WHEN good mates Paul Spencer and Chris Chapman decided to set up their own turf product distribution and consultancy business a decade ago, one of their biggest concerns was that the stress might put an end to their 20-year friendship.
“People told us you can’t go into business with your mate,” Spencer said. “I think we’ve proven them wrong. Chappy and I were great mates then, and we remain great mates now.”
And the company they conceived 10 years ago is thriving, too. Greenway Turf Solutions, a business based as much on the knowledge and expertise of its directors as on superior customer service, is one of Australia’s most respected suppliers to the professional turf industry, dispensing products and advice to customers throughout the country.
The efforts of Spencer, Chapman and their team were recognised in October when Greenway Turf Solutions was named Supplier of the Year at the Queensland Golf Industry awards night, the first turf maintenance company to ever win the award. GTS field agent Paul Bevan also took the Superintendents Industry Recognition Award.
Paul Spencer (left) and Chris Chapman from Greenway Turf Solutions, worthy and popular winners of the Supplier of the Year at the Queensland Golf Industry awards.
“Winning that award was certainly a career highlight and a justification for all the work and sacrifices we have made over the past 10 years,” Spencer said. “To build this business together has been very special.”
Spencer and Chapman first met at the University of Queensland’s Gatton College, where they both studied horticulture and agronomy. Chapman’s goal was to become a veterinarian, enrolling in horticulture only to pass the time, he thought, until a spot became available in his preferred field.
Both men forged careers in agronomy, Spencer becoming a turf consultant and Chapman working in increasingly senior positions within the turf industry.
Frustrated at what they felt was the product supply industry losing its way, Chapman suggested to his friend that they should start their own turf product distribution company. Spencer agreed.
“So at the age of 39, each of us with 20 years of experience under our belts, not a lot to lose and time to recover, we took the plunge,” Spencer said.
“I didn’t sleep for three days,” he said. “I asked permission from my wife to do it and forgiveness upfront for how absent I would probably be, putting all my energy into this new venture.”
The business began in October 2014, in a room under Spencer’s house, with two computers and an old Holden Rodeo ute that Chapman had bought second-hand from a golf course superintendent.
“We had no exclusive products, no warehouse, no customers, and no staff,” Spencer said.
“But I had a brand in the market due to my agronomic consulting work and, while Chris is just as qualified in agronomy as I am, he had an MBA and a natural strategic business brain.”
Friends and now business partners, Paul Spencer and Chris Chapman first met when studying horticulture and agronomy at the University of Queensland.
Chapman assumed the role of CEO, worked in the office – the ‘backend’ of the business, as he described it – while Spencer got out in the marketplace and tried to conjure up business.
“When we got an order I would call Chris,” Spencer said. “He would ring around the small group of suppliers we had, order the product, go pick it up from probably three different sources, put it all together and deliver it to the customer.”
Chapman and Spencer sought to bring technical sales back to the industry, utilising their knowledge of agronomy and providing customised solutions for their clients. And it worked, the market responding positively.
“The second part of our approach, which Chris really drove, was unparalleled service,” Spencer said. “We got the product to the customer when they needed, even if that was 4am the next morning.”
That this unrelenting devotion to customer service continues today was evidenced when my interview with the two directors was delayed for three hours when Chapman had to personally arrange the supply and delivery of products to a customer who needed them without delay.
The combo of sound advice, quality products and attention to detail proved to be a winner. Chapman and Spencer drew on the relationships they had built over the years and were pleasantly surprised when suppliers such as Campbells Chemicals, Adama and Agrichem opened accounts with the new company.
“Some suppliers didn’t support us initially, but over the years we proved our worth and were able to establish a complete product range,” Spencer said. “I suppose if you are in an industry for long enough, and build a reputation of being honest, fair and easy to work with, you get rewarded in the end.”
After 18 months, the business had grown and it was time to look for proper office space and establish a warehouse. At the same time US company Simplot Partners, a competitor of Greenway’s, was pulling out of the Queensland market and offered to sell its business located at Ormeau, midway between Brisbane and the Gold Coast.
“We forged a deal where GTS took over the warehouse, truck, employees and product of the Simplot business.” Spencer said. “Very quickly we went from two guys and a ute under my house, to an office, warehouse, stock, employees, and a truck,” Spencer said. “It was a big step, but now we started feeling like a proper business.”
The company grew quickly, opening an Adelaide office in 2016, selling a third of the business in 2018 to John Peaty, the former owner of Globe and Barmac, and acquiring the following year the remaining Australian operations of Simplot Turf and Horticulture.
These days Greenway Turf Solutions employs about 60 staff and operates in Queensland, NSW, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. Chapman remains CEO and Spencer is Head Agronomist.
“We both still work direct with our customers in the field on their day to day needs. There is no management from ivory towers in our business,” Chapman said.
Many of the field agents employed by Greenway were once on the other side of the fence – greenkeepers and turf grass managers, who appreciated the way the company operated and wanted to become a part of it.
Chapman and Spencer are passionate about training their staff, keeping them up to date with changing trends, educating them about the company’s philosophy, and encouraging them to make their own decisions – not least because they know being personally hands-on with Greenway’s increasing clientele is not sustainable for the two of them.
They educate their customer base, as well, hosting seminars and workshops across the country, addressing field days, providing online support and producing webinars and blogs.
Spencer and Chapman, with a passion for making golf course, and sporting turf, better for all.
Spencer estimates that golf courses make up 65 percent of Greenway’s business, ahead of racecourses, sporting arenas, and turf farms.
As we spoke, he was planning a visit to Eagle Farm racecourse, on his way to an appointment with the grounds staff at Royal Queensland Golf Club to ensure its course was at its finest for the upcoming Australian PGA.
They say their work, at its most fundamental, is to assist their clients to create better playing surfaces.
“There is no greater joy than to work in partnership with guys on the ground and see a course improve year on year and reach its potential – healthy, immaculate and generating positive reviews from golfers,” Spencer said.
Greenway Turf Solutions is an enthusiastic sponsor of pro-ams around the country, providing a rare opportunity for the two directors to test their golf games.
They are both members of south-east Queensland golf clubs – Chapman at Keperra and Spencer at Indooroopilly and Maleny and look forward to one day playing the game more regularly.
Though acknowledging the hours are long and the work hard, Spencer said: “Working with good people in the industry, assisting them to create great playing surfaces, seeing people’s careers develop within your company, seeing how the business changes the lives of your employees, eases the anxiety and makes it all worthwhile.”
