December 2017
Harry Becher
Harry Becher is the founder BHB Private, a concierge service with a difference. Their ethos is to offer each and every one of their clients a personal approach which they believe is the best way to delight and amaze. BHB works behind the scenes to help forward-thinking companies better understand their customers and deliver them excellence, with their clients ranging from prime residential real estate developments to global financial services and major luxury consumer brands.
Harry has been a fixer since school and started out in the hospitality business, before a talent for making connections took him to LA to set up the Quintessentially franchise. Since 2006, he has been acting as an interlocuter for brands, corporations and private clients. A fervent supporter of philanthropy, Harry is a patron of the cancer awareness charity Coppafeel! and when not working, he is happiest in Andalusia, Spain, sitting in the sun and eating tapas.
IN CONVERSATION
Tessa Packard [TP]: Why BHB?
Harry Becher [HB]: I have always looked after people and thought there was a need to set up a business that acted privately on behalf of private families and brands. We don’t really exist, have virtually no brand presence and do no marketing or PR. We are the anti brand and our clients are some of the greatest brands in the world.
TP: What have been your biggest challenges in setting up your own business?
HB: Getting paid on time, getting paid on time, getting paid on time.
TP: What five attributes would you say are key to setting up a concierge style company?
HB: The ability to not sleep, the ability to keep calm in amongst the crisis (calm duck crossing the pond with crazy kicking legs under the water), the need for total discretion, the need to be on call at all times and be nice to everyone always.
TP: What do you think you do better in your business than any of your other competition?
HB: We are a small, private business, based in a loft in Soho who never want any credit and just get the job done.
TP: What is the most outrageous request you’ve ever received from a client?
HB: Most of them are illegal so we decline them.
TP: Which heritage brand would you most like to have on your books? Which contemporary brand do you really admire and find equally inspirational?
HB: We are very lucky to work with Rolls Royce and for me that is a dream come true. They are both heritage and contemporary.
TP: Tell us more about the work you do supporting cancer awareness charity Coppafeel! and why you choose this particular charity?
HB: I lost my mother to cancer nine years ago and set up a charity called Too Many Women – We raised 1.3Million for Breakthrough breast cancer. During that year i met one of the most amazing women on earth, the formidable Kristen Hallenga, Founder of Coppafeel. Her bravery and strength taught me alot and ever since I have been an ambassador.
TP: Who have been your most influential mentors in life?
HB: I have had a private client for many years who i see him once a month for lunch. He is an inspirational guidance. My mother was strong, a leading light on advice in business and remains in my mind at times. I always think what she would think when i need advice.
TP: How do you like to unwind in your spare time?
HB: I fly to Seville, Travel one hour south, drive up to a village called El Gastor, drive out the back of that village up the track to our little house which is on top of the world and miles away from the world. Once there, i walk, sleep, swim and take time to unwind, drink wine and generally get ready for the next bombardment.
TP: What is currently on your bucket list in terms of life changing experiences?
HB: I have never been to India and am planning a trip and I also plan to ride across the whole of Andalusia.
ON THE SPOT
Town or Countryside? Countryside
Favourite city? Seville
Your perfect dinner guest, dead or alive? Winston Churchill
If you could time travel to any era it would be…? 1960s
The best meal you’ve ever eaten is? I love steak and frites and green salad at the Wolsley
The one essential you can’t leave home without? My Marshall headphones
Pet hate? Early morning smokers in the street
Biggest extravagance? Flights to Seville
Favourite book? The Go Between
What would your gravestone read? KBO – Keep Buggering On – I have it tattooed on my arm
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