Tom Farmer CBE is the Founder of Kwik-Fit Holdings plc, the household-name automotive repair chain. He founded the Kwik-Fit Group in 1971. The company now operates through 866 centres in the UK, Eire and throughout Benelux and employs 4,000 people. In 1997 the company achieved a turnover of £426m,... Read more
Tom Farmer CBE is the Founder of Kwik-Fit Holdings plc, the household-name automotive repair chain.
He founded the Kwik-Fit Group in 1971. The company now operates through 866 centres in the UK, Eire and throughout Benelux and employs 4,000 people. In 1997 the company achieved a turnover of £426m, and a profit of £43m, an improvement of 19% over the previous year.
In 1999 Sir Tom sold Kwik-Fit to Ford Motor Company for nearly one billion dollars. He remained as Chairman of Kwik-Fit and resigned from the company in 2002.
The success of Kwik-Fit is based entirely on the commitment of the whole company to customer service and quality. Tom Farmer is also well known for putting his ‘people’ even before his customers. If the customer is king, he likes to say, the staff are emperors. He is a passionate and inspiring speaker on teamwork and how employees can be motivated to deliver not just customer satisfaction but customer delight.
Sir Tom Farmer has a number of business interests which include property development and investments in new business start-ups.
His present appointments are, Chairman of The Trustees of The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Trustee of the Clerk Maxwell Cancer Research Fund, Honorary President – Young Enterprise Scotland, Trustee of Scottish Business Achievement Award Trust, Honorary President of the Entrepreneurial Exchange, Deputy Lieutenant of the City of Edinburgh and Non-executive Director of Scottish Power.
Sir Tom Farmer has received numerous honours and awards and was knighted in 1997. He was made a Knight Commander with Star of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, a high honour that the Catholic Church can bestow on a layman. He was also knighted by Queen Elizabeth in 1997. His most recent honour was the being made Commander of the Victorian Order by the Queen in the 2009 New Years Honours. He is also a supporter of the international development charity Mary’s meals.