ALLIED Pickfords is proud of its American connection, says Stefan Dimitrov, Managing Director and Partner.
"In the US, hardly 15 minutes will go by on a highway without seeing one of our trucks passing," he says.
Allied, one of the two founding parts of the modern international firm, that has been represented in Bulgaria for the past 15 years, has a history in the US that dates back to the 1920s. Pickfords was founded in England in 1666.
"We understand the meaning of the word tradition," says Dimitrov.
Reinforcing the American connection was the fact that, as Bulgaria opened up to the West in the early 1990s, Allied Pickfords was the mover of choice when US and multinational firms brought out chief executive officers and chief financial officers.
But this is not a story about the past, but about the present and future, and, if you will pardon the expression, Allied Pickfords is moving fast.
One of the boldest moves made by the firm in recent times was to expand into Greece, with operations having started there in 2003. This is notable for being a reversal of the usual trend of Greek firms opening in Bulgaria.
For Dimitrov, the Greek operation was the fulfillment of a long-held ambition, and it appears to have paid off.
"We are now a well-known player in the relocation market in Greece, and the preferred solution for British expatriates moving to Greece. We serve a wide range of destinations, including mainland Greece, Corfu, Crete, and many others."
The Athens operation is made up of five senior managers, with more than 20 packers and movers. If the shipping operation in Piraeus is added, the staff complement goes up by more than 30.
The team is all Greek, drawing on local knowledge and experience to deal with the challenges of an operation that serves, among other places, 1500 islands.
Allied Pickfords, the international family of which the Bulgarian firm is a part, is the biggest moving company in the world, with more than 1400 offices. This global presence means that it serves as a one-stop shop for clients.
"Our international relocation managers are the people who are, from the beginning at the source, to the delivery, the contact for the clients. They take care of everything for the client, who need deal with only one person."
The opening of the Allied Pickfords office in Greece was, says Dimitrov, "a natural step in our expansion plans for South Eastern Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. Aside from Turkey, there are now only two countries in the region where we don't have offices – Albania and Cyprus – and we plan to open there in the next nine months".
Although the Bulgarian firm will have its 15th birthday in July, "We are so busy we don't have time to celebrate".
One of the reasons that the firm is so busy is the major influx of British people investing in real-estate in Bulgaria.
Allied Pickford's trademark orange vans are streaming to, among other places, Veliko Turnovo, several spots on the Black Sea coast, and the Stara Planina mountain range.
The presence of more than 80 offices in the UK gives Allied Pickfords its characteristic advantage of enabling a client to deal with just one firm all the way through the various stages of a journey. Clients have the benefit of the expertise of lawyers, consultants and financial advisers that Allied Pickfords has learned to trust.
In many cases, Allied Pickfords is packing up and moving entire households from the UK to Bulgaria, while in others, items are being moved to stock a summer home. On average, from packing to arrival and delivery takes about two weeks.
To back up the operation, the firm is opening a temporary office this summer in Albena, to serve northern Bulgaria and the Black Sea coast, including places such as Dobrich and Balchik, in fact all the way to the very south of the coastline.
Dimitrov says that, apart from the support assured by using the right lawyers and other experts, "Bulgarian authorities really understand the process and are making it easy to move in".
He is proud to say, and has the documents to show, that in the past five years, Allied Pickfords Bulgaria has run its operations without any losses or damage to clients' goods.
"We have the biggest market share in Bulgaria, and are the executive and diplomatic movers of Sofia." The firm also is used to deal with special requirements, such as speed and security when moving firms such as banks, moving fine art and exhibitions.
"The quality requirements of Allied are much stricter than any ISO definition."
Dimitrov adds: "At every international gathering, which we hold every year, all parties agree that quality is of the greatest importance. The good news for the customer is that we are not expensive".
It is possible for the firm to keep prices down because of its international connections, by combining loads to ship in gross, and by the fact that "our global purchasing power, that definitely improves our cost structure".
"Add to this the state of the IT we have," says Dimitrov, who is happy to show off the system used by the company, a system that is, at once, state of the art, sophisticated, and yet efficient in its simplicity.
The firm emphasises that the price it asks of a customer is the price that will be charged, without "surprises" or add-ons along the way.
Allied Pickfords Bulgaria also has become well-known for its role in corporate citizenship, supporting, among several other activities and initiatives, the New Symphony Orchestra, the Friends of Doctors' Garden, the International Women's Club Christmas Charity Bazaar, and the American Chamber of Commerce in Bulgaria US Independence Day celebrations, and the One Life Charity Golf Tournament.
For Dimitrov, who since 2000 has been on the board of directors of AmCham and is a vice-president of the organisation, good corporate citizenship is very important. He puts it this way: "Going the extra mile to do something for a good cause is very natural".