At Burgess Furniture Ltd, we like to think we’ve recreated what it means to be a ‘family-run business’. With 20 employees (and counting) who’ve been with us for over 25 years, we believe the bonds we’ve created amongst our team are what truly drives our success.
Burgess was born when Gerald ‘Gerry’ Burgess sent our first order of 1,000 chairs to the prestigious Hotel Metropole Monte-Carlo and The May Fair hotel in 1959 and we’ve been stacking up orders (and chairs) ever since.
Find out more about the history of Burgess.
Since then, we’ve established the Burgess brand in almost half of the world and grown the family to over 111 valued members.
The 25 Year Club
The 25 Year Club was created in 2012, when Managing Director, Jeremy Burgess decided it was time to recognise his long-standing employees in a more significant way and show just how much their dedication was appreciated. We gift each employee a watch of their choosing as a symbol of the 25 years spent with Burgess and have an annual celebratory luncheon with all the club members to welcome new joiners.
“I think the family-like atmosphere and expertise our employees develop over such a long period of time are a big part of why we’re able to innovate and create furniture at such high standards.”
Jeremy Burgess
Meet some of the members
Peter Roth, our design manager, chose the Longines Conquest Automatic watch as his commemorative gift. He joined us in 1987 and is responsible for managing our in-house design team. Peter was one of the first members of the 25-year club – to date he’s seen 33 years at Burgess.
“Over time, I’ve got to know what features customers enjoy the most…it’s very easy now for us to customise a piece of furniture for venues.”
Peter Roth
Both Kitoko and Alan joined the 25-year club in 2021. Kitoko started in the paint line, and after making his way around several departments, has settled in the machine shop where he assembles furniture pieces.
“I’ve enjoyed the variety I’ve had from working in so many departments – every day I could be doing something different.”
Kitoko
Alan started off in the foam department as a temp. One of his colleagues then trained him in upholstery and he’s been there ever since.
“I like that the managers trust us to get the work done, it makes me want to go the extra mile. I’ve also enjoyed seeing how designs have changed over the 25 years”
Alan
With over 40 years under his belt, Viram is one of our longest-serving employees and a true example of how Burgess team members become ingrained into our culture.
Viram has worked in various departments throughout his career. From accepting goods to the degreasing department and finally the paint line team, where he still works today.
And how’s this for a family-like atmosphere? In 2014, after a vacancy arose in the IT department, Viram’s son, Nitesh joined the company as our IT Systems & Support Administrator.
Fellow 25 year club member Kevin Walsh, Burgess Furniture Machine Shop Manager, has two sons who’ve also joined the team.
The chairs
As a way to memorialise some of our longest-standing employees (past and present), we’ve also named furniture pieces after them.
Both Kevin and Viram had chairs named after them in 2019.
“I began my Burgess career as an apprentice back in 1983…It’s such an honour to have a chair named after me, and both my sons, who still work here.”
Stay tuned for the Enrica chair, coming soon!
Thank you
We want to thank the following employees for over 25 years of service at Burgess Furniture – we look forward to many more years to come:
The 25 Year Club
| Terence Summers | Table Assembly Department | 45 years |
| Jeremy Burgess | Managing Director | 43 years |
| Viram Khunti | Paintline Department | 41 years |
| Kevin Walsh | Machine Shop Department | 37 years |
| Mahendra Parmar | Machine Shop Department | 37 years |
| Andrew Hamblin | Table Assembly Department | 36 years |
| Leslie Edwards | Manual Welding Department | 35 years |
| Ronald Seymour | Table Assembly Department | 35 years |
| Sohan Singh Malhi | Machine Shop Department | 34 years |
| Peter Roth | Design Department | 33 years |
| Richard Ewing | Manual Welding Department | 33 years |
| Ricky Balch | Manual Upholstery Department | 31 years |
| Nicky Ovington | Polishing Department | 31 years |
| Yash P Sharma | Machine Shop Department | 31 years |
| Derek Keay | Foam Shop Department | 31 years |
| Stephen Armstrong | Manufacturing Manager | 29 years |
| Mark Edwards | Paintline Department | 28 years |
| Enrica Pasamonte | Purchasing Supervisor | 26 years |
| Kitoko Bunga | Machine Shop Department | 25 years |
| Alan Dennison | Manual Upholstery | 25 years |