As Sub-Zero subsidiary begins.
After seven years of running the local distribution for the Sub-Zero and Wolf brands in Australia, today represents the first day that Paul Bridgeford will not be at the helm, as the new company-owned subsidiary begins trading.
Before his departure, Bridgeford sat down with Appliance Retailer at his offices at Bank Place in Melbourne and shared his thoughts on the luxury appliance category he has developed and his reflections on over 40 years in the kitchen products category.
Paul Bridgeford was about to start walking the Kokoda Track with his daughter, Anna and his step-daughter, Skye, in 2008 when he received a call from Edmund Schorr – the director of sales for the Asia-Pacific region for the US-based Sub-Zero Group. Shortly afterwards on 1 July 2009 he opened the first local office for the Sub-Zero and Wolf brands in Australia.
After seven years, he has sold the distribution business to Sub-Zero Wolf Inc with the company-owned subsidiary Sub-Zero Group Australia, commencing from 1 July 2016.
L to R: Edmund Schorr and Paul Bridgeford
Bridgeford studied metallurgy and gained an MBA before starting his own kitchen renovation business, Multyflex in 1975. This is significant as it has resulted in a trademark feature within the local Sub-Zero business – a custom technical design check for cabinetry is undertaken for every appliance sold.
Bridgeford entered the kitchen products business when he was a shareholder in the Five Stars business which represented Franke sinks, Alape enamel sinks, Hansa and Hansgrohe tapware.
His first foray into appliances occurred in 1987 when he joined Sampford & Staff as managing director and shareholder, representing BSH brands Neff and Gaggenau and JennAir. He left the business after 20 years and shortly after started distributing Sub-Zero and Wolf nationally.
“There is a degree of sadness in leaving the business as we have built something from scratch. This was not built to sell and I have not done that with any business. But the time is right and if you look around every other major appliance manufacturer, the trend is towards local subsidiaries or direct distribution.
“The local Sub-Zero business will get bigger and better. Over the last seven years we have really created a new market for luxury refrigeration. We brought our products into the market six months before Miele, and built up a new category of luxury refrigeration and cooking.
“Sub-Zero have always been great to deal with over the years and this will be their first foray outside of America. I guess they view this as an interesting and vibrant market, which we also know is very competitive.
Bridgeford has grown the local business by 38 per cent and 24 per cent respectively over the last two years, while he has enjoyed working alongside his son Morgan as COO of Operations and his daughter in law Nadia as marketing manager.
“Wolf and Sub Zero are equal contributors to the business’ bottom line,” he said.
“Wolf range cookers for example have been extraordinarily successful – but we start at $22,000 and go upwards from there. As a result, I have always thought that we are catering to the top two per cent of the market.
“The products have not all been bought by people from Toorak, Hawthorn or Kew in inner city Melbourne. We have had jobs at Caroline Springs – 25km west of Melbourne and even a little terraced house in Port Melbourne. The people who buy our products are from very different backgrounds – one guy was a truck driver. In the Sydney market, there is obviously quite a lot sold into the Eastern Suburbs, but it pushes out from there quite extensively.
“It is a fantastic product from a third generation family and their focus is on luxury appliances. We have had a very strong focus on after sales service, and I can thank John Murphy for that as he has always exhibited a highly service-orientated culture. John also helped us come up with a way that would enable us with low volumes to enable after sales service the very next day. Because luxury is about super service, that’s what you have to build around your brand. If you are catering for this end of the premium market that’s the way you have got to do it.
“We have had a good and successful partnership with Winnings and E&S Trading from the early days. Both companies have been supportive, and this could be because my distribution model has been radically different from anybody else’s. When you have a refrigerator that weighs up to 400kg, you don’t want to move these things around very much. So I looked at the whole supply chain, the easiest thing was to utilise warehouses that are already here and you adjust margins accordingly.
“We have used warehouses at Rick Hart’s Kitchen HQ in Perth, which is now Winnings, Spartan in South Australia, E&S Trading in Victoria and Winnings in Sydney. We also ship directly into WA from the US. Over the time of the business, we would have had one damaged fridge, so it is clear that this distribution system works.”