Professional Pride

Kitchen Gallery, solus supplier of SieMatic kitchens in affluent Solihull, is owned by Tahir Mahmood who believes the kitchen industry needs to step up its professional standards – and his new showroom is designed to do just that.

I don’t want to sound mundane... is his opening gambit. And he’s off, at rattling speed, talking about the professionalism, or otherwise, of the kitchen industry, his plans for innovation and expansion, and just how he got where he is today. We’re talking to Tahir Mahmood, md of SieMatic solus dealer Kitchen Gallery in Solihull, and one thing’s for sure, mundane is to Mahmood what chalk is to cheese.
Although he acquired the business in 1997, it’s only recently that Mahmood has set out about ringing the changes. “When we first bought the company, our idea was to expand it, but along the route I got diverted,” admits Mahmood, 42.
Such diversions included involve­ment in the UK launch of solid surface Staron in 2002, a venture importing appliances from Italy called New Wave, which ended when he sold the contract in 2006, and, most recently, two years in Morocco working on the interior design of a 60-villa residential development and the Four Seasons Hotel in Marrakech.
But travel and a family don’t always mix. With children now aged 16, 14 and two, in 2008 Mahmood decided to focus his energy back in the UK and on Kitchen Gallery specifically. Since then output has doubled: the studio now averages 25-30 projects a year, and he’s taken on another designer, making a total of three. But, with the closure of his previous showroom in Dorridge thanks to redevelopment by Sainsbury’s, the big news is this new studio, located on one of the busiest roads into Birmingham and Solihull. “It’s a fantastic location,” says Mahmood, who extols the virtues of Solihull as one of the most affluent areas in the country. Staying local has enabled him to capitalise on Kitchen Gallery’s well-established reputation in the area, dating back to its origins in 1987, and one of the oldest SieMatic studios in the country.
“The plan here is to get the funda­men­tals right first,” says Mahmood.
 “Our communications, employees, designing abilities – everything we do must have attention to detail. From the way we greet customers and the way we answer the phone to the way we do our presentations, it must all be number one.” Those presentations are done on a 50in screen with CAD walkthroughs using Planit software.
Mahmood is also busy planning further SieMatic showrooms in the Midlands as part of his expansion plans. The first, he says, will open
by March 2011, with the next coming on stream at the end of 2011 or early 2012. He also wants to work with international clients and architects on projects in the Middle East, Africa and the Far East.
“Europe is saturated, I feel. The opportunities exist in the new emerging economies,” he says.
 “I’m not chasing volume, I want the top end residential and hotel projects.” Using his experience in Morocco, and also in Dubai, Mahmood plans to develop sales to niche developers in these markets, but also in the UK too. “At the moment, all our sales are retail, but I’m looking at expanding the contract market here as well, targeting prestigious projects with new homes over £1m,” he says.
But what he really wants to talk about are the weaknesses he perceives in the kitchen industry. “I’m in the camp that believes the industry should profession­alise itself,” he says.
 “We should all charge for our design service – it’s not a free gift!”
He estimates that it takes, on average, five days for a designer to complete a kitchen design from concept to presentation, including client meetings and site survey through to choice of appliances and selection of colours and materials. “If you go to an architect, you’d expect to pay for that service up front, so why not if you go to a kitchen designer?” he says.
And his other bête noire? “In Birmingham, when a client walks through the door, lots of places auto­matically offer a discount. They work on price alone,” he shudders. 
“We talk about design, service, after sales and of course we realise we’ve got to be competitive on price, but I just don’t think it’s very professional to make that your opening line.”
Instead, Mahmood prefers to model his approach on other industries. “If you go to a BMW showroom, the reception­ist will meet and greet, the staff look smart, and they’ll have good product knowledge,” he says. “We like to do the same here.” Cappuccino from the coffee machine and freshly baked cookies from the working ovens are on offer too. “The whole point is to make clients have a pleasant and memorable visit,” he says.