A family-owned Tyneside firm is back in the game after ambitious bosses kicked off a £2m digital investment designed to revolutionise the UK’s leisure industry.
Bob Rudd, a leading supplier of gaming and amusement equipment to the licensed trade, has increased turnover by 15% since March 2020.
And two years after the global pandemic forced the immediate recall of 4,500 machines across the UK, the Newcastle headquartered business is bouncing back.
“The pandemic has had a huge impact on the hospitality sector and although the government provided some support to pubs and bars the supply chain was all but forgotten about,” explained Nick Rudd, Managing Director, Bob Rudd.
“The last two years were tough for us and I’m really pleased that 2022 will be a year of growth for the company.
“It took a lot of grit and determination to navigate our way through an extremely challenging period and without such a great team of employees we would have seriously struggled.”
In March 2020 Nick and his team collected every one of the 4,500 machines Bob Rudd supplied across the UK within a strict 72-hour timeframe.
With the business suddenly starved of any income, the priorities were to stabilise outgoings and develop a new strategy ahead of the lifting of lockdown restrictions.
Part of that growth strategy was to extend the rollout of digital fruit machines and ensure the firm’s existing stock continued to meet premium standards.
Digital fruit machines cost five times as much as analogue alternatives but Nick was convinced that committing to significant capital expenditure would kickstart Bob Rudd’s post-lockdown recovery.
And the company pressed ahead with plans to invest £2m in digital machines from leading manufacturers including Blueprint, Inspired, Innov8 and Reflex.
“We’ve always prided ourselves on supplying the very latest products but naturally, as digital machines start to improve and develop, the costs escalate,” added Nick.
“It’s thanks to our great relationships with manufacturers that we are able to maintain strong product distribution within our estate.
“We invested at an uncertain time during lockdown but that gamble ultimately paid off. We are seeing the benefits now.”
Allied to investment in state-of the-art technology was the decision to establish the groundbreaking Bob Rudd Remote Service Centre.
With the bulk of the firm’s machines now digital, an opportunity arose to pivot at a time when remote working and social distancing initially limited the post-lockdown reboot of the leisure industry.
Additional funds were set aside to improve connectivity across the Bob Rudd network, enabling technicians to identify and correct faults from afar and achieve a far higher first-time fix rate.
Kevin Astley, Technical Director, Bob Rudd, added: “As machines change with the times so does the need for our service structure to adapt.
“Our new Remote Service Centre is an innovative way of running the department and has greatly improved our efficiency.
“The Remote Service Centre is allowing technicians to flex their diagnostic skills and it promotes more of a teamwork-focused approach.
“The technician working remotely provides a huge amount of resource and back up to the person in the field.”
Bob Rudd was founded in 1989 by Bob Rudd and rapidly expanded beyond its Newcastle base to include five additional depots.
Nick and sister Charlotte bought out dad Bob and mum Sharon in 2012 and continued to build on the firm’s reputation as a trusted independent operator able to offer a range of products from a variety of manufacturers.
Bob Rudd specialises in digital and analogue fruit machines, pool tables, quiz machines and jukeboxes and sits within The Rudd Group.
The group includes business to business divisions Clear Cool (catering and ware washing equipment) and Innstay (tills, entertainment systems and CCTV) and employs 145 staff across the UK with 41% of its employees based in Newcastle.
A 123-vehicle fleet operates out of six depots nationwide including sites in Leeds, Nottingham and Birmingham.