Getting to Grow

On the final episode of the first series (!) of Getting to Grow, we were joined by Joe Hill, co-founder of One Planet Pizza, a brand creating delicious pizzas that don’t harm the planet.

Together with his Dad Mike, Joe created One Planet Pizza out of a passion to make mouth-watering pizzas that are great for you and the planet. They call it 'pizza with purpose'. In 2014, Mike and Joe started making their own plant-based pizzas at home, experimenting with ingredients and plant-based cheezes. Mike & Joe noticed that plant-based frozen pizzas just weren’t up to scratch. Wanting to create a go-to plant-based alternative to their much-loved freezer staple, they started One Planet Pizza from Mike’s garage using their family recipe. 

Local success led One Planet Pizza to become the UK’s first plant-based business to crowdfund, reaching their goal thanks to investors from all over Europe. Roll on a few years and One Planet Pizza are one of the leading plant-based pizza brands in the UK with huge plans for the future. And its not just about the pizza. As well as being vegan, One Planet plant 1 tree for every 50 pizzas and use recyclable materials where possible.

You can now find their delicious (and sustainable) range of plant-based pizzas across over 500 outlets in the UK including Wholefoods and Booths as well as online on Ocado or their D2C website.

We spoke to Joe about how a night in the pub led to the humble beginnings of the brand, the scaling up process and why taste is so important.

To find out more, visit www.oneplanetpizza.com and make sure to follow them on Instagram @oneplanetpizza

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Zoe & Sam

This week Zoe and Sam were joined by Grayson Hart, founder of Pure Sport, a CBD based brand aiming to deliver the highest quality products to their customers.

Pure Sport CBD was created out of a real athlete’s yearning for healthy, safe, and legal alternatives to deal with pain relief. Following a string of knee injuries, Glasgow Warriors’ scrum-half Grayson Hart was seeking an effective remedy to his constant joint pain. Even though he received quality physio treatment at the club, there was no noticeable improvement of his excruciating condition.

Naturally, all of the prescriptive drugs he used produced various adverse effects on his mind and body: he felt lethargic, unmotivated, and also suffered from disrupted sleep. In light of this wholly negative impact on his body, he began to search for natural alternatives to his growing problem.

After CBD (cannabidiol) and its benefits were widely recognised within the United States, but not so much in the UK, Grayson was eager to try it out. The CBD had a transformative effect as it allowed him to completely come off pain killers and continue with his career unimpeded. Grayson put his head together with teammate Adam Ashe and the two decided to try and create the world’s most trusted and effective CBD products and be a brand that created a community that helped raise awareness on the benefits of natural alternatives to optimise the lives of people from all walks of life.

We spoke to Grayson about his journey from pro athlete to founder of a fastly growing start-up.

To find out more about Pure Sport, visit www.puresportcbd.com and make sure you follow them on Instagram @puresportcbd

Make sure you follow, like and subscribe to Getting to Grow on whatever platform you listen on as it really helps support what we do!

See you guys next time!

Zoe and Sam

On episode 13 of Getting to Grow, we were delighted to be joined by Adam Sopher, Co-founder of Joe & Seph's. Joe & Seph's are a family business that launched in 2010 with a mission to produce the best-tasting popcorn in the world. 

Adam's Dad Joseph used to take regular trips to the USA, each time returning with flavoured popcorn as gifts for friends and family. Realising there was nothing quite like this in the UK, he wondered if he could make my own flavoured popcorn, but even better. Joseph began by air-popping the corn and coating it in a smooth caramel made from fresh butter rather than what was the standard British way of popping it in an oil and sugar mix.

He then discovered that by using 100% natural ingredients and a unique "flavour-sequencing" process they could lock in flavours so that they flourished on the palate at different intervals as you're eating the popcorn. After many burnt pans and late night tasting sessions in the family kitchen, together with his wife and Adam, they took their popcorn to a food show in 2010 where it sold out in just two days. Shortly after, they achieved their first prestigious retail listing and...Joe & Seph's Gourmet Popcorn was born.

Today, Joe & Seph's can be found all across the UK in multiple outlets and have a range of over 50 flavours of popcorn, 10 caramel sauces and are proud to have won over 40 Great Taste Awards!

We spoke to Adam about what it's like working in a family business, how the pandemic affected them and what a day to day looks like as a founder of an FMCG brand.

To find out more, visit www.joeandsephs.co.uk and make sure you follow them on Instagram @joeandseph 

Make sure you follow, like and subscribe to Getting to Grow on whatever platform you listen on as it really helps support what we do!

See you guys next time!

Zoe and Sam

This episode we were delighted to be joined by Neil and Rachel, founders of vegan fast-food restaurant and brand, The Vurger Co.

Co-founder Neil suffered with debilitating stomach issues and no doctor or test could pin-point the cause. With a big birthday impending, Rachel & Neil took the time to travel to California and discovered a whole new wave of plant-based living! The amazing tastes and textures were like nothing they had experienced and certainly weren’t available in London at the time in 2016.

Settling back into their day to day lives, they couldn’t believe how restricted their diet became. They couldn’t access great fresh vegan food packed with so many awesome textures. So immediately, they knew that there was an incredible opportunity to create a brand that made vegetables the main event, in fun, interesting and fresh new ways.

The Vurger Co started as a small market stall back in 2016 just to test their concept and gain that initial immediate feedback! Having quickly realised that their customers wanted the full experience from them, Neil & Rachel developed from market stall to events, pop ups, festivals and progressed to crowdfunding their first ever restaurant in Shoreditch in March 2018. Today they operate 4 restaurants in London, Manchester and Brighton as well as some delicious sauces that are now available in retail.

We spoke to Rachel & Neil about how the trip to California changed the way they thought about food, they’re humble beginnings as a market stall in 2016, and the effects the pandemic had on their business.

If you enjoyed this episode please remember to share, like subscribe and all of that good stuff as it really supports what we do.

Make sure you follow The Vurger Co on Instagram - @thevurgerco

& follow us on Instagram: @gettingtogrow

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Sam & Zoe

This week we were joined by Caspar Rose, CEO of the UK's #1 bespoke nutrition brand, Fresh Fitness Food.

Fresh Fitness Food was founded by Jared Williams, to try and solve the age-old problem of how to eat healthy, consistently and well with little time to do any of the preparation that usually goes with it.

From what started in a 'pokey' Notting Hill flat, Fresh Fitness Food is now the UK's number 1 bespoke nutrition brand, helping each of their customers eat nutritious food, every single day to transform the lives of the time poor.

Fresh Fitness food aims to deliver the ultimate convenience, direct to your door. Their in house nutritionists and experts crate highly personalised plans to give you structure and consistency to make your goals, whatever they may be, achievable. 

We spoke to Caspar about growing up in Byron Bay, cheffing at Michelin Star restaurants and how he became CEO of a rapidly growing start up.

To find out more about Fresh Fitness Food please visit: www.freshfitnessfood.com & be sure to follow them on Instagram @freshfitnessfood

If you enjoyed this episode please leave a like and a review as it really helps support what we do.

Make sure to follow us on Instagram: @gettingtogrow

See you guys next time!

Sam & Zoe

This week we were joined by James Edmunds, MD of TRIP, the UK’s leading premium CBD brand. 

TRIP was created to share a bit of calm in the everyday chaos. CBD experiences that are just as enjoyable to taste as the feeling after. Products with amazing flavour that leave you more productive, less stressed and more you.

Founders Dan and Liv discovered CBD in 2018 when weeks before Dan and Liv's wedding, Dan was injured playing football and needed knee surgery - nightmare. Told he wouldn’t be able to walk down the aisle, they tried everything. He discovered CBD oils were a real game changer - he finally found some calm and got a good night's sleep at last. Against the odds, Dan made an incredible recovery and was by all accounts the last man standing on the dancefloor!

They then started using CBD oils for those smaller everyday stresses...loving the results but hating the bitter taste.  They're passion for CBD grew, eventually leaving careers in finance, law and sales to launch TRIP. Since launching in 2019, TRIP have grown to become the UK’s leading premium CBD brand. 

We spoke to James about the misconceptions around CBD products, how they became known as the Queen’s CBD brand and why word of mouth is so important.

To find out more about TRIP please visit: www.drink-trip.com & be sure to follow them on Instagram @trip.drinks

If you enjoyed this episode please leave a like and a review as it really helps support what we do.

Make sure to follow us on Instagram: @gettingtogrow

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Sam & Zoe

This week, we spoke to Rob Martineau, co-founder of Tribe.

Together with his co-founders Guy and Tom, Tribe are on a mission to lead a revolution in performance nutrition by trusting nature.

In 2013, the trio ran 39 marathons in 30 days as part of 'Run for Love' — raising close to £250,000 for a charity aiming to bring an end to child trafficking. The epic journey took them from Ukraine to Croatia, taking in nine countries in Eastern Europe along the way. Roughly 250 people joined them at various stages of the journey but Martineau, Hacking, and Stancliffe were the only ones to complete the whole run.

Fuelled by their passion for running, they looked at the market for sports nutrition, and noticed that most of the products they themselves and millions of others of runners were consuming, weren't going down as well as they should.

Off the back of Run for Love, Rob, Guy and Tom came up with the idea for a running supplement startup called Tribe. Several years later Tribe are now one of the leading plant-based nutrition brands, using natural ingredients to give their customers energy and protein-packed, everyday performance and snacking goodness.

We spoke to Rob about how their passion for running fuelled their desire to ditch the day jobs and start the brand, the importance of community and how it all started with a homemade trail mix.

To find out more about TRIBE please visit: www.wearetribe.co & be sure to follow them on Instagram @the_tribe_way 

If you enjoyed this episode please leave a like and a review as it really helps support what we do.

Make sure to follow us on Instagram: @gettingtogrow

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Sam & Zoe

In this episode, we spoke to Charlie Thuillier, Founder of delicious (but healthy!) ice cream brand, Oppo Brothers.

It all started with a land kite surfing record attempt in Brazil. During the trip, whilst having to forage along coastlines for things to eat, Charlie and his brother Harry stumbled upon some amazingly delicious & nutritious food.

Then came 'that' moment where they posed themselves the question: 'Why couldn’t all food be like that? What if you could indulge in sweet treats, without having loads of sugar and nasty additives?'

10 years later, Oppo is becoming a household name in the UK and beyond with its 'healthy ice cream'.

Charlie & Harry are on a mission to create the world's best ice cream and won't stop until they taste better than regular full fat-full sugar ice cream; remain natural and low calorie; and are fully carbon neutral with significantly reduced impact on the planet.

We spoke to Charlie about how they didn't take no for an answer when others told them they couldn't do it, how they feel about competitors and how its not just about making money when you start a business.

To find out more about Oppo please visit: www.oppobrothers.com & be sure to follow them on Instagram @oppobrothers

If you enjoyed this episode please leave a like and a review as it really helps support what we do.

Make sure to follow us on Instagram: @gettingtogrow

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Sam & Zoe

This episode we spoke to Stu Macdonald, founder of delicious peanut butter brand, ManiLife.

ManiLife was born in Summer 2015 when 45 friends came together to make 4000 jars of peanut butter, one jar at a time. 

Why ManiLife? Mani means peanut or groundnut in Argentine Spanish, where they source all their peanuts from. And life because they're all about making people happy and believe their products to be life-changingly-lip-smackingly delicious!

Many years and jars later, ManiLife can now be found on the shelves of Sainsburys & Waitrose, 100s of independents, your online baskets and your favourite meal kit delivery boxes.

We spoke to Stu about how his travels gave him his idea, how a mistake turned into a best selling product and his plans to change the perception of the category.

To find out more about ManiLife please visit: mani-life.com & be sure to follow them on Instagram @manilife_

If you enjoyed this episode please leave a like and a review as it really helps support what we do.

Make sure to follow us on Instagram: @gettingtogrow

See you guys next time!

Sam & Zoe

This episode we spoke to Matt Godfroy, founder of SunFresh Produce and their DTC fresh box brand, Pikt. 

Pikt was born from Matt’s  frustration of a broken system; Matt wanted to see a platform designed for everyone and driven by choice with values far beyond the current providers. Matt formed a business called SunFresh Produce back in 2011, with the sole focus to source the best Organic Fruits and Vegetables locally and globally from his +25 years of knowledge. SunFresh Produce still supplies the leading UK supermarkets with organic fruits, vegetables and salads, but Matt knew with his team they could disrupt the system positively with a direct relationship.

Doing right for everyone – from their 'rockstar' team, farmers and growers, to customers, everyone is treated with respect and valued. Pikt are proudly independent and family-owned making them unique in the fresh produce sector, as there are only a handful of businesses who are dedicated to Organic Fresh Produce and true specialists at what they do, all governed by their B-Corp and Soil Association certification.

We spoke to Matt about all things fresh, including being a purpose led business and how they reacted to the pandemic as a relatively new business.

To find out more about Pikt please visit: piktfresh.com

If you enjoyed this episode please leave a like and a review as it really helps support what we do.

Make sure to follow us on Instagram: @gettingtogrow

See you guys next time!

Sam & Zoe