Good Foodies: good food and good business

Will Breakey has one of the most genius and bizarre job titles in the world: “co-founder of Dr. Will’s and Reconstructive Surgeon”. It’s common for startup founders to have another job to cover their bills whilst building their business but it’s not a topic that’s often discussed in the entrepreneurship world. It’s almost seen as a negative or mark of not yet being successful enough to ditch the day job.

We think these topics are important so today Dr. Will joins us to share his story, his passions and the vision for his company.

Would you like your business to run more efficiently? Would you like to be more profitable? Would you like to take the occasional day off, go on holiday or have a break from the business and stress of running your own business? I’m sure you would.

It can be hard to take time off or make things run smoothly without structure and focus in your business. In this episode Kylie rants about one of the topics she’s most passionate about and will show you how to make your food business more efficient and ultimately more profitable.

While there’s no formal Resource of the Week this week, we do have something special for you. In the run up to our next enrolment period for our Food Founders Blueprint programme – the step by step marketing system for food startups – we’ve released a free video series all about bringing structure and focus to your business. In The Digital Food Revolution series you’ll learn one of the biggest mistakes that might be keeping you stuck, a 5-step plan for growth and a simple strategy for connecting all the pieces of your digital marketing together.

Sign up for FREE and watch the whole 3-part series now at https://www.sapling.digital/revolution

Are you a superhero? Do you wear a cape and fight crime? No, that’s not the kind of superhero we’re talking about. Do you think you have to do everything in your business because you’re the only one who knows what needs to be done and how to do it the best? That’s Superhero Syndrome. And it’s not a good thing.

As entrepreneurs we dream of big things but in the early days it’s often just you - or you and a co-founder - doing everything. To get ahead we think we have to do more and more and what ends up happening is inevitable burnout. In this bonus episode Kylie and I talk about our challenges with Superhero Syndrome and three ways to tackle it.

In just 8 months since launch Scrumbles have achieved a huge amount. They’ve developed an innovative, gut-friendly range of food for cats and dogs. They’ve launched into Ocado, Fetch and 30 independent pet food stores. They’ve raised a round of funds through Angel investment. And they’ve achieved the coveted B-Corp certification – the highest level of standards for ethical and sustainable businesses.

How have Jack and his wife and co-founder managed this in such a short space of time? Tune in to this week’s episode to hear their story and find out.

Why do you do what you do? Is there something deep and meaningful that drives you or do you just have a passion for creating things? Today we’re talking to Simon Coley from Karma Cola about creating a business with purpose to compete in a dominated category.

Karma Cola was founded in 2010 on a simple ideal: what you drink should not only taste good, it should be good for the land, good for the people who grow the ingredients and as good for you as a fizzy drink can be. They’ve taken on the big brands in the dominated soft drinks category and created a brand that’s the antithesis of others on the market. A virtuous cycle of doing good runs throughout the whole business and it’s a hugely inspiring story. If you want to build a challenger brand or one with more purpose and meaning, this episode will definitely get you thinking.

How do you get more things done in your business? Hire someone to help! But how do you hire when money is tight? Hmmm. That’s a slightly trickier one. Even if you think you can’t afford to hire, you can’t afford not to. There’s so much to be done and you can’t do it all. (It’s also no fun doing everything yourself and without anyone to share the journey with!)

We know how hard it can be to bring on your first team members because we’ve been there too. But, as regular listeners might expect, we’ve come up with a system and a process and share all our tips for hiring affordably in this episode.

Two topics you’d rarely see together are chocolate and mental health. But today we’re talking to Charlie Claydon from the Well Bean Company and that’s exactly what’s on the menu. Charlie has a history of mental health challenges and set out to create a brand that makes a difference.

In just three years he’s scaled the business up from very humble beginnings and now has his own manufacturing space (yes, his name Charlie and he has a Chocolate Factory!). This rapid growth is all in service of a mission to become mental wellbeing champions and bring about positive change through the chocolate they make. It’s a hugely inspiring story and such an important topic to spread the word about.

How do you scale a food business? Chris Green from Young Foodies has a background in FMCG operations and has a passion for making small brands mighty. If you have big plans to scale your startup into retail this is the episode for you.

Operations, systems, and processes are not usually considered the sexy side of running a business. But they’re critical. Without the right systems in place scaling up is almost impossible and – and I like to say – you can end upscaling “a bucket of holes”. Young Foodies have created a thriving community and suite of business tools and services designed to help food brands become mighty and you’ll hear all about them in this great interview.

The number one question we get asked is “how do I start?”. When tackling anything new in your business it can be really challenging to know what to do – particularly if you’ve never done it before. When there’s so many options or directions you could go in, what do you do?

There’s lots of advice out there like “just start” but in our opinion, that’s bad advice. Instead, our approach is a simple 3-step process. Whether you’re planning a road trip or a new social media strategy, these three steps will help you take action and get off the starting line and away from “blank page syndrome”. Tune in for this special bonus episode and never struggle with starting again.

PS. Happy Valentine's day!

High-quality images and video are a must-have to help your brand stand out and the good news is you don’t need a lot of money or fancy equipment to create stunning images these days.

Tom’s got loads of tips to share about how to get the most out of your photos, how to plan a shoot for success and the importance of storytelling through visual mediums. We’ve also compiled a list of some of our favourite tools and equipment to help you up your photo and video game.

Whether you want to hire a professional or take a DIY approach, there’s some great tips and advice waiting for you in this episode.