Yandell Publishing: 40 years in the meat trade

We asked Meat Management publisher and founder of the business Graham Yandell MBE to share some of the highlights of the past four decades and reflect on the journey so far. 

How did you become connected with the meat and food industry?

I was working on a magazine at International Thomson Business Publishing called Big Farm Management when, one February morning in 1982, I was called to the publishing director’s office and told: “Tomorrow you are running Meat Trades Journal.”

The rest, as they say, is history.

You are a passionate advocate for the meat sector, what is it that inspires you about the industry?

I like the people, which is a big factor with me. I am a Liveryman with the Worshipful Company of Butchers and the fellowship and friendships I have at WCB are outstanding. I have been Festival Chairman of the Butchers’ and Drovers’ Charitable Institution (BDCI), a director of the Meatex exhibition and am a Fellow of the Institute of Meat. I find the meat industry interesting, and I love the characters whom I have met over the years since 1982.

What motivated you to launch the business?

After a ten-year career in local newspapers and latterly as a publisher with International Thomson Business Publishing, based in London, I had been responsible for refreshing its very successful publication Meat Trades Journal, which had been in decline.

However, despite this success, I decided back in 1986 that rather than accept a promotion to be publishing director of the meat and farming division at Thomson, which was a main board appointment, or take up the post of marketing director of Thomson South Africa that I had been offered, I would buy a small local newspaper in Milton Keynes, which I did as the majority shareholder, along with two colleagues, and develop its potential.

Within six months, however, with a premonition and realisation about the long-term future of local papers, I sold on the Milton Keynes Standard to a newspaper group owned by entrepreneur Keith Barwell (who also owns rugby club Northampton Saints) realising a profit on the transaction that I could then invest, and found myself unemployed for the first time since leaving school at 15 years of age.

It seemed logical to initially return to the meat industry, where I had formed strong relationships, good contacts and many friends. Fortunately, people seemed pleased to have me back in the sector.

What was the first Yandell Media publication?

Having increased my working capital, I launched the business on 12th August 1986, having decided to go solo without involving my original colleagues, and my first magazine was Meat Manufacturing, which, in real terms, is now Meat Management magazine, which we published for the first time in November 1986.

Can you share an overview of how the company has expanded since the launch?

Our first year was a great success. I had budgeted a modest £157,000 turnover and we achieved £350,000. From that point on, I never looked back, and was, in fact, looking forward for new opportunities.

Being aware that, under the Thatcher Government, public transport in the bus and coach sector was being de-regulated, I acquired the long-established magazine Coaching Journal & Bus Review in 1987. This came with the annual Who’s Who in the Bus & Coach Industry, a successful annual that we still publish today. The Coaching Journal helped me develop my idea to then launch Group Leisure & Travel magazine, which has been an incredible success.

Since then, we have grown steadily both organically and by acquisition, and now have successful media clusters serving various platforms in meat, food, group travel and school travel. Obviously, apart from magazines, we have a range of annuals and yearbooks, awards events, exhibitions and online/digital media.

What do Yandell magazines bring to their markets?

In a word – quality. We create and publish original and mostly unique content supported by an expertise in providing our readers with relevant, well-presented editorial that they can trust. We are also quite prepared to challenge authority or questionable practices and have done so on many occasions over the years.

Can you tell us more about the events organised by Yandell Publishing?

These have been many and varied over the last four decades, but these days we have market-leading 5-star awards events in group travel, school travel, the food industry and three events in the meat industry. We also have a highly successful annual exhibition in Milton Keynes at Arena MK every October for the group travel sector.

“I  do believe we have an amazing relationship with our readers, event visitors and guests, our advertisers and sponsors.” 

Graham Yandell OBE, Yandell Publishing

Reflecting on 40 years, what do you think has been Yandell Publishing’s greatest achievement?

That’s a difficult question, as when I look back, I believe we have achieved a great deal as a family business.

I do believe we have an amazing relationship with our readers, event visitors and guests, our advertisers, many of whom have used us regularly for decades, exhibitors and sponsors, not forgetting our own suppliers, too.

In addition, we also have many trusted and valued colleagues working in the Yandell company, many of whom have given great service over the decades, plus some outstanding and highly valued editorial contributors. We have brilliant employees working here with ten, 20, and even 35-plus years’ service. These colleagues both past and present are the backbone of our business, and I acknowledge the outstanding contribution the whole team has made.

More recently, we came through Covid when many of our competitors did not. We also published throughout the Covid period, which, again, many, if not all, did not! We are still feeling the longer-term effects of the pandemic in various ways, and we took a massive hit, but I believe we showed our strength and our commitment to linking up the readership communities we serve during such a challenging time for everyone.

How are you celebrating?

We are marking the occasion at our usual events throughout the year and, more importantly, by not becoming complacent. I have often repeated my view that “our complacency will be someone else’s opportunity”. You are only ever as good as your next edition!

Over 40 years at the head of the business, was there any one piece of advice you received that has been most valuable for the success of the company?

An old mentor of mine, a man by the name of Jim Merchant, told me that “we are here to change events – not record them”. I believe that is the case in both life and in business, and I hope we at Yandell have changed things for the better when it comes to the markets we serve.

Also, Lord Thomson of Fleet, the late great Roy Thompson, was emphatic that one should never be afraid of making mistakes. I agree with that. I have made my mistakes over the years, of course, but I have always tried to learn from them.

What excites you most about the next ten years for Yandell Publishing?

We are well placed to expand further and have the ambition and resources to do so if the right opportunities present themselves.

I have fantastic co-directors, with my son Rob and my wife Sharon, so skilled and passionate about what they do, and a great team in support who are the future of the business.

Times change and we change with them. That’s what makes it such enormous fun!