Monday 9 November

Dorset Cereals is now the UK's leading provider of muesli following the successful completion of two Knowledge Transfer Partnerships with Bournemouth University.

The Dorchester–based company, which produces flakes, granola, porridges, bars and slices as well as muesli, hired University graduates to help develop its marketing and production functions. And on the back of BU’s support, Dorset Cereals has nearly quadrupled the size of its business.

When Managing Director Peter Farquhar arrived at Dorset Cereals in 2005 there was no marketing function – and having seen a story about another company which had worked with the University on a knowledge transfer programme, Mr Farquhar got in touch with BU’s School of Tourism. "We had an outrageous plan that would see us become the UK’s leading muesli provider and together with the University we identified two big gaps that needed plugging," he said. "One was around the relationship with our consumers, particularly the website, where we had no expertise in the business, and the second was around production capacity and processes which we needed to change to meet the planned volume growth."

BU graduate Harriet McKay – who has since been appointed as the company’s Communications Manager – was brought in to deliver the marketing support. "When I started the website was plain and there was no absolutely reason for customers to come back to the site," Harriet explained. "I worked with the team at Dorset Cereals and their design agency to create a new website that would create more visits and importantly communicate their brand values. Before the University's involvement the company had 16,000 emails on its database, now we have over 200,000. It’s been a fantastic success story."

The company, which had access to University academic expertise around web marketing and database development, also commissioned a second knowledge transfer programme to up production targets. "We brought in new equipment and employed new staff, but ultimately we needed to change the way we worked on the factory floor and the University helped us to improve our production capacity and processes," Mr Farquhar said. "The University's involvement has been pivotal to our successes – frankly we couldn't have got to the stage we are without the involvement of Bournemouth's staff and students."

Dr Martyn Polkinghorne, BU's Knowledge Transfer Programmes Centre Manager, said the partnership with Dorset Cereals was a good example of what the University can bring to business. "Businesses should be more aware that universities have the capability make a direct impact on their bottom line, as we have in this case. Here at Bournemouth we have particular expertise in supporting the food and drink sector, as well as many other key specialisms which firms are tapping into."