The Cheshire Life 'Producers' feature was initiated to pay homage to the often unsung heroes of the food and drink industry. This month is no different.
I can guarantee everyone who dines out in Cheshire will have used something that has passed through H. G. Stephenson, purveyors of glassware and china, and now suppliers of all sorts of everything needed by the catering and hospitality trade.
Trips to the Stephenson showroom have inspired generations of chefs and hoteliers and I was fortunate to spend an afternoon with Michael Stephenson, listening to recollections of his years following his great-grandfather and father in the family business.
The company was started by Henry George Stephenson Manchester in 1868. He would visit Stoke-on-Trent to source crockery directly from the potbanks, and bring it back by horse and cart to sell to the hotels and restaurants in the city. Stephenson's was the first tenants in Barton Arcade on Deansgate, where the business thrived for many years.
Even before I left school to train as a chef, going to Stephenson’s showroom with my parents was a treat. It was full of sparkling glass, shiny pans, chef‘s knives and an array of gadgets. When my parents ran the Copper Kettle in Hazel Grove and the Copperfield in Disley, everything came from Stephenson’s, and I have followed that tradition, like many caterers, restaurateurs and hoteliers in Cheshire and North Wales, in all I have done professionally since.
Michael joined the family business in 1963 on a wage of £2 and 10 shillings a week, becoming managing director in 1970 at the age of 23. He recalls the time before computers and online meetings when business was conducted over long lunches and deals were thrashed out and business relationships forged over good food and fine wines.
Michael remembers the days when Stephenson's would sell 3,000 dozen straight beer glasses, 1,000 dozen Paris goblets, and 500 dozen dimple tankards a month to the pubs and clubs around Cheshire and the North West. In the 1980s, there were silver goblets sourced from Stephenson's on the tables of the Copperfield – a lady would come in to polish a hundred of them every Monday morning and then wash them in soapy water to remove any metallic taste.
Those were the days when food was served on fine china and porcelain, with names such as Wedgwood and Royal Doulton on the back-stamp. As businesses began to use dishwashing machines rather than human potwashers, sturdier crockery was produced by Stoke-on-Trent companies including Steelite, Churchill and Dudson. I still prefer to use porcelain plates at home for special occasions.
Michael, who became chairman of the company in 2009 when his son Henry was appointed MD, even dipped his toes into the pub business himself in the 1980s, buying the Harrington Arms at Bosley, near Macclesfield, which he ran with stepson Julian, alongside the main business , managing –lunchtimes and hosting the evening shift himself after a day at work.
He speaks proudly of how well the company is doing under the fifth-generation of the Stephenson dynasty, with Henry as managing director and Julian as sales director. The Stockport showroom and stephensons.com online shop are a long way from Michael's great-grandfather's humble beginnings trading at Salford's Flat Iron Market.
One-hundred-and-56-years on, H. G. Stephenson is an award-winning modern distributor with an unrivalled knowledge of the catering sector, supplying the UK's restaurants, bars, hotels, schools, universities, and event organisers, offering top-of-the-line catering equipment, and exceptional customer service, resulting in multiple awards. When you next dine out it's almost guaranteed Stephenson's will have played a part in making the experience delicious.
Kurt Thomas is the head chef and owner at Cheshire-based Cooking for Events
