Minoli & Co Ltd – Marking 65 Years Since Incorporation

Today we mark the 65^th anniversary of the official incorporation of Minoli & Co Ltd in 1960.

My grandfather, Luigi Minoli, first established the business in Oxford in the 1940s, when he set up a terrazzo factory, located close to the city centre in Divinity Road.

In 1960, Luigi and my father Peter Minoli, took advantage of Government incentives to move to the current location on Transport Way in Cowley, where the company was first formally incorporated.

At that time, on today’s site stood the then new Minoli factory producing terrazzo tiles and the operational base for the company’s installation division, which thrived working on colleges, car showrooms, hospitals and domestic projects.

Recognising the emergence of Italian ceramic and porcelain tile manufacturing, Peter worked to develop a business wholesaling to local merchants, which soon took over from terrazzo production.

Dealing with contacts in Europe, predominantly Italy, Peter built up a strong supply network from the expanding tile manufacturing companies, and many of the world’s leading producers can trace Minoli to being virtually their first export client. Indeed, some of these relationships remain in place to this very day.

By the time I was born in 1968, the company was very nearly 100% tile, with a fast-growing network of clients including tile studios, kitchen and bathroom showrooms, housebuilders & developers and car dealerships, who had switched from terrazzo to using tiles for their showrooms and workshops.

Sadly, in 1994 Peter died aged just 55, leaving the company in a very strong position but without the founding force that had built up the client base and supply chain. Peter’s wife Kate and I took up the running of the company and decided to invest in new stock, showrooms and warehousing, not only to help take the company forward but also to mark Peter’s passing with something solid.

Since then, Minoli has continued to expand, but very much organically with the completion of the new warehouse and showroom facility in autumn 1996, and then much larger developments in 2002 and 2003, creating far more storage, marketing and administration space.

As the company’s capacity and capabilities increased, the opportunity to better serve professional and residential clients across the Capital and South-East became apparent and 2013 saw the opening of a new premises for Minoli, called The Surface Within, in the heart of London’s West End in Marylebone. Now in place for nearly twelve years, the London operation has become a logical extension to the established Oxford-based headquarters, and having this showroom, meeting space and resource centre means we can offer the same excellent levels of customer service in the very heart of London.

As we mark the company’s 65^th anniversary today, we’ve continued to invest and expand, having opened the Minoli Outlet in 2020, doubled the size of our Oxford site and our stockholding has reached near £4 million in net cost value stock.

Between our Oxfordshire headquarters and London showroom our team extends to approaching 50 people and we now run 11 purpose-built delivery trucks and numerous light commercial vans as we continually increase our delivery capacity, whilst striving to improve efficiency and minimise our environmental impact.

Minoli is still family run, with myself as Managing Director, assisted by a team of experienced and professional people, many of whom have now worked with four generations of the family – Luigi Minoli, Peter & Kate Minoli, myself and now with the fourth generation of Lucy and Luca Minoli establishing themselves in permanent roles within the company.

Looking forwards, the rest of this year and into 2026 will see exciting new ventures for Minoli, with major investments in premises, people, our truck fleet, events and of course new exciting products. Whilst many of our values remain true to those on which the firm was founded, we’re forward thinking and focused on continued and sustainable growth.

My sincere thanks must go to all our clients, suppliers, distribution partners, team members and friends of Minoli, who have helped us create the well-established and dynamic company we are today. Here’s to another 65 years as a business that’s able to adapt, seize opportunities and grow in this ever-changing market.

Jonathon Minoli, Managing Director