“We want to be selling global brands so we needed to get our own corporate branding right first,” says Helena Martin. That is how she introduces her strategy for the new Schenk Family UK business which will continue to act as the UK arm of the parent business in Switzerland, helping to promote and distribute its own range of wines as well as grow its increasingly important agency business working with key producers and brands from over the world.
A new logo for the re-named Buckiingham Schenk as Schenk Family UK
It’s clear why Martin was so keen to take on the coveted managing director role at a business that has quietly become a significant member of the UK’s leading tier of importers. She sees this as the ideal opportunity for her to take the experience she has gained working for major branded wine companies, most recently as sales director for Freixenet Copestick, and previously Treasury Wine Estates, and apply them to a company looking to maximise the potential of its own global branded portfolio - with the likes of Argentina’s Viñalba and New Zealand’s Te Pa in its portfolio.
There is no shortage of quality producers to get behind. First there is the Schenk Group’s own range of wines that come from owning and managing over 40 estates across Switzerland, France, Italy and Spain. In total the group is operating and making wine in 10 counties and across 85 wine regions.
Then there is the wide range of producers it represents in the UK on an agency basis which has helped it gain such a strong foothold in all the major channels of the market be it grocery retail, mainstream on-trade and premium independent wine merchants.
Martin says the strong family connection was another key reason why she wanted to join the business. A family that is still very involved in the day-to-day decision making, ensuring their core family values are respected and followed in all the markets it is in.
The company's strong family ethos and passion to do things in the right way were key factors in Helena Martin wanting to take on the managing director role at Schenk Family UK
“There is a strong family ethic to the business and they are still hugely ambitious,” she says.
“It is a company that is all about trust. Trusting the people around you. Trusting the team.”
Good fit
Martin is clearly also a good fit for the overall Schenk Group, particularly under its new chief executive, Thierry Gaillard, who joined the business at the end 2023 after a long career at major grocery and FMCG-branded companies including Unilever and Danone.
He has brought a razor sharp marketing and commercial focus to a company that might make and manage a lot of wines, but by its own admission could have done more to promote and build its own company profile around the world.
Gaillard has introduced what you might call a “less is more” business strategy where it has identified the brands and producers it wants to invest more in.
Helena Martin is excited to be working with Thierry Gaillard who took on the chief executive role of the overall Schenk Group in 2023
Martin’s brief is to build those brands for the long term in the UK market. She says she was excited to meet Gaillard and get behind his vision for creating and establishing a raft of global brands.
“That is what I have done in my career both at Freixenet Copestick and Treasury Wine Estates,” she says. “We have to know what the consumer and our customers want.”
She is, though, quick to stress it is not about “cutting back to a few brands only” but prioritising and focusing in on the ones with the most “untapped” potential, both across its agency partners and its own producers. Using a combination of its own money and some corporate backing to do so.
“There is huge ambition based on the capability of the brands and how we prioritise them,” says Martin.
It has already helped establish key brands such as Viñalba in the UK thanks to a number of high profile marketing campaigns over the last 10 years, including pop up shops, consumer events and now with its sponsorship of a resurgent Bath Rugby club.
“There are many lessons and success stories from Viñalba that we can use for other brands,” says Tromans. “We want to be able to stamp our personality on those brands.”
Part of the Schenk team’s role is to understand what the opportunities are for different brands andhow they can make the most of a “brand’s assets,” says Tromans. Which means analysing sales and consumer data to see where the “gaps in the market are,” he adds. “That way we can offer the consumer something different.”
Schenk Family UK's role is to support and build distribution for the group's producer partners like Swiss producer St-Pierre Chamoson
Martin’s role, though, is not just confined to the UK and she is very much part of the Schenk Group’s international decision-making team, making sure her actions in the UK are in step with what is happening in the business in the rest of Europe and around the world.
Whilst there are some differences between markets there are also a lot of similarities and shared learning to be had, says Martin.
Up to 60% of its business in the UK comes from the off-trade and 40% in the on-trade which Martin sees as “about the right balance”. It is also a marked difference to how it was 10 years ago when the split was nearer 95% off-trade and 5% on-trade.
“We have the chance to tell our stories and offer customers the breadth of our range that is all based on the relationships we have with our producer,” she explains.
Tight and focused
The Schenk Family UK team remains tight and focused, with 14 people split evenly between managing its on and off-trade channels and marketing its brands.
“It means everyone is involved in everything,” says Martin.
Interestingly it does not have a formal buying role, which means it is much more of a team effort in terms of the wines it chooses to work with and how it builds relationships with its suppliers. Martin likes the team spirit the “collaborative” approach generates and means it is as a business better equipped to see “where there are gaps” and “opportunities”.
“We can then work as a team to crack them,” she adds. “It means we are quite entrepreneurial and there is a sense of collective responsibility in what we are doing.”
Tromans, who has been with the overall business for 10 years, agrees: “The Schenk culture has always been entrepreneurial. The family is very involved in setting those values and fostering entrepreneurship. Ideas are important and they are listened to and valued. There is that collective sense across the group.”
David Tromans says there is a strong entrepreneurial spirit at Schenk Family UK
It’s why it is so important that as a wine branded business it is talking as much as possible about its wines and making sure the messaging is right for each relevant channel, says Tromans. “It needs to be tailored for each market we are in.”
It has over the last three years brought a specific digital marketing role into the business in order to create and make sure its messaging is as focused and targeted as it can be. Tromans says it deliberately looked to recruit and bring in someone from outside the wine industry. Similarly it is has just taken on a new brand manager with a FMCG background who starts in July to help drive the company’s branded strategy.
Martin sees the current 14-strong team growing in future years “in order to facilitate our plans” which will mean strengthening its back office, support, logistics and front line sales team “so that we can get out in front of as many people as possible”.
It also has the backing of the Schenk Group network and can benefit from the efficiencies of its size and scale. It does not need to manage any bottling of wine in the UK, for example, as that is all handled by Schenk’s own bottling facilities in Europe.
Setting a strategy
Schenk Family UK has close connections and customers across the premium on and off-trade
Martin sees the key role of a managing director is to set out a clear strategy for the business that the team can be “energised by” and the business can be known for.
She also places a lot of emphasis on offering the team her “support” and it is a theme she returns to time and again.
“I want to be seen as a big supporter of what they are doing. I am happy to be the captain of the team. It has always been important to me to develop the people I work with. To grow a business you can also help train and develop the people in it,” she explains. “That is what working in wine is all about. The people we work with and sell to. The wines have to be able to stack up behind that.”
Tromans says it has been refreshing to see the energy and commitment that Martin has shown, both internally and externally, to help re-position the business and what it stands for. This very much came to the fore at last month’s London Wine Fair when it was able to introduce the Schenk Family UK branding and purpose for the first time.
The Schenk Family UK stand was situated right at the entrance at the 2025 London Wine Fair
“It’s a very important event for us,” says Tromans. “We don’t have our own portfolio tasting so it is the chance for us to see as many of our customers as we can.”
An opportunity for Martin to also put her public stamp on the business and get to know their customers better.A chance to demonstrate the steps she and the team have already taken to put Schenk Family UK on a fresh footing and to build on the “huge ambition” it has for its wines, brands and producers and what they can collectively do for its customers.
* You can find out more about Schenk Family Group UK at its website here.
