Make An Entrance
Make An Entrance is a multi-award-winning family-run business based in Lincolnshire. Founded from charitable roots, it has been operating online since 2005 supplying homes and businesses across the UK with made to measure door mats of every type.
Husband and wife team, Stuart and Samantha Burlton, created the business following in the footsteps of Stuart’s father Allen who, in the 1990s, managed a Royal School for the Blind factory where visually impaired people were employed making handmade mats. The Burltons have prevented this traditional skill from dying out and are now training a new generation of mat makers.
Awards
- Shortlisted Finalist – Business Champion Awards 2023
- Shortlisted Finalist – National Family Business of the Year Awards 2023
- Winner – FSB (Federation of Small Businesses) Celebrating Small Business Awards, Family Business of the Year (East Midlands) 2022
- #SBS (Small Business Sunday) awarded by Theo Paphitis, Twitter
- #SmartSocial Award, Twitter
Samantha Burlton, Joint Owner, and Marketing Director
Samantha is an experienced entrepreneur with a successful history in online retail and a passion for new ideas. With over 15 years’ experience as a business owner, Samantha is committed to developing future generations and sharing knowledge with the business community.
It was Sam’s idea to start Make an Entrance back in 2005 and she created the name. Passionate about business, Sam is never happy unless she has a new project in the pipeline and is the driving force behind all our new projects.
She is extremely proud of the team that we have created and loves the atmosphere when we are all working together.
Awards:
- Finalist in two categories, Family Business of the Year and SME of the Year, in the Institute of Directors (IoD) Director of the Year Awards 2020
- Winner - Northern England Business Woman of the Year 2019 with judges commenting, "A well supported entry 'bristling' with supporting evidence"
Samantha is happy to comment on:
- UK manufacturing
- Family business
- Retail including online retail
- Women in business
- The relevance of hand-crafted products
Stuart Burlton, Joint Owner, and Managing Director
Stuart is a very experienced manufacturing and retail Managing Director with expertise in both the B2B and B2C retail industry. He is the reason Make An Entrance is still in business after 17 years and with a strong financial performance.
Whilst Samantha creates new projects and builds momentum, Stuart is the one that sees them through to successful and profitable completion.
Stuart focuses on building the customer realtionship whether that is a single doormat for a persons home or significant orders from F1, Ryder Cup, Peugeot, and multi-site retail stores.
Awards:
- King of Doormats, awarded by #RoyalConnections on Twitter
Stuart is happy to comment on:
- UK manufacturing
- Family business
- Retail including online retail
- Building customer relationships / customer excellence
- Sourcing raw materials
Downloadable Logos
Image Gallery
Press Releases
Award Winning Lincolnshire Small Business, Make An Entrance, Boycotts Black Friday 2022
Despite having operated online since 2005 and being a very well-established ecommerce business, award-winning doormat specialist, Make An Entrance, has today announced that it will no longer participate in Black Friday. “The excessive over consumption encouraged by Black Friday is incompatible with our values of quality, sustainability and longevity,” said Samantha Burlton co-founder of Make…
Traditional Coconut Matting Chosen to Prevent Horses Slipping
Coir mats have been supporting racehorse trainers for centuries. With every trainer wanting to keep their horses in tip-top shape and ready to race, they can’t afford their horses to have easily avoidable injuries which would keep them from their exercise programme. However, horses can slip on hard surfaces like tarmac and concrete, particularly in…
Local Business Shortlisted For Prestigious National Award
Make An Entrance, a family-run business based in Lincolnshire, has kicked off 2023 in style announcing that they have been shortlisted in the nationally prestigious Family Business of the Year awards. Speaking of the achievement Samantha Burlton, joint owner and Marketing Director at Make An Entrance said, “What phenomenal news to start 2023 with! I’m…
