FORMER PROFESSIONAL footballer Paul O'Brien is applying the lessons of the training ground to the world of luxury kitchen installation.

O'Brien - who used to play for Dundee United, Hearts and St Johnstone - is managing director of Kitchens International, a luxury kitchen company which merged with JS Geddes of Kilmarnock and Elegant Home Interiors of Aberdeen in October last year to form a business with a £15 million turnover and a staff of 90.

Six months after the merger, O'Brien plans to recruit 50 staff who he will help train in all aspects of design, customer service, installation and even psychology, at the kitchen industry's first training academy.

The coaching sessions O'Brien is involved in now are intended to both improve team performance and enhance customer service. He says 40% of the courses for kitchen installers are devoted to psychology.

"You're dealing with the expectations of people who purchase a luxury product and you have to understand how they think," he adds.

O'Brien studied design by night while playing football by day and has been creating kitchens for 20 years, but he says the psychological lessons he learned on the training ground have proved invaluable.

"Focus and teamwork are the most important things. Every player in a team has different skills and abilities. You have to get everyone working together effectively to succeed," he says.

The fitted kitchen industry in the UK is worth in excess of £900 million and the market is fragmented with integrated manufacturers and retailers such as MFI and Magnet accounting for almost one-third of the market and multiples such as B&Q and Homebase accounting for around 13%.

Collectively, independent retailers account for the biggest slice, at 37% of the total, but the group is made up of a large number of small private businesses, mostly operating at a local level and either making their own furniture or using imports.

The key problem for smaller players, says O'Brien, is gaining sufficient purchasing power with big suppliers to be able to secure limited stock and protect margins. His partner Gerry Watson devised an innovative solution in 2000, setting up The Kitchen Buying Group, a group of 13 independent firms which together formed the UK's largest grouping of independent designers.

They organised joint promotions, pooled expertise and used their increased joint purchasing power to deal directly with manufacturers. The 13 were all rivals, but concluded that they had more to gain than to lose by working together.

Kitchens International was born out of collaborative thinking from three founder members. It operates in the luxury end of the market, which accounts for about 20% of the total. Its kitchens cost anywhere from £12,000 to tens of thousands at the upper end. Cash-rich gadget lovers can splash out on the latest fridges and cookers and extras such as a £9000 wine storage unit, Japanese hotplate or built-in plasma TV.

"The market is totally unrecognisable from when I started. The approach was so much more functional then. Now there is so much more choice and emphasis on design and flair and the whole room concept and lifestyle," O'Brien says.

The outlay to make the vision a reality is considerable for a small business. O'Brien gestures around the sleek new showroom in Edinburgh's Dundas Street: "This place cost £1m," he says.

His company has also invested £800,000 in a new distribution centre and headquarters in Broxburn, West Lothian, and installed a new IT system, bringing total investment since the merger to around £2m.

Around half of Kitchens International's business comes from commercial clients such as housebuilders and property developers including Amey, CALA and Apple Cross Homes and O'Brien expects significant growth in this aspect of the business.

In future, O'Brien may expand the business beyond Scotland. He has had approaches from other firms but is concentrating on creating the right growth template before further expansion.