EP Business in Hospitality Issue 49 - April 2014

After spending some
years as a regimental
infantryman, Gordon
decided that service life
was not serving him well,
so he left to join the corporate world as
a banker. Three years later he decided
this was not how he wanted to spend
the rest of his life either. As Gordon
will happily relate, this was during that
glorious time in the UK when well paid
banking jobs and raising money were
a past time and employees at Lehman
Brothers were blissfully unaware of
what was to befall them.
Gordon had become interested in
the world of healthy eating and living
and invested his capital and funds
into a series of farm shops around
the country. He utilised the then
popular EIS (Enterprise Investment
Scheme), which allowed him to
purchase properties that were in need
of development and set about adding
restaurants and local butcher’s shops
to these sites. Under Gordon’s mantle
these expanded sites thrived and
Gordon found his interest in natural
products developed further.
He often found his customers enquiring
about natural products, especially for
children. Interestingly, the more time
and research he conducted into natural
products, the more he realised that they
were anything but – they were either
very unexciting or, more worryingly,
not healthy at all! Some were basically
being labelled as ‘healthy’ and
nutritionally were no more than
a candied bar disguised as a healthy
snack, such were the sugar levels
in them.
Fed up with the not so healthy
products, in 2010 Gordon decided
to sell his stake in the farm shop
enterprise and looked into developing
his own natural, healthy, but exciting,
snack offering.
First to roll off the production line
was a ‘Popcorn Bar’ – healthy because
popcorn is a wholegrain and contains
more fibre and antioxidants than oats.
Also, and little known, the grain has
more iron than eggs and beef, coupled
with the fact that there were no other
snack bars of this type on the market.
When asked where the idea for using
popcorn came from Gordon will smile
sheepishly and tell you of his love
of popcorn when he has a relaxing
night out at the cinema! The bars have
added seeds, yogurt, fruit and nuts.
Although seeds and nuts have long
been associated with friendly food for
our bird tables, and also occasionally
as tasteless snacks that are labelled as
You may be forgiven for imagining a written rendition of the joys
of trekking, and indeed here at EP we enjoy writing on the new
and exciting options in the industry! However, and apologies if this
disappoints those who love to ‘trek’, we would like to introduce you
to Gordon Leatherdale whose catch phrase is ‘Wholeheartedly
Wholegrain’ and whose new healthy snack business is called Wild Trail
48 | April 14 | EP