true - keep dreaming!"

This will be updated in 2007

Thanks
Graham Barnard
(Director)

2007

LIFE AND WORK NEVER CEASES TO AMAZE ME

As 2006 ended, we sat and discussed how the year had gone and what we had achieved.  We didn’t win anything because we didn’t enter anything.  There just seemed to be so much to do within the business in 2006.  2007 started off great with a steady flow of orders.  As I write this, it is just coming to the end of March and what’s happened in the last 3 months just amazes even myself.  Back in 99/2000 when all this started in the back garden shed, everybody told me I was a complete nut, was wasting my time and that nothing would come of all the banging ,all the 16 hour days, all the sleepless nights, the one thing that made me continue was self-belief and the backing of my wife.  With a track record like my life, looking back there was no wonder that people knocked me for what was, to me, a good idea.  Well if you have read the last eight pages you have seen what we have achieved in the last 6 years, but let’s get back to the last three months.  It was early February when I got a phone call from the Yellow Pages asking if we would like to appear in one of their TV ads.  I went along with this, not believing the person on the other end of the phone and thinking it was someone winding me up.  WOW, was I wrong!  In late February one Friday morning the factory was transformed into a film set and a great day was had by all at The Happy Hutch Company filming the new ad.  Then Yellow Pages put on a VIP champagne reception and first screening of their latest advertising campaign for my family, my employees and their families of The Happy Hutch Company on Thursday 15th March at the Odeon Cinema in Hull.  We all had a fantastic night.  They even sent a stretch limo for us.  This was a nice touch and to see my mother’s face was great:  she had waited 71 years to have a go in a car like this she was thrilled to bits.  Her words were “I feel like the Queen!”  This was great; indirectly The Happy Hutch Company was going to be on the TV.  What will all the people think when they see my face in between Coronation Street - all the people who mocked me?  The next thing I know is that Yellow Pages are putting me on 40ft billboards all over the UK, and to top it off I was asked to go down to the recording studios in London on Tuesday 20th March to do some poem voice over for their new radio ads.  The wife and myself had a lovely day.  So why do I say it never ceases to amaze me?  Well, I started this business when I was 44 years old.  On the 25 of March (that’s tomorrow) I am 50.  They say people are over the top at 40, but my life started when I got to 44, so if you are reading this thinking you are to old to do anything and life has passed you by, in today’s society age counts as nothing.  This is the first thing you must believe:  you are never to old, now think again and remember the words it says for everyone to see on the back of my van:

"Dreams do come true - keep dreaming"

To continue with what else happened in the first 3 months of this year:  In April 2006 I started looking at importing products from China that we could run along side our own.  It took 6 months to do all the ground work which I had to do all myself (again).  Trying to get help from anyone in this city is near impossible, so it was down to me.  By November 2006 I had some samples coming from a factory in China which we received in late December.  I was pleasantly surprised:  the quality was very good and the feedback that we got from people who we showed them to was also positive.  I am now waiting for our first four 40ft HQ containers, two of which are coming in the middle of June and two in July.  We await them with excitement as this will extend and put The Happy Hutch Company on a higher level giving more choice for our customers.

TO BE CONTINUED

It’s now June 20th and since I the last time I put pen to paper it’s been disappointment then excitement turning into jubilation and then understanding - let me explain.  It was the beginning of May when I got an email from China telling me there had been a fire at the factory.  Nobody was hurt but lot of the products had been damaged so our containers had to be put back until the end of June.  This was the disappointment.  The year had started with a bang and I forgot things sometimes go wrong.  Well, then I got a phone call from Claire at TOP BANANA asking if we would like to attend the opening of Business Expo 2007 at Kingston Communications, sponsored by The Yellow Pages as their guests.  We had an enjoyable day and had lunch with the Prime minister of Mauritius Dr the Hon Navinchandra Ramgoolam.  The month then started to get even better, our sales breaking all records.  I had put an entry in for the Federation of Small Businesses Awards 07 http://www.fsb.org.uk/default.asp.  We had to go and meet the judges in Manchester and explain in 10 minutes why The Happy Hutch Company should win.  Now if you had given me 3 hours OK, but 10 minutes!  How was I going to say what I wanted to in 10?  Well I think I talked 3 hours into that 10 minutes because I got a letter saying we had got into the final to be held in London at the Gibson Hall (and what a lovely place it was) on the 12 June 07.  It’s a night I will hold in my memory for as long as I live.  As we went down on the train (there were 5 of us) we all agreed that it would be nice if we could come back to Hull with at least a runner up spot.  The night started with the meal, then guest speakers, and then it was down to the Awards.  We had been nominated for the Retail award.  The four runners up were announced – 5th, 4th, 3rd, 2nd – and then the winner - THE HAPPY HUTCH COMPANY.  FANTASTIC!!!  Our table went mad.  All the other categories had been announced, which left only the category winners in each area to go head to head.  Our area was ‘North including Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland’.  To give you an idea of the area, it covered: Humberside; South Yorkshire; Greater Manchester; Merseyside; Lancashire; North Yorkshire; Cleveland; Durham; Tyne and Wear; Cumbria; and Northumberland.  So it was a large area.  Then the announcement:  “The winner is The Happy Hutch Company”.  This was turning into a very special night for myself and for all who work at The Happy Hutch Company, the small rabbit hutch firm that everyone laughed at.  But that wasn’t the end.  We were still cheering at winning this one when it came over the loud speakers “AND THE OVERALL FSB BSBC NATIONAL CHAMPION FOR 2007 IS THE HAPPY HUTCH COMPANY”.  With this came a £10,000 cash injection for The Happy Hutch Company, £20,000 in advertising and £5,000 for a charity.  I have, with the thumbs up from everyone who works at THHC, chosen THE HUMBER RESCUE.  Read about them at www.humber-rescue.org.uk.  This night has got to be rated as one of the best nights of my life with so little expected on the way to it.  I would just like to say in this story a BIG BIG “Thank you” to all the judges who voted for us and all at the FSB.  THANK YOU ALL.  You can see more on our web site http://www.happyhutch.com/Page.aspx?pageID=5 

So, now that you know about the disappointment followed by the excitement and jubilation we went through, I want to tell you about the understanding.  I was really disappointed that the Chinese products had to be put back until the end of this month (June) but, on Friday 15th, there was very bad flooding in the Hull area.  I cannot remember it as bad as this in my lifetime.  Our showroom and stock room within 2 hours on the friday was 18 inches in flood water.there was not a great deal in there and what was we got out , this was a good job because on the monday the floods came back this time it was 5ft deep,  If we had had all the china products it would have been disaster.  I have always maintained that things happen for a reason and once again I think the big boss up in the sky was looking after us (a big “Thank you” to Him).

Well the rest of what’s happened to us for the last 2 months is that sales are great.  I had a phone call from a firm in The Channel Islands who would like to buy our products - we will be sending the first 8 pallets to them next week, so that’s good news for the people of Guernsey.  The Chinese products are on their way and will be docking in Southampton next week: they will be with us the first week in July.

I will continue this soon.

Hi it’s now the first week in November 2007 and just an update, with some of the cash we won in the FSB awards I have just finished equipping out a full gym for the team and there girlfriends and wife’s to use,

Winning the FSB awards have been a great help to us , we have had a lot of new shops buying of us that have seen us in the FSB magazine  , I am going to be the guest speaker at the FSB AGM later this month its not the thing I usually do but I like to help people and if by listening to me talking about how we started and are still Surviving , if it helps them I am all for it , one thing I think lets  a lot of firms down is how they look after there customers and treat there staff but I am not going into that now ,

After the floods we had to look for another unit to put all the stock in that was coming from abroad, we found a unit this was to rent not far from our factory and showroom its around 4000 sq ft we got it the week before the containers docked, its on the first floor and have to use the fork lift to get everything up there but we don’t have to worry about flooding ,Tuesday 30th Oct 2007 we had 2 x 40ft hq containers that day and the lads and allison worked there socks off to unload them both before dark ,it takes us around 3 hours to unload each container and the first one did not turn up until 12pm , Great job done thanks to all of them .

2008

2008

Hi  I am sorry I haven’t been updating this like I used to do I suppose this is what happens when you take on new business and the small business I started in the back garden grows up and becomes an adult , for all you people who have sent me e mails congratulating the happy hutch on winning the FSB awards we won in 2007 I thank you all for the time and kind words you sent  me and the staff , it was a fantastic achievement in fact as I read the story I have written over the last 8 years  I cannot believe what has happened I am glad I have put it down in words . from winning the yellow pages award the grafter and the hull Daily mail awards then doing the yellow pages TV advert  all in 8 years I think I have achieved more in the 8 years than I did in the 43 years before ,

               Well its now June 2008 and its been another fantastic year for us we ended 2007 on a high the orders didn’t slow down over winter like they normally do so the lads had something to do (they like it like that or so they tell me ) we had started to make our own Chicken coops and waited to see what feedback we got before making different styles and sizes , we got good positive feedback so started with other styles , one that came out of the planning room was the Chicken Hotel we wanted something a little different so we put pencil  to paper and after about 4 hours came up with  a new and exciting design, over the next week we made it  changed it made it changed it again and again until we had it right , it was an over night success and is now one of our top sellers , from this we made some alterations and made the rabbit hutch hotel .we also made a new apex roof house hutch this has feather edge wood for the roof instead of felt , the roof is now from side to side not front to back like our old ones use to be,

                    We have two Internet sites now www.happyhutch.com payment by credit card / debit card, and our new look www.happyhutch.co.uk  you can pay with your credit card / debit card and pay pal on this site , we had so many people asking us to take pay pal we listened to them and now its up and running I am glad we did , WHY because I don’t have to write back to people every night explaining why we don’t take pay pal , the new site has been up for around 4 weeks  and its doing great people seem to like it and say its easy to navigate round ,

                        I have been upgrading the offices and factory in the last 4 months we have had new double glazing in the offices the difference was immediate , cannot hear the traffic going passed , the windows don’t rattle and they don’t let water in , I have just had the full factory electrics re wired and new lighting put in ( the lads say they can stop eating carrots now ) but its all a lot safer and better for them , and at the end of this month we are having a eco friendly wood burning heater put in the factory , this will be great as the waste wood will be burnt keeping the factory warm and we are doing our bit for the environment not sending the wood to land fill sites , and before anyone e mails me saying burning wood is bad for the environment it’s a government and the carbon trust approved wood burner it even burns the smoke and bad fumes so is good for the atmosphere,

Its now October and the year is flying by it will soon be Christmas , the happy hutch company is with your help doing great we have reduced in price quite a lot of products as the raw materials went down in august we pass the savings on to you . we have now got around 15 new pet home products out in the last 4 months ,Well I am proud to tell you all we have reached the last three in the Mail News and Media Awards 2008 in the category e commerce we won this award in 2005 , the Awards presentation is on the 27 November  2008  when we will find out if we have won , it would be nice to win  but just to reach the last three and be in the final is a great achievement we pride ourselves with the quality we give over the Internet to all our customers and its nice to have all the photos and e mails back from you it makes us feel we are doing a good job for you all .

October and November are going to be months to remember for me, last year we won the Federation of small businesses BSB awards ,at the awards night i did not think we had a chance to win anything looking at the competition we were up against , it was a night that will stay with me until i go to the happy hutch in the sky , not just because we won but the people we had the privilege to meet , people you only see on TV and people who run the FSB and a fantastic job they do , one person we had the pleasure to meet and listen to was the Business Guru Geoff Burch he has now got a TV show on BBC 2 that's on every Tuesday night at 7.30 starting on the 21st Oct 2008 the program is called All over the shop, take a look its great. last month i was invited to the FSB London office to be a judge in this years FSB BSB business awards i did not realise what was involved in picking the winner, judging this years winners made me realise how far the happy hutch company has come from the days in the back garden but it also made me realise how other people and business look at us , my wife and myself have now been invited to the 2008 National Awards to hand over the crown to this years winner , that's great in itself but its at Claridges in Mayfair London we even get to stay the night in there WOW! , Another thing that's happening in October is Ian Shaw a teacher at the hull university in business studies will be bringing 7 students to the factory for a couple of hours to ask me questions about the happy hutch co so i am looking forward to that , i hope the students are not too confused when they leave, i run the happy hutch now like i run it when we started in 1999 even my accountant says you cannot run a business like this you have to do this and you have to do that, i do hope the students go away looking at business in a different light and i hope it helps them in the future, The funny thing is all whats happened in the last 10 years has not changed me from the daft 3rd class person i was in 1999 i don't drive around in a BMW or big posh car i still live in a council house and i still like to help people, this was brought to my attention last Saturday when 2 ladies and there husbands came into the showroom we had a laugh as they looked round at the hutches ,one question i like to ask is why did you come to the happy hutch for you rabbit home the answer i got shocked me , we like the quality , OK , we like the large sizes and all the different types you do , OK, but we like the way you have never changed over the years and not got big headed , they went on to tell me how they got a rabbit hutch off me years ago and a lot of there mates got them from the happy hutch co and how much they enjoyed coming into the showroom ,NO i am not telling you this to be big headed , i have learned now how people look at you and judge you over the years .i still love life and been with people but most off all i never forget where i came from how hard it was bringing my children up been on the dole going to mother in laws for some bread and potatoes to feed us , before that how hard it was for my mam and dad looking after me and my sisters , i guess its all to easy to forget but they are good memories so why should we forget and become something we arnt.

that's it for now if your around English st in Hull on a Saturday morning pop in and see us we can have a laugh if nowt else. 

 UPDATE .... we reached the last three in the Mail News and Media Awards 2008 in the category e commerce, we didn't win this time , we was the runners up but this was a great achievement in its self it shows we are still looking after you all who order over the Internet, I will update this again in the new year so HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL and have a better 2009 even if you have had a great 2008 , and may i thank everyone who spent there money at the happy hutch this year  we hope you and your pet have enjoyed the products , one last thing ,,,,where you can please BUY BRITISH, BUY QUALITY & keep someone in a job .and if you want to send me and the lads some chocolate's there's still time (HA HA)

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

2009

2009

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL