Food & Drink Heroes Issue 1

@FOODANDDRINKGB
FOODANDDRINKENTREPRENEUR.COM
#FNDHEROES

Welcome & about us
Welcome to the first edition of Food and Drink Heroes, a publication to
accompany a new awards programme aimed to shine a spotlight on, and
champion some of the UK’s most exciting food and drink brands.
Our entire business is built on celebrating entrepreneurs. First through the
Great British Entrepreneur Awards (which has now grown into the largest
celebration of entrepreneurship in the UK), and now, excitingly, also via
Food & Drink Heroes.
We’ve launched Food & Drink Heroes because we were positively
overwhelmed with such high quality applications from so many extraordinary
food and drink businesses via The Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
Coupled with the fact that the food and drink industry is the UK’s largest
manufacturing sector, contributing £31.1bn to the economy annually and
employing 450,000 people, we felt that these entrepreneurs needed their
own stage. A stage in which we could tell their entrepreneurial stories;
the twists, turns and events in their lives that have led them to disrupting,
challenging and creating businesses that feed, indulge and nourish us.
We believe that entrepreneurs are as much about their story as they are
their balance sheet, and in a world where it feels like consumer values and
ethics are stronger than ever, these stories are increasingly important, and
we want to showcase them.
This magazine will introduce you to brands and entrepreneurs that you
may recognise but, know little about the founder and their journey. It
will also put brands and products on your radar that you might not have
yet come across, and that’s what this publication (and in fact our entire
programme) strives to achieve.
All of the brands featured in this publication (and future editions) have a
real person driving the business; overcoming obstacles, striving for sales
and in many cases doing so with bundles of purpose. So many of these
entrepreneurs have shown us that a sustainability policy is beginning to
become a happy ‘given’; whether that’s by innovating new eco-friendly
alternatives or ingraining a broader human commitment to sustainability
at their businesses core.
A new global study by Xero has recently revealed the extent to which the
UK values its small businesses, highlighting the depth of goodwill and the
strength of society’s dependence on them since Covid-19. So use this
publication to discover, follow, share and shop with some of Britain’s most
exciting food and drink brands.
Let’s fill our fridges, cupboards and bellies with goods from independent
producers, traders and specialists and become part of their stories.
If you’d like any further information about Food & Drink Heroes or would
like to be featured in the next issue of the magazine, please get in touch:
Hannah@foodanddrinkentrepreneur.com

Contents
6
Food & Drink Heroes
The Food & Drink Heroes
collection of inspiring founders
stories. The movers and shakers
in the food industry. From boozeinfused
fish to cartoned egg
whites, these entrepreneurs are
making their mark.
40
Pizza post pivot :
Ricotta get through this
The nicest guys in pizza,
Thom & James Elliot pivoted their
restauarant, Pizza Pilgrams, in the
midst of a pandemic. Thom talks
to Food & Drink Heroes about
all things pizza.
4
38
44
46
54
62
68
Food & Drink Heroes spotlight
The editor’s dozen
The Big Bakes : Rising to the top
Grenade : Blowing away the competition
Bread & Jam 2.0 virtual festival
Food and drink visionaries
The power of awards

The F&D Heroes spotlight
Shining a spotlight on some of the products that have got us excited this
month, from cartoned egg whites to coconut ice cream, these companies have
excelled in their field to bring some amazing products to market.
1. Binary Botanical
Binary Botanical is an
organic British beer brand
with a difference.They’ve
created an awesome
sustainable beer for winelovers
with a really unique
prosecco-like flavour profile.
Hero : Danielle Bekker
binarybotanical.com
Hero : Nisha Menon
jackandchill.co.uk
1. 2.
Hero : Victoria Poon
alpacacoffee.co.uk
3. 4.
Hero : Jessica Harris
hungrylittlebandits.com
5. 6.
2. Alpaca Coffee
The coffee is packaged
in 100% plastic-free and
home-compostable
packaging, utilising a plastic
replacement to line and label
bags made from cellulose
from wood pulp.
3. Jack & Chill
Launched in Jan 2019,
Jack & Chill received such
an amazing response that
they are stocked in over 400
independent health stores in
Ireland, Europe & Australia.
4. Hungry Little Bandits
Little Bandits makes natural
and delicious snacks for
families and kids to enjoy at
home or on the run.
5. Hard Lines
A coffee shop and roastery
based in Cardiff. They
select, roast and serve great
coffee that’s been sourced
sustainably with the aim
of building long lasting
relationships at origin.
6. Two Chicks
Heroes : Matt Jones & Sophie Smith
hard-lines.co.uk
Heroes : Anna Richey & Alla Ouvarova
twochicks.co.uk
The UK’s bestselling free
range liquid egg white brand
is now available in more than
2,000 supermarket outlets
across the country.
4

7. Twisting Spirits
Quitting jobs in IT, they now
use distinctive botanicals to
create gins such as Kaffir
Lime and lemongrass which
won a Gold at the World
Spirits competition.
8. Noisy Snacks
Their mission is to combine
tasty, adventurous flavours
with super nutritional foods
to help you rediscover the
five senses.
Heroes : Mary & Rich Bateman
twistingspirits.co.uk
7. 8.
Hero : Noel Allen
noisysnacks.com/
9. AQUAPAX
Beyond being the world’s
original carton water brand,
every carton sold helps
to remediate some of the
damage that’s been done to
our planet.
10. Banana Scoops
You should be able to
enjoy ice cream all year
long without having to
compromise on taste or
the quality of ingredients.
And that’s why Jess started
the company, to offer you
healthy, vegan and bananabased
nice cream.
11. Pip & Nut
Pip & Nut are obsessed with
making the tastiest natural
peanut & almond butters
with absolutely no palm oil or
unnecessary ingredients.
12. Snaffling Pig
Nick thinks if something is
worth doing, it’s worth doing
piggin’ right. That’s why he
set out to make the finest,
most awesome flavoured
pork crackling possible.
Hero : Neil Tomlinson
aquapaxwater.com
Hero : Pip Murray
pipandnut.com
9. 10.
Hero : Jess Salamanca
bananascoops.com
11. 12.
Hero : Nick Coleman
snafflingpig.co.uk
5

6

Food & Drink Hero:
The Black Farmer
Born in Jamaica, Wilfred’s family came to the UK in the Windrush years in the
1950s. Brought up in inner-city Birmingham, he fulfilled his childhood dream to
own a small piece of the British countryside. Inspired by this and his love and
support of British farming, he launched The Black Farmer brand.
Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones is, in his own
words, ‘a poor boy, done good’. He was born
in Jamaica and then, after his parents came
to the UK in the 50s, was raised in inner-city
Birmingham.
For a number of years Wilfred worked as a
chef before pursuing a career in television.
Unqualified and dyslexic but ambitious and
persistent, he talked his way into working
in television, rising to become a producer/
director for the BBC. He is credited with
bringing many of the top UK celebrity
chefs to the small screen including Gordon
Ramsay, Antony Worrall-Thompson, Brian
Turner and James Martin.
In 1994, he founded a food and drink
marketing agency in London which went
on to run successful campaigns for Loyd
Grossman sauces, KETTLE Chips, Plymouth
Gin, Cobra Beer and other challenger brands.
Wilfred subsequently fulfilled a lifelong
ambition and bought a small farm in Devon
in 2000. This inspired him to develop and
launch his own food brand the now very
successful The Black Farmer brand of
gluten-free foods.
The Black Farmer has products in all the
major supermarkets and is best known for
the brand’s award-winning sausages. This
year Wilfred’s great triumph has been to get
all of the UK supermarkets to get behind
Black History Month in October.
They all agreed to sell special edition The
Black Farmer sausages, featuring Mary
Seacole and Sergeant Lincoln Orville Lynch
DFM. Donations from the sale of these
products will be going to The Mary Seacole
Trust and The Black Cultural Archives.
Having established the brand in the UK,
Wilfred is launching this month The Black
Farmer Farmshop online. Always keen to be
a pathfinder, it’s the first black-owned
major, national farmshop, selling up to
150 product lines.
When the The Black Farmer brand
was started, it was created to be an
international brand and this year Wilfred
is looking to export The Black Farmer
products to Dubai, Canada and the US.
In 2013, Wilfred nearly lost his life to
Acute Myeloid Leukaemia. He spent a
year in hospital and in 2014 underwent
a stem cell transplant. Since that time,
he has suffered with Graft versus Host
disease. However, his experience has
given him an even greater appetite for
life and supporting others.
He has published two books, the first
The Black Farmer Cookbook – a journey
through his life in recipes; and most
recently (2018) the much acclaimed
“Jeopardy – The Danger of Playing it
Safe” – an inspirational read for those
starting or running their own businesses.
In 2018, Wilfred set up The Hatchery, an
incubator scheme for fledgling brands.
The first brand to ‘hatch’ and hit the
market has been Smorgasbord Swedish
Meatballs, a resounding success and
already achieving national listings in
Sainsbury’s, Asda and Costco, and the
second, The Gym Kitchen, launched in
January 2020 in Asda stores.
Wilfred was awarded an MBE for
services to farming in the 2020 New
Year’s Honours List.
theblackfarmer.com
@theblackfarmer
@theblackfarmer
7

8

Food & Drink Hero:
Squirrel Sisters
Squirrel Sisters was founded by two sisters on a mission to revolutionise the
snacking and confectionary category with their multi award-winning snacks.
They believe you can have great tasting, healthy snacks that use only natural
ingredients and contain no added sugar.
We are Gracie & Sophie Tyrrell, sisters and
founders of Squirrel Sisters award-winning
snacking brand. We have a range of multi
award-winning snacks that are vegan,
gluten-free, 100% natural and contain no
added sugar.
We are one of the only snacking brands
in the UK that does not add any syrups or
sugar alternatives to our products, which is
why we have been certified by Sugarwise.
Our snacks can be found in over 2,000 stores
across the UK in retailers like Waitrose,
Holland and Barrett, Ocado, Whole Foods,
Selfridges, Harvey Nichols and hundreds of
independent cafes and shops.
We launched our business in 2015 after
Sophie underwent major heart surgery after
she was diagnosed with a life-threatening
condition called Wolfe-Parkinson-Whyte.
After the surgery Sophie became quite
unwell and sensitive to gluten and sugar.
We were living together in Balham at the
time, so I was able to look after her. I started
making the bars for Sophie while she was
recovering so she could have something
delicious and indulgent to eat that was also
100% natural and contained no added sugar.
With the recent government initiative
being launched, to crack down on
sugary snacks, we chose this time to
launch our new range of savoury, no
added sugar snacks.
It’s great that people are taking their
snacking choices seriously and
realising the harm sugar can cause.
The UK faces a major crisis, when
it comes to obesity 63% of adults
in England are overweight or living
with obesity, so we are proud to offer
consumers a genuinely healthy and
delicious range of snacks which will
satisfy consumers taste buds as well
as their health.
We are very proud of our achievements so far.
We have been a team of just 2 and have been
since we launched 4.5 years ago. We have
turned our passion into a nationwide success.
However, we want Squirrel Sisters to
be known globally for it’s delicious and
nutritious snacks so we recently made the
decision to join The Hatchery, introducing the
incredible entrepreneur Wilfred Emmanuel-
Jones to the Squirrel Sisters team.
squirrelsisters.com
@squirrelsisters
@squirrelsisters
We have waited nearly five years to find an
expert that can guide us and help us grow
our business to the next level and the wait is
finally over!
9

10

Food & Drink Hero:
The Pished Fish
Inspired by the gravlax flavours from Scandinavia, James is on a mission to
bring the Skandi smokiness to our plates in Britain. From starting his business
in his rickety garden shed, The Pished Fish now has a loyal band of followers
who love this booze-infused fish.
In a previous life I travelled Scandinavia
selling medical devices. This entailed a lot of
hotel stays and smoked salmon and gravlax
for breakfast. Not such a hardship.
I was always fascinated by the flavours that
curing fish could impart, and whilst used to
dill gravlax in the UK, it was the more exotic
flavours I found in Finland and Norway that
truly captured my imagination. As a ‘keen’
home cook I had a go at making gravlax
myself at home, melding and merging as
many weird and wonderful ingredients
together as was possible.
Fast forward a year or so and I was going to
Billingsgate seafood market weekly and buying
what seemed like fairly large quantities of
salmon and trout to fulfil my new found hobby
at home. My hobby was becoming ‘absorbing’
by now as I continued to give much of it away
to friends and family, however increasingly I
noticed that many polite friends and family
were a little wrong-footed by the notion of
raw. In short, they liked smoked salmon but
not gravlax. I found this odd but bowed to my
market no matter how unlucrative they were.
I bought a small home smoker and started
smoking the cured fish in my shed at home.
Suddenly I couldn’t make enough! As soon
as I had smoked the flavoured fish, it seemed
to garner mass appeal. I took it to some
farmer’s markets where we sold loads and
received enough nice comments to make me
think I might be on to something.
Within a year or two we were supplying
Selfridge’s fish, Partridges, Fortnum and
Mason…. I couldn’t really believe it! My wife quit
her job to join the business and off we went,
taking our funny fish up and down the land.
A new baby quickly changed focus from farmer’s
markets at the weekends to retail. This was a
tough transition to make as the joy of meeting
customers and engaging with them was lost.
The business became a wholesale
smoked salmon company, with a little
smokehouse trying to keep up with
the demands of some of our bigger
customers like a certain well-known
online grocer. When their online merger
with ‘you know who’ happened their
business plan changed and overnight
we lost our single largest customer,
suddenly I was wide awake to the
danger of putting too many eggs in
one basket.
Thankfully for us, the way online
shopping has boomed during the
pandemic and has kept us going. It has
allowed me to re-focus on supplying
customers directly, harking back to our
farmer’s market roots. We can get the
brand ethos and values across to the
customers and engage with them in a
way that was traditionally only possible
in a physical space.
Today, our focus is 100% on building
our brand online which allows us to
keep the quality and the handmade
nature of the product in place whilst
letting us experiment with different
flavours (without having to go through
various buying committees before a
product is accepted) returning us to
‘spiritual’ home booze-infused fish.
thepishedfish.com
@thepishedfish
11

12

Food & Drink Hero:
Two Chicks
Good friends Anna and Alla began their business, Two Chicks, from scratch
more than 14 years ago to bring the first ready-separated egg whites to UK
consumers, after spotting a gap in the market for a fat and cholesterol free,
lower calorie alternative to whole eggs.
We have introduced a range of innovative,
convenient egg-based products to the market,
including; an organic and free range liquid egg
white and a fresh ready-to-use pancake mix.
Two Chicks is now stocked in leading retailers
across the UK, as well as internationally.
Part of our success is down to never taking
no for an answer and persevering with
what we believed in. When we were first
starting out, there was an assumption
that two women with just an idea and no
experience in business or food could never
make a success of it. Thankfully we didn’t
listen, but there were times when it was very
challenging and we had to really get creative.
We had a big job on our hands; not only did
we have to convince the buyers to list the
product, but we had to actually explain to
them what it was and why anyone would
want to buy it, as they were all totally
unfamiliar with the concept of egg whites
packaged alone. We were introducing an
entirely new product category and it was a
whole educational process. Then there was
the question of in-store positioning and
which buyer to approach - in America the
eggs are kept in the fridge but in the UK they
are not, so there was no obvious place for
our product to sit.
Starting a business on such a low budget
meant that we had to be extremely
persistent and innovative in order to get into
and remain in the marketplace.
It was a question of always thinking outside
the box and pushing boundaries - ducking
under the red tape at food shows to hand
samples to celebrities on stage.
When we first got listings in the multiples,
we would drive around the country leafleting
outside the stores. We couldn’t afford the
in-store marketing options so we would go
into supermarkets and place our own pointof-sale
on the shelves. But this activity
came to an end once we were removed
by security from a major supermarket
chain and got a call from the buyer.
In 2016 we won the Entrepreneurial
Spirit Award at the Variety Catherine
Awards, set up to celebrate inspirational
women in business. And one year after
our launch, we made the national finals
of the HSBC Start-Up Stars Awards, so
the challenges paid off.
As female entrepreneurs, creating
a fund to support girls and young
women has been a long-held ambition
of ours. This idea has been further
accelerated this year because of the
setbacks for schools in 2020 owing
to the pandemic. We feel that now
has never been a better time to make
a positive difference, which is why
we have decided to launch The Two
Chicks Empowerment Fund. We wish
to align ourselves with women’s
causes. The fund is being set up to help
disadvantaged girls and young women
develop self-confidence through
mentoring enterprise schemes and
engagement in sports and the arts.
Over time we hope to grow the reach
of the Two Chicks Empowerment
Fund to support, inspire and nurture
as many young women as possible
and to equip them with the self-belief,
confidence, and skills so that they can
achieve their full potential, regardless
of their backgrounds.
twochicks.co.uk
@2chicksproducts
@twochicksproducts
13

14

Food & Drink Hero:
Chuckling Goat
Shann Nix Jones is an internationally recognised go-to expert on gut health
and author of three bestselling books. She’s the founder of Chuckling Goat,
the most active kefir on the market.
Born out of her passion to cure her son’s
eczema and husband’s life-threatening
MRSA infection, Shann Nix Jones decided
to set up kefir business Chuckling Goat on
her kitchen table at her house in Wales back
in 2014.
With no previous business experience or
financial funding, her husband Richard sold
his motorcycle so she could buy bottles for
their goats milk kefir.
Six years later, Chuckling Goat employs 23
staff, has an annual turnover of £4.5 million
and sells its kefir products direct to 300,000
customers in 62 countries. Sales have
increased 6000% in four years.
of parliament are more informed of
industry-specific concerns before they
propose or debate legislation that will
affect these industries. They also vote on
any major bill going through parliament.
Shann has written several books,
cementing her position as a business
and gut health expert. She became a
bestselling author on Amazon for her
new book, How To Start A Business At
Your Kitchen Table; an insightful and
realistic guide for any woman looking to
branch out on their own.
Chuckling Goat’s all-natural kefir program,
which combines drinking live culture kefir
and applying it to the skin, is designed for
people with eczema, psoriasis, rosacea and
acne. Kefir is also a brilliant solution for
rebalancing gut health. In 2018, the company
scooped the Best New Dairy Drink in the
World accolade for the product.
They also offer a range of natural gut-health
products including cutting-edge microbiome
testing, via the Chuckling Goat website.
Another new product is the Complete
Prebiotic powder, which if taken alongside
the kefir, presents a total gut health solution.
Working closely with the leading microbiome
scientists at Atlas Biomed, the Chuckling
Goat team took advantage of the latest
research to blend 19 types of exotic fibre
into one quick and easy formulation, making
it as easy as possible to achieve ultimate
gut health.
She is also a member of the Parliamentary
Review, a series of independent publications,
which aims to share best practice among
policy makers and business leaders. This
means she will help ensure that members
Shann said: “[It] isn’t just about
business, it’s about change and female
empowerment; both highly relevant
themes at the moment. In the book I
help you work out how to develop a
concept into a viable business that
helps support your dream lifestyle. I
also teach you how to tap into your
hormonal cyclical superpowers so you
can do business in an intuitive way
chucklinggoat.co.uk
@ChucklingGoat
@chucklinggoat
15

16

Food & Drink Hero:
Hunter & Gather
Founded by British couple, Amy (lifelong Coeliac) and Jeff (self-declared
experimenter), Hunter & Gather are on a mission to provide you the tools you
need to thrive. By creating healthy, nutrient dense products, recipes, articles
and content for you to enjoy.
The last time I had 400 words to write about
myself was back in 2008 when I was crafting
my university application and was mandated
by my (in special measures) comprehensive
school in Dagenham (the world’s largest
council estate don’t you know) to include the
‘disadvantage background’ statement which
could potentially help level up the playing
field (so to speak).
Roll on a decade and a bit and I’m now sat
here as a co-founder of a multi-millionpound
optimal health focused food start-up.
We’ve seen triple-figure growth year-on-year
since Hunter & Gather’s inception in October
2017 and are quickly garnering national and
international recognition as a key player within
the keto and ancestral health-oriented space.
My journey to entrepreneurship is not typical.
We don’t have any business owners in
our family but my parents supported me
to get the best education available in our
circumstances. I did however, have a very
supportive Business Studies teacher at
school who’d had his own business - this
always interested me. In subsequent years
I was always fascinated by business and
creating something bigger than myself.
Back in 2012, the trajectory of my life
changed dramatically when I was introduced
to and adopted the concepts of low carb
and paleo diets - in essence, removing
grains, sugars and inflammatory seed oils. It
resonated deeply with my contrarian nature
and questioning mind. It all just made so
much sense and I wanted the world to know.
I just commenced my final year of Uni at the
time and the transformation in my wellbeing
and health was nothing short of a miracle.
I could think creatively, concentrate deeply,
be free from debilitating stomach pain and
resolve what seemed like perpetual hunger
for the first time in forever.
I graduated with a 1st class honours
degree, secured a much sought after
graduate role with a leading contractor
and commenced my career as a Quantity
Surveyor - a lucrative career that
promised all the trappings of ‘success’.
But three years into the corporate world,
I just wasn’t satisfied. There was an
insatiable desire to enrich, empower and
encourage others to become a better
version of themselves which I could
foresee was not possible in my corporate
role. I sought a solution and even
considered graduate entry medicine.
The answer was staring me in the face.
My co-founder (and partner in life) Amy
was working at a pet food start-up that
questioned the status quo. Using the
career capital I’d developed in supply
chain, procurement and cashflow
alongside with Amy’s pedigree within
the food industry we created Hunter &
Gather, which launched in October 2017.
There is a strange sense of this journey
being pre-determined. Increasingly it
feels that everything was for a reason
and that we are merely custodians of
this business that is positively impacting
thousands of lives. With an incredibly
passionate team and customers
demanding more and more, we feel like
we’re only just getting started.
hunterandgatherfoods.com
@HunterGatherUK
@hunterandgatheruk
17

18

Food & Drink Hero:
K’s Wors Boerewors
The Zimbabwean-born award-winning serial entrepreneur loves food, cooking
and hosting family and friends, where boerewors is always on the menu.
Delight believes in the preservation of Southern African heritage which she is
why she has become a strong ambassador of Southern African cuisine.
I’m Delight Mapasure, co-founder of K’s
Wors Ltd. We produce a range of multiple
award-winning, premium tier ‘South African
inspired’ sausages called Boerewors. We
were inspired to start our business due to a
lack of ‘authentic’ Southern African cuisine in
the Manchester region.
Growing up in Africa, one of our favourite
times we cherished was the vast family
gatherings where we’d cook boerewors on the
fire, while my mum made loads of sumptuous
relishes and salads. This was a time for
playing music and dancing. This is exactly
the kind of feeling we would like to bring to
anyone who tries our sausages; a feeling of
warm sunshine, spice and happiness.
We started off making the sausages in
our kitchen before moving to a specialist
production unit. We have created the UK’s
first commercial sausage that contains three
different types of meat; beef, pork and lamb.
We use authentic South African recipes and
seasonings to create our innovative products.
The meat sausage category has been
stagnant with all the usual suspects (sameylooking/samey-tasting)
that have conspired
to make sausages a forgotten/underappreciated
food category. Our premium
boerewors sausages are ‘game-changers,’
overflowing with deliciously distinct flavours
and textures. We have definitely found a gap
in the market for an African sausage.
We are currently listed on Ocado and
recently pivoted to online direct to support
the fine sausage-loving fraternity during
the pandemic. Increasingly, we are
tapping into the growing trend of travel
through global cuisine appreciation and a
blossoming demand for premium products
as consumers recalibrate their taste buds to
prioritise for quality over quantity.
kswors.co.uk
Food is about enjoyment and that is exactly
what K’s Wors is bringing to the table.
19

20

Food & Drink Hero:
The Vurger Co
Rachel and Neil have grand plans for The Vurger Co, all in keeping with their
mission of revolutionising fast food through the power of plants, to make
vegan food as accessible and convenient as possible.
Having started The Vurger Co in 2016 as a
market stall, we wanted to reimagine fast
food by giving it a vegan focus. Neil, my
co-founder, suffered with terrible stomach
issues for years and having become vegan in
our personal lives we suddenly realised how
much the market needed a great vegan fast
food restaurant with a focus on innovation,
and so The Vurger Co was born.
We built everything from the ground up,
starting as a market stall in 2016 to gain
traction and customer feedback right from
the get go. We grew from market stall to
pop-up restaurant in 2016 to 2018 whilst still
working full-time to support the business
growth. We would work Monday to Friday,
make burgers on a Saturday and then sell
them on a Sunday and we did that on repeat
to gain as much feedback as possible.
We then realised how important it was to
our customers to have somewhere regular
to go to meet their friends, catch up and
enjoy insanely delicious vegan fast food,
which just didn’t exist in the marketplace at
the time.
This allowed us to launch our Vegan
Mayo sauce range in May 2020, which is
now sold in amazing retailers like Planet
Organic, The Vegan Kind Supermarket
and stocked with incredible wholesalers
across the country.
This is a little snapshot into our story
and how we’ve gotten to where we are
just in four short years. We couldn’t
be more grateful to everyone who has
supported us from the ground up and
continues to show us love through
Instagram and in our restaurants. It is
because of you that we’re here today.
So in March 2018, we were able to open our
Shoreditch restaurant after a successful
crowdfunding campaign, our first
permanent restaurant. Then in November
2018 we grew to two sites in less than eight
months. And most recently our newest
Brighton store which opened amidst the
global pandemic in July 2020.
In between this time, we have been
extremely conscious of the fact that our
customers really want to access our brand
and products even when our restaurants
aren’t open. The one thing we have
controlled since the start of our launch is
our production, with a dedicated production
space. In turn, we have been able to innovate
whilst still keeping on top
of consistency.
thevurgerco.com
@TheVurgerCo
@thevurgerco
21

22

Food & Drink Hero:
Plant Pops
Anushi from Plant Pops, makes delicious, award-winning plant based snacks
that are good for you, the environment and the communities that create them.
The seeds are sustainably grown in Bihar, India and roasted with no artificial
flavourings or preservatives.
At Plant Pops, we make delicious, healthconscious,
plant-based snacks that are
good for you, the environment and the wider
community that create them.
but without any of those annoying bits
that get stuck in your teeth.
Our snacks are made from ancient grains
and seeds, inspired by ingredients that
have been eaten for centuries yet somehow
appear to have been overlooked by the
modern world.
Our initial range of Popped Lotus Seeds
is inspired by my childhood growing up in
India. Plant Pops come in three delicious
flavours: Himalayan Salt, Smoked Chilli
and Peanut Butter and were crowned Best
Snacking Innovation at the 2019 World Food
Innovation Awards 2019, only one week into
our launch!
I’ve always been a foodie but I came up with
the idea for Plant Pops after making popped
lotus seeds at home (just like my grandmother
and mother had done before) with a variety
of curious (sometimes improbable) flavour
combinations that I took into work to test on
my fellow KPMG work colleagues.
Popped lotus seeds are something we’ve
always eaten. Traditionally you buy
them plain in a big bag, and flavour them
yourselves at home, using anything from
curry leaves to turmeric and mustard seeds.
Fast forward 20 years after my parents
moved to the UK, and I found myself
working long hours and snacking all the time.
In no time I was bored of crisps and popcorn
which was all there was on offer. I started
taking in my (extremely) homemade popped
lotus seeds to save my colleagues’ sanity (&
my taste buds).
Everyone loved them, which is when I
knew we were onto a winner. They’re a
really familiar texture once you try them –
somewhere between popcorn and a rice cake,
My friend Ash was the first to get
hooked and he’s now co-founder of
our business. We must have tested
around 15 different flavours across
hundreds of people before deciding on
our three-strong starter line up (with
more to follow!).
Our mission is always to create
snacks that are good for you, good
for the environment and good for the
communities that create them. Every
pack sold helps us support Action
Village India, a charity that supports
farmers and their families in Northern
India, from where we source our
popped lotus seeds.
plantpopssnacks.com
@plantpopssnacks
@plantpopsnacks
23

24

Food & Drink Hero:
Made For Drink
For someone who started out at Walkers as a graduate selling crisps off the
back of a van, it’s probably not that surprising to discover that years down
the line Dan Featherstone found himself setting up a gastronomic snacking
enterprise in leafy Berkshire.
In truth, Made for Drink started off as an
indulgent personal project, with an inquisitive
me wondering out loud whether I could
design a product and brand to accommodate
what I perceived to be a gaping hole within
the UK’s fine snacking fixture.
What had started out as a light, albeit slightly
‘obsessive; hobby in the kitchen was rapidly
evolving into something altogether more
significant, as I started spending more and
more hours hunched over the family oven.
By now, I was wondering whether my idea
could ever find itself a home within the UK’s
reawakening independent pub scene, where
sublime craft beers, micro-distillery spirits
and clean-deck mixers were all jostling
to reconnect with a growing swathe of
increasingly experimental pub-goers.
Not wanting to die wondering, I pitched up
at what I (and many others) deem to be the
finest pub on this island, namely Heston’s
Crowne Pub in Bray. It was, and remains to
this day the best, most illuminating meeting
I’ve ever had; they loved the products,
believed there was a genuine opportunity
for them if I was able to scale up my
artisanal snacks and package them both
properly and legally.
Now I was fully up and running, immersing
myself in some of the finest snacking
traditions from around the globe whilst
acquainting myself with everything from
best-in-class ingredients to regional cooking
methods and cuisine in an audacious bid to
reclaim the local pub as the heartbeat of the
local community, championing food-centric
downtime with friends and family.
Central to my vision was to retain control of
our production so we weren’t ever beholden
to anyone else in terms of who we employed,
quality control, what ingredients we used or
how many man hours we devoted to product
innovation. This is why the team and I were
so proud to become Maidenhead
& Windsor’s first EU approved
manufacturing food business,
employing local staff and paying them
above the living wage, whilst training
them in a genuine craft that will hold
them in good stead moving forward.
Unfortunately, lockdown hasn’t been
kind in the sense that our on-trade
hotel and hospitality heartland is, for the
meantime at least, firmly under the cosh.
Fortunately, Made for Drink isn’t a
one-trick range of snacks which is why
we’ve enjoyed significant successes
within Sainsbury’s, Waitrose, Ocado,
Amazon, Daylesford, and Fortnum &
Mason; (to name but a few) prestige
listings that have enabled us to be more
economically resilient than most.
As a small, family-owned business we’re
especially proud of our ever-expanding
‘Doing The Right Thing’ initiative which
began with the launch of state-of-theart
compostable pouches and has gone
on to proactively raise animal welfare
standards. We’ve established our own
UK-based carbon fund, (sequestering
a sizeable plot of land in Devon and
working in tandem with the Forestry
Commission) to secure the business’s
long-term carbon neutral status.
The icing on the cake, however, is our
initiative involves forging a mutually
beneficial collaboration with English
Heritage, a five year global partnership
which allows us in 2021 to launch a
premium-tier range of English Heritage
snacks that will raise the profile of
this deserving national charity whilst
generating some invaluable funds for
their bottom line.
madefordrink.com
25

26

Food & Drink Hero:
Pep & Lekker
The answer to a tricky family problem - how to give a gang of fussy eaters (and one
keen vegan) the nourishment they need, hidden within the flavours and textures
they love. Susan and Juliette worked for over a year with award-winning chefs and
nutritionists to create what was to become a range of soups and snacks .
My background was that of a lawyer working
across a number of leading city law firms,
primarily in support roles to work around
my family commitments. When my kids
went to university, I knew I needed to do
something different, I didn’t know what, but
felt it should revolve around running my own
business, which was something I’d always
wanted to do but maybe lacked the courage
to embrace.
I’m someone who has always worked
collaboratively so I asked my sister in law
Juliette, a former psychotherapist, to join
me in my journey, as she has a very different
skillset, and so we complement each other
really well.
We started with a creamy soup made with
cashew nuts, using seed snacks which
provided the background texture. It certainly
wasn’t easy lugging 25kg of onions around
a kitchen or being on our feet 10 hours a
day and ultimately we struggled to meet
the volumes needed for a chilled product to
succeed. However, we did unwittingly have
our eureka moment which was deciding
to do something interesting with those
nutritious seeds we’d been drowning in soup.
Seed Snacks was really a result of me
struggling to find good food for my lazy,
vegan son.. Henry had become vegan and
was eating really badly, and for the first
time I started to read back of packs. So
much of the food was packed with dried
egg and milk or loaded with sugar, salt and
synthetic rubbish. I was sure a real gap in
the market existed for real ingredient food
that embraced great nutrition as well as
taste. We refuse to focus on calories or the
ridiculous guilt that so often surrounds food,
because we both believe that there’s far too
much emphasis on dieting.
vegan, have given up eating meat and
faced into my own sugar addiction
having grown up on products like
Ribena and tomato ketchup. As I got
older the sugar highs and lows started
to become a real problem, with mood
and energy swings. It is definitely
not easy to wean yourself off sugar,
and I do have the occasional treat,
but snacking on our seed snacks has
definitely helped me control my weight,
mood and energy levels.
There have certainly been a number
of low points and wrong turns along
the way but I wouldn’t change a thing
about my new Seed Snacks life. We
are forever inundated with positive
responses from happy customers
which is so rewarding, knowing that
we are making a positive difference to
so many peoples’ lives. Seeing Seed
Snacks on Ocado and in stores like As
Nature Intended and Sainsbury’s still
gives me an incredible buzz. After 25
years of working for other people, and
never enjoying office politics, I have
finally found the freedom to set my
own agenda, which is truly liberating.
pepandlekker.com
@PEPandLEKKER
@pepandlekker
Along the way I’ve learnt so much about my
own relationship with food and, whilst not
27

28

Food & Drink Hero:
Purely
Following many years of travelling around South America, Stefania fell in
love with plantains, and decided that this would be the first product of many.
Stef’s vision is to create a range of snacking products sourced from around
the world with the Purely twist!
I was born with a curious mind. My mission
in life is to make the world a little less boring.
I have been an explorer from a young age,
and I’m excited by the world, diverse cultures
and different ways of living.
more like an assured, highly nutritious
vegetable than a fruit.
I have chased variety all my life, growing
up in a little Italian town called Mesagne, a
seaside village in Pugla of 20,000 people - a
quaint, tucked-away town where everyone
knows everything about each other.
As an Italian it was inevitable that food
would sit at the heart of home life and most
conversations, but for me it was also the
spark to study languages & international
business and travel.
After graduation I had no idea what I wanted
to do. My two passions were languages and
solving problems and somehow I wanted
to combine the two. A European placement
opportunity got me a role in the marketing
department of a Welsh company supporting
women in business. My next stop was
BanaBay, a fresh fruit import and export
business, which traded in South America and
played to my Spanish speaking strengths
Over the next few years I would accompany
my colleague on Spanish speaking trips
to Ecuador, The Dominican Republic and
Colombia primarily for procurement reasons,
but increasingly negotiations. In no time,
Ecuador developed a special place in my
heart and I wondered how I could share this
experience with others.
Plantain, a popular street food, seemed the
perfect bridge, especially as the incumbent
plantain brands in the UK targeted ethnic
and Caribbean communities as opposed to
the mainstream.
Plantain for the uninitiated is the humble,
unassuming cousin of the highly energised
banana, a savoury relative that behaves
In stark contrast to our ‘plantain
peers,’ we refused to dabble with
preservatives, additives or palm oil.
We wanted to really bring a fresh
proposition to the market, using only
the finest natural ingredients that
would support the snacking needs of
various ‘food minorities’ (vegans, freefrom
community….) and healthier living
snack enthusiasts.
In short, we had started on an
adventure to showcase amazing
products from around the globe.
Plantain is the beginning but not the
end of the adventure as we have a lot
more innovation coming down the line.
welovepurely.com
@WeLovePurely
@welovepurely
29

30

Food & Drink Hero:
Great British Biscotti
Whisper it quietly, there’s a foodie revolution taking place in Dorset. Not an
angry mob, placard-waving revolution but a thoughtful foodie takeover being
led by Paul Rostand and his small huddle of discerning biscovites.
Great British Biscotti was born from a series
of nagging thoughts that started whirring
around my head and refused to go away. Why
was it that over the course of 2,000+ years
Biscotti had never evolved beyond almond?
Why had no one taken the trouble to perfect
the texture and make it more UK consumerfriendly.
We Brits like a biscuit that won’t
break your teeth. I was convinced my team
could solve this long-standing dilemma by
creating something not too hard yet not
too soft.
We thought, ‘Why not launch the first ever
range of savoury biscotti?’ - brilliant for
idle snacking with a drink, accompanying
a thoughtfully choreographed cheese or
charcuterie platter, or as tasty croutons for
dropping in soups/salads; even a perfectlyproportioned
canape base.
In the blink of an eye our range grew from five
up to 20 including some classics like Pecan
Pie, Sour Cherry & Chocolate, Sweet Thai
Chilli etc. We also spied the potential for the
range to go into foodservice for catering and
cafes, so developed a standalone range of
1kg boxes and grab-n-go twin packs.
When we started Great British Biscotti in a
small kitchen back in early 2016 I had no idea
how fast it would grow and how demanding
the journey would be, I had a vague idea
because in a past life I’d run a food import
sales and marketing business, but in those
days I was using other people’s factories
around the world.
We started with two small table top ovens
and a small domestic mixer. That was March
2016, by June we’d moved into a 1,500sq ft
industrial unit, which felt like moving into an
industrial mansion. I was confident it would
last forever, but by October that same year
we had outgrown it and had to move into our
third bakery where we currently reside (about
4000 sq ft). Already, I can see the next
move looming, as we are nearly out of
space again.
When starting a business, you have
to dedicate your life to it 18 hour days,
seven days a week, waking up at
3am worrying about getting an order
completed in time or cash flow.
Initially its ’fun stress’, baking your first
biscuits and setting up your first bakery.
But, this can quickly turn into ‘deep
stress,’ which can seriously damage
your health unless you can learn to
stay on top – easier said than done, but
mindfulness/meditation certainly helps.
Friends and family can sometimes get
a little tired of you talking about biscotti
and the technicalities of how it’s baked
24/7, too.
The most rewarding factor
is developing your team and
understanding that you are helping
make their lives better. I’m truly blessed
with an amazing 12-strong team and
we all believe that even greater success
is lying in wait around the next corner,
which for now is more than enough.
greatbritishbiscotti.co.uk
@GBBiscotti
@greatbritishbiscotti
31

32

Food & Drink Hero:
Purition Shakes
Purition is all about ‘real food.’ It’s made without compromise in small
thoughtful batches using best-in-class ingredients from trusted farming
communities. Where possible they source locally whilst doing their utmost to
reduce their unnecessary plastics footprint whilst creating zero food waste.
Purition is wholefood nutrition, well-balanced,
‘real’ food shakes. Simply put, Purition is
rethinking food, creating a range of honest,
naturally nutritious meals that can be served
in a glass. More importantly Purition is a longoverdue
antidote to the Machiavellian world
of ‘snake oil’ diet shakes and ultra-processed
supplements, overflowing with synthetic
nasties and over-worked ingredient decks.
but we wanted to create a natural
alternative. Purition reaches out and
helps anyone who has been let down
by diet plans, diet clubs, diet shakes….,
a convenient, anytime meal that helps
make dietary change straightforward
and stress-free.
My first career revolved around being part of
the sales & marketing fine art and antiques
fraternity. As I headed into my 30s I realised
that I needed to make some changes to my
diet and lifestyle. I was putting on weight and
feeling really sluggish - the bloat was real! I
couldn’t carry on into my 40s like that.
I really didn’t like where I was heading -
definitely overweight, too many weekends of
overindulgence, followed by an all-consuming
lack of motivation. I jumped in at the deep end
and began having PT sessions but quickly
realised that ‘you can’t out train a poor diet.’
My PT was always talking about the
importance of protein at every meal, so I
went on the lookout for protein shakes, but
hadn’t found any that weren’t stacked full
of artificial flavourings, sweeteners, gums,
fillers and various other dubious ingredients I
couldn’t pronounce.
Today, Purition is a Shropshire-based
business, using 85% best-in-class
British ingredients, (chia, linseed,
whey) making its presence felt on
both sides of the Atlantic, taking a
firm stand against the abundance of
‘false prophet’ diet shakes currently
in circulation, unsatisfactory meal
solutions over-flowing with cheap, overprocessed
ingredients sourced from
some of the less finicky/well-regulated
corners of the planet.
Roll forward a few years and I discovered
some high-protein, low-carb breakfast ideas,
namely linseed, sunflower and almond seed
mixes. And that’s where the idea of Purition
came from.
The heady mix of protein, fibre, and healthy
fats from seeds and nuts was a real gamechanger
in terms of convenience, natural
nutrition and suitability for all manner of diets
and dietary needs.
We get the convenience of shakes and meal
replacements to bring about dietary change,
purition.co.uk
@puritionuk
@puritionuk
33

34

Food & Drink Hero:
Pawfect Foods
Prash Patwardhan believes we need to respect and reward our pet’s
unwavering loyalty and companionship with a far-reaching range of
meticulously made, nutritionally-savvy treats that best reflect the implicit
ties and deep-rooted trust that exists between pet & pet owner.
Like human food before, pet food is going
through a long overdue ‘redemption curve’
courtesy of the new swathe of dynamic,
health-conscious pet foods and treats.
New products are challenging the once
inescapable stranglehold of over-processed,
‘nutritionally-vacant’ fodder that for too long
has trundled down soulless, multi-national
conveyor belts.
As a blue chip marketer, I was always
looking for opportunities for a nimble-pawed
disruptor to cause ‘polite chaos’ in a lazy,
‘lost-in-time’ food category.
look back seven or eight years, you’d
undoubtedly notice that traditional dog food
innovation (like human food before) was
driven solely by the notions of convenience
and economies of scale, never ingredient
integrity, taste or nutritional worth.
Today, dog food has evolved into one of the
most dynamic categories within the FMCG
marketplace. It’s a food aisle where brands
embrace every imaginable food philosophy,
from raw, organic grass-fed and grain-free
to cold-pressed and functional.
And yet, at a time when dog food is aligning
with today’s healthier living agenda, dog
snacks remain lost in time, too often
rammed with masking salt and sugars,
synthetic nasties and all manner of lowgrade
ingredients.
As a forward-thinking pet parent it frustrated
me to see growing numbers of obese dogs
(25% in the UK) plodding around my local
neighbourhood. I have always been cynical
of the long-standing untruth that dogs are
single-track carnivores. No one’s suggesting
that meat isn’t the mainstay to any healthy
dog’s diet. However, even dog’s ancestors
foraged for fruit, herbs and grasses to
maintain their health.
Today it’s sadly all too clear that
overtly meat-centric diets are
responsible for an easily avoidable
swathe of pet health stress:
inflammation of key organs, including
the liver, kidneys and pancreas.
My award-winning business was born
to meet the needs of well-informed/
health-conscious pet parents who
were desperate for their dogs to
embrace the same healthier agendas
that they themselves enjoyed.
Pawfect is a vocal advocate of pet
‘snackification’ (the creation of snacks
with clear-cut functional benefits).
This explains why Pawfect only works
with best-in-class, human-grade
ingredients that ripple with full-bodied
flavours and nutritional worth.
My unflinching Pawfect vision is that
through all of our products, from
the ‘authentic’ Himalayan chhurpi
sticks made using the milk of happy,
antibiotic and hormone-free cow and
yak herds, through to our cheescuits
made with 60% cheese not 6% cheese
powder, Pawfect will never settle for
second best.
pawfectfoods.co.uk
@PawfectTreat
@pawfect.foods
35

36

Food & Drink Hero:
Simplyseedz
Cathryn Zielinksi was out on a walk with her dogs one morning, and started
investigating whether it was possible to start producing and selling her
breakfast and snacks commercially. It was a redundancy project, little did she
know that this would become her full-time occupation.
My entrepreneur journey wasn’t something I’d
planned to do, and truly was a kitchen table
project while I applied for jobs. The idea had
sparked from talking with a neighbour while
walking my dogs.
Simplyseedz really began from the need to
change my lifestyle and eating habits. I had
got used to skipping breakfast and snacking
while out on the road travelling to customer
meetings. Having survived a pulmonary
embolism, I started making my own breakfast
cereals and toasting seeds purely for my own
and family’s health because I couldn’t find
what I wanted in the supermarket.
Following redundancy, and not knowing how
long it would take to get another job back in
the corporate world, Simplyseedz became a
project to keep the grey matter from going
any greyer. Little did I know, that this would
become a full-time job and occupation!
At Simplyseedz, we’ve set out to create
truly healthy, easy-to-prepare aprepare and
enjoyable breakfast meals and snacks that
have not been compromised by hidden
nasties and low grade ingredients.
We’re passionate about more transparency in
the food industry. There are many supposedly
‘good for you’ labelled products out there,
which when you delve a little deeper into
the ingredients decks, are shockingly full of
sugar and salt. Simplyseedz is challenging
the supermarket brand cereal aisle to be more
open and honest.
With big oats and pumpkin and sunflower
seeds, our fruity porridge is high in fibre, very
low in sugar content and especially heart
healthy, which comes from a maximum of
five ingredients.
Our very first customers included friends
and family, and I also participated in farmer’s
markets in Worcestershire.
Packaging was also reassuringly
uncomplicated and simple, with a handprinted
label that smudged if it got wet!
I started approaching local farm
shops and delis and production began
to increase in my home kitchen.
Everything was mixed by hand which
made my arm ache, which I often
referred to as my ‘porridge elbow.’
The biggest single challenge any small
business faces is cashflow. Keeping
on top of suppliers, orders, stock,
warehousing, deliveries, packaging,
labelling, administration, accounting
and sales keeps me very busy.
Once production moved out of my
home, it released some time and
welcome space.
www.simplyseedz.co.uk
@SimplySeedZ
@simplyseedz
37

The editor’s dozen
Each month, the editorial team put together a list of companies that have
caught their eye, from technology pioneers to supplying coffee on tap, these
businesses have piqued our interest, read on to find out why!
1. My Lifeline
The plant-based brews are
made with an organic coffee
blend from South America
and Asia. My Lifeline is the
first company within the UK
to augment 20mg of CBD in
each bottle.
Hero : Christen Dali
my-lifeline.co.uk
Hero : Tom Savano
tomsavano.com
Hero : Tina Chen
myteaismighty.com
1. 2.
Hero : Helen Burgess
littlecooksco.co.uk
3. 4.
Hero : Edmund Wood
belgroverum.com
5. 6.
Hero : Wilfred Emmanuel-Jones
theblackfarmerfarmshop.com
2. Little Cooks Co
An award-winning monthly
subscription box that has
been created to give families
opportunities to connect,
while teaching children
about the importance of food
nutritious ingredients.
3. Tom Savano
Tom’s premium cocktail
delivery is at your service
to bring you the most
exceptional, handcrafted
cocktails to your door.
4. Belgrove Rum
Belgrove Rum launched as
the first hazelnut rum on
the market, infusing pure
Demerara rum with notes of
toasted hazelnut, chocolate,
and a hint of vanilla.
5. HumaniTea
A proud social enterprise,
HumaniTea supports
wellbeing and sustainability
initiatives through
wholesome tea.
6. The Black Farmer
The Black Farmer is an
award-winning range of
gluten-free sausages and
meat products stocked in
major supermarkets across
the UK.
38

7. Squirrel Sisters
Squirrel Sisters is an awardwinning
brand with a range
of snacks that are vegan,
gluten-free, 100% natural
and contain no added sugar.
8. Plant Power
OG of the tempeh market,
they were the first to be
stocked in a UK supermarket.
Now in Sainsbury’s and
SuperValu, they’re the go-to
meat alternative for plantcurious
Brits.
Heroes : Gracie & Sophie Tyrrell
squirrelsisters.com
7. 8.
Hero : Lawrence Hill
plant-power.co.uk
9. Wholey Moly
The cookies are made from
100% natural ingredients, are
gluten-free and contain no
refined sugars, but still taste
like a damn good sweet treat
with your afternoon cuppa.
10. Chuckling Goat
Chuckling Goat offers a
range of natural gut health
solutions, including awardwinning
goats milk kefir, kefir
skincare and therapeutic
herbal tea.
11. Beans Coffee Club
Beans Coffee Club matches
you to a selection of
speciality coffees from a
list of over 100 independent
UK roasters, based on your
brewing method, taste
preference and price range.
Hero : Meenesh Mistry
wholeymoly.co.uk
9. 10.
Hero : Shann Jones
chucklinggoat.co.uk
12. Spice Kitchen
Spice Kitchen is a familyowned
company, specialising
in producing small-batch
spices which are handblended,
roasted and ground.
Heroes : Richard and Fiona Jones
beanscoffeeclub.com
11. 12.
Heroes : Sanjay & Shashi Aggarwal
spicekitchenuk.com
39

Pizza post pivot :
Ricotta get through this!
The nicest guys in pizza, Thom & James Elliot pivoted their restauarant, Pizza
Pilgrams, in the midst of a pandemic. Thom talks to Food & Drink Heroes about
all things pizza.
Thom & James Elliot, Pizza Pilgrims
Pizza Pilgrims serves slow proved Neapolitan pizza in pizzerias and at events
across the UK. The dough is made fresh daily, and the brother source the best
ingredients Italy has to offer in order to bring you the best possible pizza base
going. As any Neapolitan will tell you – its all about the crust.
40

Pizza Pilgrim’s Pizza in the Post has been a massive
success, what inspired the tasty parcels?
It was really my my brother, James’ idea to do it. We’d
been in lockdown for about two weeks and were
trying to figure out what to do.
And then my brother just called me out of the blue
and said, I’ve had this idea to send the ingredients of
a pizza through the post. Do you want to receive one?
I agreed, even though it sounded impossible. It
arrived the next day in a sort of wool bag and it
was a complete car crash, there had been a tomato
explosion everywhere. But the crucial thing was, it
was cold and under the required temperature for
food safety.
So we embarked on trying to send a few around
the country and just see how they turned out. We
thought, let’s have a crack, we’ll put a few up on our
website and see what happens.
We put 50 available to buy on the Wednesday
morning at 9:00 am and thought that would last us a
week or so. We sold out in 25 seconds or something
crazy. So the next day we advertised another 50, I
think we had 500 people try and buy one in the
first minute.
On Friday, we put 1,100 kits on sale. It was the busiest
hour in the history of the company, even with all the
restaurants closed. Since then, it’s just been frantic to
try and get on top of the service and improve it. But it
has been a really fun journey.
How did you fulfil the huge influx of orders?
It was great, just like being a start-up again. We
begged the landlord to let us have the restaurant next
door, they gave us the keys to that, so we moved all
the furniture out of the restaurant.
We bought loads of trestle tables and lined them up,
it was the opposite of a production line though, the
fridge was downstairs at the back, and the pizza dough
counter is upstairs at the front. It was also at the time
when nobody knew the social distancing situation,
so there was this endless ballet going on with people
dodging around each other and the tables.
The biggest issue we had by miles, and we had no
idea the level of anguish it was going to cause, was
ice packs. It turns out if you fill a chest freezer with
a thousand ice packs, it takes a week for them to
completely freeze.
We also didn’t realise that if the packs have the
smallest split, when it defrosts during the transit
process, all of the water comes out, and turns your
beautiful pizza box into mulch.
41

So yeah, ice was traumatic. It was one of those
situations where you live and learn, I still wake up with
cold sweats thinking about ice.
Will you continue sending Pizza in the Post, even
though your restaurants are back open?
When we started looking into it, we discovered that
most of our basil comes from Israel, and it has to
be flown in because it’s a fresh plant. This was a
massive red flag of for us!
Absolutely. We’ve opened up our own dedicated
production facility. We’re really focusing on trying
to perfect and increase the product range. It’s really
making a big difference at this time, as restaurant
trade is still very precarious.
Lockdown was really hard, especially on the team,
when there’s no direction or real plan every morning.
Obviously, when you have a certain sized business,
everyone feels like they should be given the right
tools to do a job. But it was just so far away from that
situation, it was a confusing time as no one had a
clue what was going on. Everything was stressful.
It was a real challenge to keep on the track. But there
was this amazing wartime spirit going on, when
everyone pulled together to keep moving forward,
despite all the constant setback.
You have a book release in November, is it about
pizza by any chance?
It’s a love letter to pizza. We make Neapolitan pizza
and that’s where it all started for us, but we’ve gone
down this massive rabbit hole over the last eight
years. We love the passion, authenticity and history of
Neapolitan. But we also think there’s loads of room in
the world for New York pizza and Chicago deep dish.
And actually, every culture in the world has got some
kind of flat bread, so the book is just like a celebration
of everything pizza.
So, we went to a food tech event, which was like
speed dating, they put different companies in a room
to throw around ideas. We met these guys who were
starting an open farm and said that they could help
us grow basil.
It’s been ticking along and, 18 months later, we took
the first delivery of our very own strain of basil, which
we’ve worked with them on, to create the whole
flavour profile perfect for our pizzas.
Within three months they are going to be able to
grow all of our basil for the whole company, in one
warehouse, saving us a quarter of a million air miles
a year. It’s genuinely such a triumph. And it’s only just
the beginning, we’d like to look at other parts of the
business that we could make more sustainable too.
Watch this space!
The book is a vomit of a million ideas, but it’s just
meant as a bit fun. There’s some history about how
pizza started, around the world pizza city guides from
LA, New York, Chicago, Paris, Naples, London… there’s
also our favourite pizzerias from the movies. We even
feature a ‘how you eat pizza and what it says about
you section.’ We had body language experts helping
us figure that out.
There’s some really good interviews in there with
the CEO of Pizza Hut, Domino’s and Papa John’s.
Everything focusses on the point that there’s no such
thing as a bad pizza, every kind of pizza is great. Fun
fact, the cover that’s made to look and feel like a pizza
box, was designed by the gorilla from Mighty Boosh.
So, we heard you’re growing your own Basil?
Oh my God. It’s awesome. It’s the best thing we’ve
ever done. Before COVID kicked in we were really
getting into figuring out how to become more
sustainable and reducing our carbon footprint.
‘A book by Pizza Pilgrims’ launches on the 12th of
November, make sure you get your mits on a copy from
Amazon before they sell out!
pizzapilgrims.co.uk
@pizzapilgrims
@pizzapilgrims
42

43

The Big Bakes :
Rising to the top
Adam Chaudhri and Eloise Frank, two very proud small business owners
who in 2017 set up The Big Bakes, with one mission, to make baking fun and
accessible for all. They love going to immersive experiences. With backgrounds
in travel and events, they knew they could create something great.
Adam Chaudhri and Eloise Frank, The Big Bakes
Baking. It’s all become a little bit serious. We watch pros battle it out, never
quite sure how they do it. But baking is for everyone. The Big Bakes is all
about the fun, creativity, accessibility and of course taste. They do all the
boring prep, develop amazing recipes and create an amazing day out. And
with a new bake every month, the fun never stops.
44

What inspired you to launch The Big Bakes?
It all started back in 2016, when we organised an
office bake off with our team at work. We loved the
creativity, fun and competition it led to, and it sparked
an idea for us to create an experience like no other.
We began to search for a baking-based night out
for our team. After a few days of hunting, we quickly
realised there was nothing out there that was light
hearted, fun and accessible and we realised there
was a gap in the market.
After a relentless period of recipe research, marquee
meetings, property searching, bank meetings,
professional baker interviews and so much more… we
decided to buy a marquee and it was all go from there!
How are you operating in these new times?
It has certainly been a more challenging year, but
our philosophy is to only focus on the things you can
control. For us, that has meant treating our staff and
customers the best we can, ensuring our venues
are the perfect place to socialise, and that every
customer has the best experience we can offer. Since
we have re-opened we have been full to the rafters.
Our venue’s layout is naturally socially distant, with
12 baking stations all 2 meters apart. We have also
hosted several remote bakes for corporate customers
where we send all the ingredients through the post,
and stream live from our venues. People want to
socialise, but they also want to do that responsibly.
That is why our venues have been so popular.
What have been your favourite personal triumphs
along your business journey?
We really believe the future of entertainment is
immersive. Customers demand so much out of
events today, and the whole experience needs to feel
crafted from start to finish. We also get to tap into
peoples creativity, whilst creating the perfect social
environment. The journey to where we are today has
been hugely exciting and there have certainly a few
moments along they way that have stood out.
In out first month of opening in 2017, a junior writer
from the Evening Standard attending our event but
didn’t promise any specific coverage. When we
opened the paper, we found a double page spread
showing off London’s latest and, in her view, ‘best’
event. We couldn’t believe it.
Our bookings suddenly took off, and we quickly
received further press from the likes of Buzzfeed and
the Metro. Since then we’ve had our press reach over
50 million people.
Fast forward a few years and we have hosted
everyone from Roman Kemp, Davina McCall
and LadBaby. In 2019, Eloise also received the
Everywoman Artemis Award for the most inspiring
woman running a start-up in the UK, which was a real
moment for celebration.
You were recently named Small Business
Entrepreneurs of the Year for London and East of
England at the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
What did that mean to you?
It was third times a charm for us. We have been
finalists the last three years running, and to win
during the most challenging year hospitality has
ever faced was really fantastic. It is always great to
have the recognition and reassurance that despite
everything that is going on, you are doing great work.
We will be celebrating properly once we can get all
our team together safely.
What does the future hold? Have you got any more
plans for expansion?
Well, perhaps unsurprisingly….cake is involved. But
yes, we have some fairly ambitious plans for the next
three years. Some obvious and others less so. We
will certainly be expanding to more cities in 2021.
We always get such a wonderful reception, and each
week we receive a fair amount of fan mail asking us
to come to their city of choice. We want to make 2021
the year that 2020 wasn’t, so keep an eye on us for
some pretty exciting developments in the year ahead!
thebiglondonbake.com
@TheBig_Bakes
@thebig_bakes
45

46

When did the explosion begin?
Alan’s interest in an entrepreneurial life began when he was just 11 while
his father worked as a mechanic on Mr Kipling lorries. With spare crates
of cakes destined for the rubbish, Alan’s father brought them home for the
family. “After the first month we were sick of eating cakes, so I took them
to school and sold them,” he recalls.
Grenade:
Blowing
away
the
competition
An interview with Alan
Barratt, Founder of
the sports nutrition
powerhouse, Grenade.
Juliet never had any intention of becoming an entrepreneur, however. In
fact, she began a career in education but always endeavoured to do more
than the ‘job role,’ whether that was in terms of writing, or development
and training.
“I tried to make job roles my own. I’ve always worked hard to make the
most of things.” As a teenager, Alan was a “poor eater” and never had
an appetite for food. He remembers looking for a drink that would give
him the calories he needed instead of eating food, but struggled with the
sports nutrition industry almost non-existent compared to today. Inspired
by his interest in strength training, and a desire for meal replacement
products, Alan launched his first business in 1999 at the age of 23.
Alan and Juliet met in 2003, with Juliet joining to help run the sports
nutrition distribution business in 2005. In 2008, they sold the business
and remained in place, running the company for a year after. By that point,
however, the pair had already come up with the idea for Grenade.
“We spent four years working on IP and trademarks,” Alan explains, “because
it’s a very copycat industry. There’s something protectable and brilliant about
Grenade packaging, because it either looks like one, or it doesn’t.”
‘You don’t know what you don’t know’
Alan and Jules talk almost with a sense of melancholy when they look
back at the early days of the company. While they reminisce about the
simplicity of being a tiny business, they provide some very real insights
into what it’s like starting a business.
“To be honest, the early days were really, really good fun!” Jules begins.
“We like learning and we had to learn to do everything. I was doing
invoices on Word documents, we were learning how to get barcodes
because we’d never done it before. We were learning all about trademarks
and how to get products on the shelves in supermarkets. It was really
exciting because we were building something we genuinely believed in,
and started to see people get enthusiastic about it. And that’s what really
drives you as an entrepreneur.”
Alan continues: “There’s something quite nice about not knowing what
you’re doing, because you don’t know what you don’t know. It wasn’t
stressful in the early days because there were a lot fewer things to be
stressed about. When there’s two of you, you know each other’s strengths
and weaknesses and I would know if I didn’t do something Jules would,
and vice versa. I liked the simplicity of having a smaller business.”
47

While all entrepreneurs strive for growth, it appears that for Alan and
Juliet, at least, business becomes a lot more serious and a bit less fun
when you start to achieve the big numbers. Juliet explains: “If we wanted
to do something in the early days, we just did it. We didn’t really have to
think too hard about it. But when you’ve got investors on board and you’re
responsible for paying the salary of 70 members of staff, there’s a lot
more pressure to make the decisions you know will be right and come off.”
“Nowadays, if we made a mistake in production, you’re talking millions of
pounds lost. It’s all proportionate to the size and scale of the business,
but I’m glad we learned what we did when we did, because those things
definitely hurt a lot more as you get bigger.”
‘We haven’t been successful’
“
Young entrepreneurs
wanting your advice
is quite nice, it makes
you realise how much
you know. We’ve built
something from scratch
and created value.
“
Everyone has a different version of what success is. The perception of
entrepreneurs is that success is determined by how much profit they
make, how many countries they sell in, how much they sell a business for,
when we asked the duo what their biggest achievement is, they said it was
looking after family.
“I think ‘successful’ is a weird word. I don’t think we’ve been successful.
We’ve worked bloody hard and have got a great business, but I don’t
really think I’ve been successful,” Jules explains. It’s interesting how
people define success. Many will say it’s the ability to buy a certain car
or a big house. But Alan believes the definition of success is changing
dramatically. He describes those sorts of things as “the icing on the cake.”
“I don’t think entrepreneurs set out to acquire material goods. It’s very nice
to have, but I suppose how we define success is seeing our product in
every retailer in the country. Being able to buy things for my parents was
big for me. We were never bothered about acquiring things for ourselves,
but we like seeing others benefit from what we’ve created.”
Forward thinking
Now, Alan and Jules have entered a phase of their entrepreneurial careers
where they are starting to think about the future and what they can do to
support the next generation. Alan says: “I guess recognition for what we’ve
done and what we’re doing is fantastic. Young entrepreneurs wanting your
advice is quite nice, it makes you realise how much you know. We’ve built
something from scratch and created value.”
Alan’s focus remains on building Grenade even bigger than it already is. At the
time of writing, Grenade is stocked in around 52% of possible stores across
the UK. That may impress most, but Alan takes the view that Grenade isn’t
stocked in 48%. He believes Grenade can keep doing what it’s doing and
double the size of the company just by increasing its distribution to over 90%.
grenade.com
@grenadeofficial
@grenadeofficial
In 2019, Grenade overtook Mars as the second biggest selling chocolate
bar in the UK, which seems incredible given the country’s long-established
love of chocolate. However, Alan believes that Grenade will grow even
quicker, and firmly establish itself as the country’s most popular chocolate
bar, if is stocked in the right place. “We’re winning at the moment from the
back of the store,” Alan says.“If we can be at the front of the store, we can
grow even quicker. In fact, we just need supermarkets to keep us in stock
because a lot are always sold out!”
When they launched the company in 2010, Grenade really did explode
onto the market. But a combination of hard work, love of the brand and
true entrepreneurial nous has seen Grenade’s initial explosion develop into
a chain reaction.
48

49

Fighter Shots are all natural health shots aimed at anyone who wants to boost their immunity
A passionately produced ‘alcoternative’ that imitates the essence of mezcal, with added natural energy
Feisty, spicy, sweet, tangy sauces to pimp your prawns, big up your burritos, and kick your stir fry in the noodles
50

Things that make you go oooooo
Fighter Shots
Fighter Shots create daily energy shots from a range of ginger, turmeric and
manuka honey aiming to boost and proactively protect immunity. The Ginger +
Manuka Honey shot is the first such shot in the UK!
Anna Szymanowska founded the business in 2019 at London Business School’s
Incubator and by Q2 2020 it had over 50,000 shots sold across the UK. Kavita Madhvani
joined her a few months ago, when they also started exporting to the UAE.
Fighter Shots started raising funds to expand the business even further. The fundraising
campaign was so successful, that they reached their target within 24 hours and now are
overfunding at crowdcube.com/fightershots.
fightershots.co.uk
@fightershots
Mockingbird Spirit
Developed and launched during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic by Fern McCoy. A one of
its kind, uniquely designed recipe using authentic blue agave straight from Mexico, as
well as the added adaptogen ashwagandha giving it health and wellbeing benefits.
Embodying the spirit of the Mockingbird, humbly mimicking the traditional taste of
Tequila, it allows you to have all the margaritas with none of the consquential migraines
due to its 0% Alcohol content.
Ashwagandha is an adaptogen, meaning it helps your body manage stress and anxiety
whilst being a natural energy booster. Sparkle your way through the day, into the evening
and wake up the next day still glittering.
mockingbirdspirit.com @mockingbird_spirit @MockingSpirit
The Woolf’s Kitchen
The Woolf’s Kitchen is the brainchild of Leith’s trained food writer, Dominique
Woolf. Inspired by her Thai auntie’s recipes, she has created a range of fresh, sweet
and spicy sauces that are just as delicious with cheese toasties, barbecues and
burritos as they are with noodles and stir-fries.
Dominique launched The Woolf’s Kitchen during lockdown - and with no childcare. Her
kids have been on deliveries and even to meetings with her. In just two months she
is already stocked in nearly 25 independents, with 350 bottles also going out in a hot
sauce subscription box.
thewoolfskitchen.com
@thewoolfskitchen
51

Maverick distillers, crafting bespoke gin and spirits for businesses
Caribe coffee exclusively offers specialty single origin beans
Think of your favourite cured meat but healthier and tastier, that’s Biltong
52

Things that make you go oooooo
In The Welsh Wind
For Alex Jungmayr and Ellen Wakelam, a 1,047 mile walk around around Wales to
alleviate the frustrations of work and stresses of life was most certainly the catalyst
for In the Welsh Wind Distillery.
Over the three months of their adventure, they found time to talk, dream and believe again.
Wild nights camping on beaches and cliff tops joining together with hard miles, proved to
quiet and simplify their existence enough for them to see where they might go next.
They now find themselves running the distillery and producing bespoke spirits in truly
small batches for businesses in the premium drinks industry.
inthewelshwind.co.uk
@inthewelshwind
@Inthewelshwind
Caribe Coffee
Coming from a country that produces some of the best coffee worldwide, (Wilmer
and Elle Carcamo put their “Latin” love into every harvest) were shocked at some of
the poor quality coffee drank in the UK
Wilmer embraced the cold climate of the north east of England but missed the quality
coffee that was a standard in Central America and he quickly saw an opportunity to
start up a new business. Caribe Coffee is a family-run business started through a love
for quality coffee and a vision to improve the quality of coffee that we drink both in our
home and in independent coffee shops.
caribecoffeeco.com @caribecoffeeco @caribecoffeeco
The Meat Boss
Clive Peterson developed a love for biltong and fine meats. In 2018 The Meat Boss was
founded, enabling him to share a truly authentic South African treat.
The Meat Boss combines the finest, authentic ingredients including carefully selected
prime cuts of British and Irish silverside with the finest spice selections to create its
tasty, healthy, protein biltong snacks.
Biltong is gaining traction in the UK as a go-to snack for athletes, fitness fanatics, and
just about anyone on the hunt for a high-protein, low-sugar solution to hunger pains.
themeatboss.co.uk
@themeatbossbiltong
53

54

Bread & Jam 2.0: The UK’s First Food
Founders’ Festival Goes Virtual
On top of the educational program, there were also
pitching opportunities with the top retailers, Dragon’s
Den style investor pitching and the opportunity to
interact and network with any other delegate or
speaker in private 1:1 meetings.
“‘Our platform recreates many of the networking
aspects of real life events and going virtual is an
incredible opportunity to extend our support to a much
wider audience across the UK and Europe” says Bread &
Jam Co-founder Tara Mei.
Since 2016 the Bread & Jam Festival has been the “go
to” event for anyone wanting to start or grow a food or
drink business.
The annual conference for challenger brands pulls
together the biggest names in food and drink, from
successful entrepreneurs to high-street retailers and
industry investors. And, in spite of the turmoil caused
by COVID-19, this year was no different.
“We’ve been running a physical, real-life annual
conference, and lots of smaller events throughout the
year, for many years now but following lockdown we
had to quickly pivot to provide all of our support online.
The industry has needed our support more than ever
and so, since late March, we have run over 100 online
workshops and panels, many of them free to join.
And they’ve been attended by over 7,000 food & drink
brand owners and industry experts from across the
UK, Europe, USA, Asia, Australia and South America”
according to Bread & Jam Co-founder Jason Gibb.
Clearly lockdown has not slowed the enthusiasm for
starting a food business, and so Bread & Jam’s annual
conference ran virtually, on a cutting-edge digital
platform, from the 19 th to the 22 nd October 2020.
This 4-day event brought the usual mix of capability
training, peer-to-peer knowledge sharing and
networking to the next generation of food and drink
challenger brands. At its heart was the keynote talks
from some of the biggest names in food and drink,
workshops run by industry experts, and founder and
retailer panels covering every aspect of building a
food business.
Each year, dozens of brands secure listings following
their pitches at Bread & Jam, and this year will be no
exception. “Bread & Jam is one of my favourite events
of the year. We are often the launchpad retailer for UK
start-ups or brands entering the UK for the first time,
so I go anywhere that I am likely to find new, innovative
food and wellness brands. There is nowhere better
than Bread & Jam for that,” says Al Overton who is
Head of Buying at Planet Organic.
Producers love it too. “We didn’t expect things to move
so quickly after Bread & Jam, but Planet Organic liked
the product so just two weeks after the festival we were
supplying the market” says founder Alexandria Davies.
Ishen Paran
Oatly
Speakers included:
Ben Greensmith
Tony’s
Chocolonely
Jo Whitfield
Co-op
In the next few pages, we delve deeper into some
of the most exciting entrepreneurial stories, from a
couple of our favourite keynote speakers at Bread &
Jam 2.0. From the lighbulb moment in marketing Oatly,
to the dark truths enveloping the chocolate industry.
Buckle up, you’re in for one hell hell of a ride.
breadandjamfest.com
@breadjamfest
55

Swedish brand Oatly, which produces the nations goto
oat alternative to milk products, has experienced
a 90% growth in turnover in the UK in only one year.
Ishen Paran, Oatly’s UK general manager, speaks to
Bread & Jam 2.0 Virtual about all things oats.
The popular vegan milk brand was born from science
by a team working on lactose intolerance at Lund
University. The product challenged the food system
25 years ago, creating a loyal following in Scandinavia
and a steady revenue. “We used to act like a big
food company and results in creating products and
branding that followed the rules. We looked like a
product that people expected us to look like,” says
Ishen Paran, Oatly’s UK general manager.
However, in 2012, Toni Petersson joined the company
as CEO. It was a risky decision as he had no FMCG
experience, but he had a clear and compelling vision.
“He restructured the company and got rid of marketing
department, creatives became the centre of all parts of
the business. We work in ongoing discussions, there
are no hierarchical decisions which makes procedures
more fluid, project based and agile.”
Driving forward
In 2015, Oatly underwent a redesign to become
the brand we see on the shelves today. It was a
precarious decision, as it would likely disrupt its
loyal customer base. But the company were willing
to take the chance if it meant being propelled into
supermarkets across the globe. It was a worthy
gamble as Oatly is now one of the most prominent
plant-based brands in the market.
With a new confidence engrained within the brand,
a year later it went up against the dairy companies
despite the board’s advice not to. Using the slogan
‘it’s like milk, but made for humans.’ Oatly was sued,
and lost.
The case was publicised on the company website and
in local newspapers. “People heard about the case
and felt that a huge brand suing a small company
was ridiculous, so they showed their support for us.
And, support grew,” says Ishen. Oatly seized this
opportunity of growing awareness of the brand, whilst
they were in the public eye, to launch their products in
shops around the world.
Serious about climate impact
If you go into a coffee shop and ask for a milk
alternative, you are now usually offered a splash of
Oatly. The brand switched its focus in 2017, despite
grocery being 90% of its business, to coffee specialty.
They felt like they needed to find their own people,
whose purpose lined up with the brand rather than
it being dictated by the consumer, consultants and
third parties.
Sustainability is a huge factor in Oatly’s brand
message. Its packaging displays the climate impact
of their product. On the website, they make the
following statement, “Wouldn’t it be great if it was
easy for people to see and compare the climate
impact of different products right in the grocery aisle
before even deciding what to put in the cart?’ But we
didn’t just think it in a ‘it might be fun for us, as one
small oat company, to stick climate impact numbers
on our products’ kind of way, but more like a, ‘we
56

believe that consumer empowerment should be a law,
if not a human right’ kind of way. Because if you think
about it, a requirement to show a food product’s climate
footprint isn’t so different from the rules governing the
labelling of fat, sugar and other nutrients.”
The campaign for more companies to be transparent
about their CO2 imprint was banned by Swedish
authorities. So Oatly brought its campaign to the
UK. It also launched an appeal in Germany to
make climate labels a law. The petition gained
57,000 signatures and statistics showed that 85%
of Germans wanted to eat more climate-friendly.
Therefore, Oatly is currently building a coalition of
NOGs, and scientists to help present its case.
Oatly’s plans to help reduce their environmental
impact don’t stop there. It is electrifying its fleet,
launching farming projects to decrease dependency
on animals, and working on its factory so that it
operates on 100% renewable energy and will be able
to grow sustainably.
big businesses.” The company feels that moving
the money to more sustainable initiatives would
be massive for the plant-based movement as it
would give the financial world confidence that the
plant-based movement is there to back. The money
that would have gone to unsustainable investments
has gone to a sustainable one. So, by accepting
investment from Blackstone, they are actually turning
more venture capital green.
“We expected to get backlash in July, we were
prepared for the questions but didn’t go big on
announcements. But the story got picked up by an
influencer, the scale and speed of how that built up
put us on the back foot. But the information we’ve put
out there has hopefully changed people’s minds.”
In response to the backlash, Oatly issued a statement,
which read:
Last phase of change
Oatly gained a lot of public backlash recently for its
decision to receive investment from the world’s biggest
equity company, Blackstone, whch has been accused
of investing in a company linked to deforestation
of the amazon. It has also donated money to the
Trump administration. With so much focus on its
environmental impact and desire to disrupt the farming
industries, why did Oatly choose this investment route,
rather than opting for a green fund?
Ishen says, “Oatly was built on an idea for change.
The easiest way to evoke change is to upgrade
“Getting a company like Blackstone to invest in us
is something we have been working on to create
maximum change to benefit the planet. From a
sustainability perspective, we are convinced that
helping shift the focus of massive capital towards
sustainable approaches is potentially the single most
important thing we can do for the planet in the longterm.
We realise that all of you may not share this
view and disagree on the right path forward to create
a more sustainable world. That’s okay. Hopefully
we’ll continue to share the same end goal of a better,
more sustainable world, and that we are able to work
towards that goal together in whatever way we can.”
oatly.com
57

58

Unwrapping the truth about poverty within the
chocolate industry, Ben Greensmith, the UK and
Ireland Country Manager for Tony’s Chocolonely,
breaks down the complex issue at the Bread & Jam
2.0 Virtual festival.
Food for thought…
According to Tony’s Chocolonely annual FAIR Report:
In Ghana and Ivory Coast, over two million children
work on the land under illegal conditions because
their parents are not able to earn enough from their
cocoa harvest.
In Ivory Coast, the average cocoa farmer earns an
average of $0.78 per day. Nowhere near enough to live
off, let alone support a family – not even in West Africa.
Worse still, a study conducted in 2018 Global Slavery
Index confirms that at least 30,000 people are victims
of modern slavery in the cocoa industry in Ghana and
Ivory Coast.
A little bit of history
In 2003, Dutch journalist and presenter of TV program
‘Keuringsdienst van Waarde (KVW),’ Teun van de
Keuken, read a book about how child labour and
modern slavery is still very much a part of the cocoa
trade. He used his platform on KVW to publicise the
dark secrets by eating a number of chocolate bars
from leading manufacturers and declaring himself a
chocolate criminal, turning himself over to the Dutch
authorities. However, the public prosecutor couldn’t
identify the direct link between him eating the bar to
the children who were forced into labour.
Whilst waiting for the judge’s decision, Tuen decided to
launch his own 100% slave-free product in an attempt
to prove to chocolate manufacturers that it is possible.
Tony’s therefore launched as a PR stunt, Teun wanted
to show there was a different way to produce chocolate,
with no compromise in the value chain, he never set
out to create a global chocolate brand. However, Tony’s
picked up momentum, becoming Holland’s number one
chocolate company. But it’s not stopping there… Tony’s
Chocolonely is the instigator and propeller behind
the movement to eradicate child labour and slavery
associated with cocoa.
Create awareness
Tony’s wants to create awareness for the unequal
share of the cocoa industry through leading by
example. Ben epitomises this in a quote taken from
founder of The Body Shop, Anita Roddick, “If you
think you’re too small to have an impact, try going to
bed with a mosquito in the room… We want to be the
mosquito in the room.”
They have a strict no-paid media policy, working
with a pull rather than a push marketing model. Ben
describes how “it’s a complicated message, we prefer
to have one-on-one conversations. The chocolate is a
means to achieve the goal to inspire change.”
If you’ve ever picked up a Tony’s Chocolonely bar
you’d have noticed how irregular the pieces are,
going against the generic ‘excel spreadsheet’ style
divide. This is not by accident or down to a machinery
malfunction. The shapes represent the inequality of
chocolate companies, the bar (like the industry) is
unequally divided. Ben says that “they tell the story
in its purest form of the unequal nature of the cocoa
industry. West Africa is actually hidden in the design,
a little nod to the farmers.”
Create a movement
Ben describes how Tony’s is focusing on the
consumers who have the buying power, as if they
know their favourite brands are endorsing slavery,
they can help force the change. It is then down to the
government to listen, and force through legislation.
The future of the cocoa farmers is dictated by us
the consumer, and the leading global chocolate
manufacturing giants. United, we can stop child
slavery on cocoa farms and the wage discrepancies
which leave families of eight surviving on 0.7 US
dollars a week.
Tony’s have also made their values accessible to
everyone by publicising its open chain resourcing
principles; companies can educate themselves,
enabling those willing, to break down their own deepset
irresponsible processes.
The principles
Tony’s wants to: ensure that the farmers and
cooperatives get at least five years sale at a higher
price. The cocoa farmers get paid a price that enables
them to earn a living income. Trade is direct and on
equal footing with cocoa farmers and cooperatives. It
wants to professionalise farms by working together.
And to improve productivity with less dependency on
cocoa by investing in knowledge and skills.
Tony’s really is crazy about chocolate, it has invested
in the product for it to be the best it can be whilst
limiting its impact everywhere, without compromise.
It has created unique and intriguing flavours to
pique the interest of the consumer to ensure it
gets into people’s shopping baskets. Tony’s is also
very serious about people as its truest aim is to
eradicate enslavement which is so deeply rooted in
the sourcing of cocoa for chocolate production in the
western world. It’s not your typical company, Tony’s
exists to end slavery in the chocolate industry; an
impact company that makes chocolate, and not the
other way around.
tonyschocolonely.com
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Ones to watch
Changing our nation’s food & drink landscape for the better, these emerging
brands of tomorrow are stepping out from the shadows and rightfully earning
their spot in our shopping baskets.
1. Made For Drink
Born from an inquisitive
enthusiasm to immerse
itself in the finest snacking
traditions, cooking methods
and ingredients from around
the globe, and these gourmet
snacks pair perfectly with
your favourite boozy tipples.
Hero : Daniel Featherstone
madefordrink.com
Hero : Paul Rostand
greatbritishbiscotti.co.uk
Hero : Andrew Gibb
cold-press.com
1. 2.
Hero : Prash Patwardhan
pawfectfoods.co.uk
3. 4.
Hero : Delight Mapasure
kswors.co.uk
5. 6.
Heroes : Jeff Webster & Amy Moring
hunterandgatherfoods.com
2. Pawfect Pet Treats
A rapidly expanding,
premium-tier dog treat
business that actively
champions all-natural fruit,
veg and dairy-centric dog
treats made with humangrade
ingredients.
3. Great British Biscotti
A new and innovative range of
the traditional Biscotti using
only the finest ingredients
from many local sources.
4. K’s Wors Boerewors
A British made, South
African inspired, meat feast
of sausage made with up to
92%, heavily seasoned fine
cuts of beef, lamb and pork.
5. Coldpress
Coldpress provides
all-natural support to nonstop,
frenetic lifestyles by
providing Europe’s first range
of vitamin fortified, HPP
super juices & smoothies.
6. Hunter & Gather
A leading light in the UK
ketogenic movement,
championing honest and
tasty food that’s free from
‘lazy’ sugars, grains and
inflammatory fats.
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7. Pished Fish
Based on a bold, singleminded
mission to revive
salmon’s unapologetic
swagger, coupling this noble
fish’s long-standing reputation
for ‘clean living’ and ‘nutritional
wealth’ with a more dashing,
booze-infused identity.
8. Purely Plantain
Plantain crisps which are high
in potassium and support
good gut health. They’re also
gluten-free and low in sugar.
Available in: Wild Garlic, Nice
& Spicy and Sea Salt.
9. Plant Pops
Popped lotus seeds - India’s
light, yet indulgent snack
of choice - have a rich and
exotic patronage that harks
back hundreds of years.
10. Simplyseedz
A glorious porridge with
an unmistakably decadent
mouth fill that comes
courtesy of the fruit, spices
and large rolled Scottish oats.
11. Purition
Purition is wholefood nutrition,
well-balanced, ‘real’ food
shakes overflowing with whole
food ingredients. Simply put,
Purition is rethinking food,
creating a range of honest,
naturally nutritious meals that
can be served in a glass.
12. Pep & Lekker
Sublime squarish treats with
an insanely addictive snap.
Each and every one of the
vegan-approved recipes are
high in fibre and ripple with
natural nutritional prowess.
Hero : James Eagle
thepishedfish.com
Hero : Anushi Desai
plantpopssnacks.com
Hero : Phillipa Garner
purition.co.uk
7. 8.
Hero : Stefania Pellegrino
welovepurely.com
9. 10.
Hero : Cathryn Zielinski
simplyseedz.co.uk
11. 12.
Hero : Susan Gafsen
pepandlekker.com
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Food and drink visionaries
We chat to Food & Drink Heroes partner Visionary Food Solutions to find out
how they support food and drink brands, and what this year has been like for
the industry.
Against the backdrop of the challenges brought by
the Covid-19 pandemic, the food and drink industry
has seen a huge mix of results. Some have been
utterly decimated, especially those operating in the
hospitality space. Others, however, have flourished.
“The ones who understood the challenges also
understood the opportunities,” says Gareth Hobbs,
the managing director of Visionary Food Solutions.
Visionary is a full business support provider operating
in the food and drink sector. Having launched
five years ago, it works with young brands to give
specialist commercial support required to enter and
expand into the retail and foodservice markets, and to
export internationally.
Visionary was recently announced as a partner
for Food & Drink Heroes. So, we decided to have a
(virtual) sit down with Gareth and head of foodservice,
Dan Head, to find out more about what they do, what
it’s been like for the industry in recent months, and
why they’re supporting us.
Rollercoaster ride
“Between March and May we were working with
our clients to mitigate the circumstances that we
were in,” Dan starts. “We almost turned into a crisis
management provider.”
Visionary saw its clients lose listings, having planned
listings pushed back or delayed indefinitely. One client
saw its revenue drop 95% in two weeks. It resulted in
Visionary too losing a lot of business very quickly.
“We shifted from being retail and foodservice
consultants to general business consultants,” Dan
adds. “When things started to get back to normal,
that’s when we shifted back to our original role and
started to rebuild. We were speaking to distributors and
speaking to customers to get those plans in place.”
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Interestingly, it’s the businesses that exhibited the
most caution at the start of lockdown that are now
paying the price.
Gareths adds: “There have been winners from all this.
There have been a lot more losers, unfortunately. But
the businesses that reacted well and pivoted have
really come out of this well.
“The brands that quickly recognised that direct-toconsumer
was a huge opportunity made the switch
straight away. You can see the ones that benefited
from it - they saw a huge uplift in sales.”
The brands that “retreated,” as Gareth put it, are the
ones who are going to really struggle in the mediumterm,
the pair believe. While those who pivoted and
kept going secure listings for early next year, it could
be another 12-18 months before those who scaled
back have the opportunity or are even ready for it.
And they made it their mission to close that gap in the
local area and help small and start-up food and drink
businesses navigate the markets. Five years down
the line, Visionary is working with brands from across
the UK.
“A lot of entrepreneurs in food and drink haven’t come
from the industry,” Gareth explains.
“Many of them have discovered a great innovation,
or they’ve found out their child is gluten intolerant
and created a gluten-free alternative to their favourite
mainstream brand, for example. But they have no
idea how to take it to market.
“We help these brands and guide them, show them
what the journey looks like, what they need to plan, look
at which brands they’re going up against, where they fit
in the industry and how they can grow the business.”
What’s clear to see from talking to Gareth and Dan
is just how much passion they have for the industry.
They’re both foodies. “You have to be” to deliver the
level of support Visionary offers, they tell me. Both
built their professional skills and experience in other
industries, but found themselves wanting to work in
an industry they truly loved.
“Food is a very emotional topic,” Dan says. “[It] has so
many stories around it.
Lockdown boom
While the lockdown period has been incredibly tough
for the food and drink businesses that were already
operating, Gareth and Dan are predicting an incredibly
bright future for the ones that set up during it.
“We’re always pleasantly surprised by the amount
of new talent, opportunities and products that are
coming from food and drink,” Dan says. “I think
that was the case before Covid anyway, and there’s
certainly a big chance that this will put some things
into perspective for a lot of people who had side
projects in the background.
“This may be the push they needed to do what they
really want to do.”
It’s something that Gareth believes applies to
entrepreneurship and the economy as a whole.
He says: “The level of innovation in the UK is
incredible. Any time we see any sort of depression
globally, we see more innovation and creativity off the
back of it.”
Closing the knowledge gap
Gareth and his business partner, Rhys, saw what they
call a “knowledge gap” in their native south Wales.
“The people behind the brands are so passionate
because it’s food, it’s everyday life, it’s what people
love,” Gareth echoes.
“I’ve always enjoyed cooking, exploring, finding new
ingredients and trying different things.
“The most exciting thing for me is finding new
products, and hearing the stories behind them. I love
hearing someone’s why - why it’s the next best thing,
why it’s better than something else, and then finding
out it actually is! There’s nothing better.”
Helping to find the Heroes
It’s incredibly important for Visionary to be a part of
Food & Drink Heroes, the pair explain.
Dan says: “We see the hard work entrepreneurs put
into making their product successful. Being part of an
event where those sorts of people are celebrated and
recognised is extremely important for us.”
Gareth concludes: “You’ve got to have passion to make
it in this industry because it’s bloody hard. And the
way people have pivoted recently to change what they
do in order to succeed and move forward deserves
recognition. It’s exactly what is needed right now.”
visionaryfoodsolutions.co.uk
63

Entrepreneurs collaborate
to support NHS
The Chocolate Orange Pud
by Lucy Wager
This delicious, indulgent and versatile recipe was
the creation that inspired me to start the Pudology
brand eight years ago. My branded business journey
was the most incredible experience and the lessons
I learnt along the way help me guide other entrepreneurs
and businesses from concept to launch....
and beyond! Enjoy this recipe as a dessert straight
from the fridge or as an incredible hot sauce over ice
cream. This is such a simple recipe and hits the spot
every time.
Ingredients (serves 4-8)
400g coconut milk
50g water
300g dark chocolate
(good quality essential), chips or chopped small
1 tsp orange oil
(or extract if oil not available)
Method
• Heat the coconut milk and water in a large pan,
paying attention not to boil
• When the mix is steaming add in the chocolate and
turn the heat down
• Whisk continually until fully combined and chocolate
is completely melted
• Remove from the heat and stir through the orange oil
• Ready to use as a warm sauce, or alternatively
decant into ramekins or shot glasses and cool for 2
hours for and super smooth, rich dessert
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Founders of Visionary Food’s favourite challenger food and drink brands have come
together with industry experts to create a compilation of 71 personal recipes in the ‘Little
Rainbow Book of Recipes.’ Here are some of our favourites.
Fruity Fro-Yo Bark
by Stuart Prescott
Enjoy this healthy and indulgent treat as a way to
cool down in the summer. Super easy to make and so
versatile – you can use whatever toppings you have
to hand! Great for kids too and less than 99 calories.
Ingredients (serves 8-10)
500g plant based yoghurt alternative
(thicker types works best)
2 tbsp agave syrup
2 packs of 5th Season freeze-dried fruit
Method
• Mix the yoghurt alternative and agave syrup
together until well combined
• Line a baking tray with parchment paper and pour
the yoghurt mixture on top
• Spread it to approximately 1cm thick
• Decorate with freeze-dried fruit. We love 5th
Season’s Fruit Salad mix, but the other fruits work
just as well!
• Place in the freezer for 1-2 hours or until it is
completely frozen
• Remove from the freezer and use a sharp knife to
break the bark into pieces. Enjoy!
For more recipes
& link to the book,
visit: visionaryfood
solutions.co.uk
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This book showcases a number of meat-based, vegan & plant-based recipes, sweet treats
and drinks with an aim to raise funds in aid of the NHS Charities Together Covid-19
Urgent Appeal.
Alyson & Cherry’s Famous Chocolate
Crunch by Gareth Hobbs
Everybody has a food or drink that, when you taste
it, transports you instantly to your childhood. For me
it’s chocolate crunch.There was nothing like coming
home from school, walking through the front door
to have the instantly recognisable sweet smell of
chocolate crunch. This crunchy chocolate cake is by
no means healthy, and not something I’d recommend
in your daily balanced diet, but wow does it taste
amazing. My Mother and her best friend, Cherry,
used to make this for us as kids when we were well
behaved enough to deserve a treat. The next thing
I’m going to do after writing this is knock up a batch
of this amazing cake, and transport myself back to
1988 and good memories.
Ingredients (serves 4-8)
1 egg
28g cocoa
140g margarine
224g sugar
224g flour
Method
• Melt the margarine in a pan
• Add remaining dry ingredients, followed by the egg
• Mix the ingredients together and put into a greased
baking tray
• Pre heat the oven at 180°c
• Cook for 20 minutes
• Remove from the oven
• Cut into squares when cool
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The 71 recipes represent the 71 years since the incredible service was founded, on the
5th of July 1948. The book contains amazing contributions from the Food & Drinks
industry including April Preston (Marks & Spencer), Spencer Matthews (Clean Liquor),
Camilla Ainsworth (Mylk Plus) plus many more from other amazing brands.
Epic Welsh Rarebit
by Nick Coleman
At Snaffling Pig we know that if something is worth
doing, it’s worth doing piggin’ right. So when we
were asked to come up with our fave recipe for this
awesome cookbook to celebrate NHS Charities
Together, we combined not two, but three British
classics for the ultimate comfort food at home:
Welsh rarebit, English mustard and our legendary
pork crackling. It’s a piggin’ triple threat.
Ingredients (serves 4)
3 tbsp stout
200g strong Cheddar cheese, grated
1 tsp mustard powder
2 egg yolks
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
20g Snaffling Pig Colman’s Mighty Mustard Pork
Crackling, crushed onto 4 thick slices of bread
Method
• In a small pan heat the stout, then stir in the cheese
until mostly melted
• Remove from the heat, stir in the mustard powder,
egg yolks & Worcestershire sauce
• Leave to cool a little before stirring in the crackling
• Preheat the grill to high
• Toast the bread on a grill rack, then spread the
rarebit mixture onto the bread and grill for 2-3
minutes until golden and bubbling
• Serve with a couple of splashes of our Pig of Doom
hot chilli sauce
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68

The power of awards:
Chukus
Emeka and Ifeyinwa Frederick, Great British Entrepreneur
Awards finalists, had launched their crowdfunding campaign
to raise £30,000 to secure a first permanent location for their
Nigerian tapas restaurant, Chuku’s London. Little did they know
they’d hit their target during a GBEA event.
Emeka and Ifeyinwa were one of six businesses showcasing
themselves as part of the Great British Entrepreneurs
Champions Hall of Fame event. Speaking to the brother and
sister, host Wynne Evans asked how much they had left to raise
to complete their crowdfunding campaign. They explained that
they needed a further £1,500 before the looming deadline.
A call came from the audience. That call was from Steven
Smith, the founder of Poundland, a member of the GBEA judging
panel who himself was inducted into the Hall of Fame. Steven,
reminiscing how his Dad helped him get his first business off the
ground, offered to donate £1,500 and complete the sibling duo’s
campaign. They even went on to surpass their target, raising a
total of £36,000.
Emeka and Ifeyinwa were understandably thrilled both to hit
their £30,000 target and to receive the backing of the man who
created the £1 retail industry.
They said: “In truth, we didn’t really understand what was going
on. When Steven said he would do it, we thought he was joking.
Even when we exchanged contact details we thought maybe
he would change his mind. But Steven kept his promise and
helped us exceed our target. When we saw he’d done it we were
dancing around and screaming at each other down the phone.”
In total, Chuku’s campaign received the backing of nearly 600
people.“That’s huge! 580 people who believe enough in our
vision that they put there own hard earned cash behind it – a
true showing of community spirit,” Emeka said.
“The fact that a seasoned entrepreneur and businessman like
Steven has backed us is extra validation that what we’re doing is
an exciting, viable business – and gives us extra determination
to make it a huge success and confidence that we will.”
The duo added: “We’re grateful that GBEA gave us this
opportunity to showcase our business, and that we seized it and
put ourselves out there. It’s already made a huge difference and
it could lead to even more.”
chukuslondon.co.uk
@chukusldn
69

how to enter
1.
Head to our website
2.
Check out all of our categories
3.
Set up your account
4.
5.
Enter all categories you see fit
6.
Submit
ENTER HERE
Good luck
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Our judges
This is just a tiny snapshot of our Allstar team of judges for the Food & Drink
Heroes awards, check out our website to view the full teamsheet! They’re
already excited to see the calibre of entires this year, so make sure you get
your application in before the entry deadline, the 15 th January 2021.
Alan Barratt
Grenade
Sahar Hashemi OBE
Coffee Republic & Skinny Candy
Myles Hopper
Mindful Chef
Suzie Walker
The Keto Collective
Anthony Fletcher
graze
Julianne Ponan
Creative Nature
Paul (Pablo) Ettinger
Caffè Nero
Karen Green
Food Mentor​
Jon Wright
Innocent Drinks &
Jam Jar Investments
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Our partners
Tthe Food & Drink Heroes will recognise and champion the entrepreneurs who
are running the businesses that are taking the nation’s tastebuds by storm.
We’d like to thank the following organisations that have made this celebration
of food & drink entrepreneurs possible:
Bread & Jam
Bread & Jam came about through the shared vision of two food founders,
passionate about shaking up the way the food and drink industry works.
Every year, 16,000 food and drink brands emerge into the UK market
and yet, 90% of them don’t make it past their first year of trading. Bread
& Jam is a celebration of the food and drink industry’s entrepreneurial
spirit. There are many reasons for a food business to cease trading but
the absence of opportunity, information and industry support should no
longer be one of them.
Home Grown
The richness of the club is in its people. Home Grown is a collective of
proven entrepreneurs and investors, from all sectors, creeds, geographies
and industries. It’s a reciprocal circle of support and learning empowered
by an engine room of events that spark thoughts and ideas. Their aim is
to generate dialogue that leads to better business for all.
Grenade
Founded in 2009, the Grenade® mission was simple; to create a range of
products that people would remember, and be inspired to get the most
out of life. Now, the brand are set to join the Food & Drink Heroes Awards
as a national partner for the 2020 programme which acknowledges the
hard work and inspiring stories of food & drink entrepreneurs across the
United Kingdom.
Visionary Food Solutions
Visionary Group Ltd is run by a team that thrives on creating and developing
new Brands and provides business development support to both
the Food & Drink & FMCG markets through Visionary Food Solutions &
Visionary Business Builders. We are also actively looking for strategic
investment partnerships and opportunities to develop brands who want
to scale and exit with a 5 year timescale.
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Mission Ventures
Mission Ventures nurtures scalable challenger brands and deliver
targeted help at the point of need. They do this in two ways; it builds
opportunities for investors and corporate partners to access innovative
young brands. Mission Ventures also helps entrepreneurs set the right
strategic path and execute it efficiently and effectively.
Innoveat
Innoveat’s mission is to continue to make leveraging alternative routes to
market easier for food & drink suppliers. Innoveat is now offering a virtual
solution for both buyers and suppliers by facilitating networking, 1-2-1
meetings and a longer exhibition window for suppliers over a 26 day
period, something which has never been done in the history of the food
and drinks events space.
Fresh Business Thinking
Fresh Business Thinking is the online resource for business owners,
directors and entrepreneurs. It is where information-hungry and timepoor
business decision makers can source information and advice to
help them run their businesses more effectively and efficiently. Launched
in 2007, www.freshbusinessthinking.com rapidly became one of the most
visited sites for business owners and directors running small businesses.
It is now run by the organisers of the Great British Entrepreneur Awards,
which acknowledges the hard work and inspiring stories of entrepreneurs
and businesses in the United Kingdom.
Batch Ventures
Innovation is the driving force behind category growth, with some of the
best ideas coming from passionate founders, those entrepreneurs who
are willing to challenge the status quo and bring fresh ideas to market.
Batch Ventures combines the entrepreneurial experience of the team at
Mission Ventures with the industry knowledge and reach of Warburtons,
the UK’s leading bakery brand and a fifth generation family company.
This is a dynamic new approach to backing food entrepreneurs and their
brands to achieve the scale they are capable of.
Warburtons
Warburtons is one of the best known and best-loved bakery brands in the
UK. It brings a wealth of experience in the market and has a tremendous
amount of passion for innovative bakery brands. Food & Drink Heroes Partner
and leading independent business accelerator, Mission Ventures, along with
Warburtons, the UK’s biggest bakery brand, have launched a new joint venture
to support businesses producing innovative bakery led products.
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