His working life has been devoted to building and nurturing one of the North East’s oldest family food firms.
But Michael Dickson believes now is the time to take a step back and allow the next generation their chance to shine.
However, while the 74-year-old may no longer be serving up an iconic saveloy dip in one of the region’s 33 Dicksons stores or having daily input as an operational board member – he won’t be a stranger either.
Michael explained:
“I’m not completely vanishing, I’ll still be there to offer up advice and suggestions when needed. I’m simply taking a step back from having daily input, this will give me more free time, but I will still chair quarterly board meetings and attend monthly management meetings.
“I think the time is right. We’ve a particularly strong senior team and always been blessed with great people throughout the business many of whom are long service as in many family companies.”
Now in in its 73rd year, the first shop was opened by Michael’s parents, Michael Irwin and Helen Dickson, on Prince Edward Road, South Shields.
Tragically Michael senior died young when his sister Christine was just 16 and he 14, leaving his mother and elder sister with the responsibility for the two shops and a staff of over 30.
Once Michael left school the siblings slowly brought the business to profitability then carried forward the family name opening more stores, growing the work force and eventually building their current South Shields factory.
Sadly, further tragedy occurred when Christine passed away in 2013.
Michael said:
“Looking back at everything that happened, it is amazing how we’ve ended up where we are today.
“Christine had a two-year head start on me and she had already been working Saturdays and holidays as a teenager when dad died, she was always amazing with numbers and nobody’s fool, you couldn’t get anything past her.
“Originally, my parents thought I was going to get a ‘proper job’ after finishing education and while I also loved the business did struggle early on to find my place in it when it seemed to come so effortlessly to Christine.”
However, a young Michael soon found his strengths reorganising production, developing controls, recipes and new tasty products while establishing quality and consistency. Plus, he was always jumping at the chance to acquire more sites to expand.
Laughing he said:
“I was obsessive, Christine was telling me to stop buying businesses and more sites, we needed to start making profits.
“It eventually made sense for us to open a purpose-built factory to give us access to the growing, large Retailer and Food Service market. But to be honest we needed to as the factory costs were drowning us in debt. We couldn’t stop even if we wanted, we had to keep going, it was such a massive learning curve for us.
“But we kept at it and this is why I always say stamina is so important, we didn’t give up, we changed and adapted whenever we needed to, we always did what we believed was right for the business, no matter how hard it was.”
The future of Dicksons had been on Michael’s mind since way back in 2008. He consulted with Christine and his four adult children, and all agreed the business should remain family owned but not necessarily family run and as a result a constitution was created.
To this day they formally meet in a Family Council to represent interests and maintain a personal connection with the business into the future.
Their approach was recognised by British banking giants Coutts when Dicksons were awarded the Coutts Prize for UK Family Business of the Year in London in 2010– an award Michael is particularly proud of.
After Christine’s untimely passing, it became clear more assistance was needed to strengthen the company’s operational board, and the principles of the Constitution were applied in earnest.
Daughter Elena, a food science graduate who’d joined the company from United Biscuits in 2004,3 was appointed product and marketing director in 2013, while Haydn Biddle an experienced non-Executive Director with a high-level career in the brewing industry and education, joined.
Chris Hayman was recruited from McDonalds as Head of Retail and was later appointed the first non- family managing director of Dicksons in 2016.
Boosting family links, Michael’s son Mike, left a 12-year career in pharmacy in 2016 and after retraining in the retail business took on the role of director of retail development in 2019.
The Board was recently strengthened further with the introduction of Neil Herbert, past CFO of a well-known bank, as non-executive director.
In 2024 Michael was awarded an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours.
He said:
“I was shocked and humbled but all I could hear in my head that day, was my favourite old uncle’s voice muttering ‘it’s not right this, these businessmen getting these awards’ and wondering what he’d have thought.
“My wife Marisa’s family the Notarianni’s, were a long-established ice cream business in Sunderland up until the late 80’s so she well understands the demands of business life and too often, has put up with my strange reactions and frequent absences.
“Rather exasperatedly she told me in no uncertain terms to snap out of it and just be grateful, or she’d have it, because she deserved it for putting up with me and bringing up our four children single handed.”
As he looks forward to more free time, Michael is adamant he won’t be taking up any new hobbies like golf or gardening. Instead, he will enjoy more mountain walking, reading and spending time with his long-suffering wife, Marisa – while trying not to get under her feet.
After decades of navigating business life, often through trial and error, Michael is now confident he’s trusting the right people with the future of Dicksons.
He said:
“I’m not sure I have wise words other than never, never give up.
“No project worth delivering comes easily, be adaptable, think creatively and never judge people by how they appear or what they have, rather what they hold in their heart.”
