A dozen questions for Hypnos' Keen
Q&A
By David Perry -- Furniture Today, March 26, 2006
High Point — High Point — Peter Keen, chairman and managing director of British bed producer Hypnos, recently took time out during a visit to the United States to talk about his licensing venture with Jamison, the challenges of maintaining a family-owned business, and the joys of bacon sandwiches.
Here's how the conversation went:
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What books are on your bedside table these days?
Keen: "Murder mysteries. The English love a good murder mystery like Agatha Christie or Sherlock Holmes. You try to work it all out before the main character does. I never can." -
What are you reading now?
Keen: "I can't remember the name of it. Four people have already been shot. I'm only on page 60." -
How is your licensing program with Jamison going?
Keen: "Frank (Gorrell, CEO of Jamison) is doing well over here. He is now promoting Hypnos in the contract market. Hypnos is just about a mirror image of Jamison." -
How is the Hypnos brand doing in the U.S.?
Keen: "The brand is becoming much more well-known in the U.S. I would say that Jamison is doing a really good job. They have changed the American bedding industry. Now they are being copied. People couldn't believe they could sell bedding at those prices. The amount of ground Jamison has gained in this market has been colossal." -
How many times have you been in the U.S.?
Keen: "About 20. I love the country." -
What do you like about the U.S.?
Keen: "The bacon here is good. It's well cooked. I love bacon sandwiches: Toast, butter, catsup and your bacon. It's a bacon buttie. The bacon in the U.K. is floppy." -
Anything in the U.S. you find odd?
Keen: "Are there rules in American football? Some guy has the ball. They all run into each other. Then they get up and do it again." -
Your company has a long history in the United Kingdom. How old is Hypnos?
Keen: "We are 103 years old. We missed our 100th anniversary. We didn't know about it. We might celebrate our centennial this year. No one will know." -
The business was started by whom?
Keen: "George Henry Keen, my great-grandfather. I've been with the company for about 30 years." -
So you are the fourth-generation in the business. What are the challenges of keeping a family-owned business going?
Keen: (Laughs.) "The first generation starts the business, the second generation makes it, the third generation spends it, and the fourth generation restarts it, because by that time it has gone bad. But we're doing just fine." -
Hypnos has two Royal Warrants, one for the Queen and one for the late Queen Mother. Have you ever met the Queen?
Keen: "Twice. She is a lovely woman and a very good conversationalist. She is very interested in what you are doing." -
What do you tell people that you do?
Keen: "If a man asks me what I do, I tell him that I do everyday what he doesn't do. If a woman asks me what I do, I say that I do something that she does before breakfast. I make the bed."
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A dozen questions for Hypnos’ Keen
Mar 30, 2006
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