HUNGRY.

Listen to the full episode here

E  

Building a brand = Jump off the cliff and build the plane on the way down

“there are no set rules to build a challenger brand”

Will and Josh, from Willy’s Pies live and breath those adages

Brash oblivion confidence -

mixed with naive intelligence

• tempered with a big ol’ dose of cynical pragmatism good humour

Willy’s Pies is the wonderful story of

action = momentum.

momentum = magic.

magic = more momentum = more magic.

Will, a chef at BRAT and St. John was furloughed, for long, he made taste-tantalising pies.

Will pie-peddled on pie-purveying bike around East London during Lockdown.

Josh, The Operator, joined Will in 2021, from double glaze windows to take Willy’s NEXT LEVEL

4 years later

• Launched and got it wrong at Watford Football Club (tonnes of learnings here).
• Secured Ian Wright as a key investor, collaborated with wagamama,
• Won HUGE BRANDED listings at Arsenal Football Club, Fulham & Football Clubs
• Launched into Ocado

Deeply believe Willy’s Pies are the NEXT BIG challenger brand.

ON THE MENU:

1. How To Speed Up Supply Chain Jenga: Constantly Be Asking “What’s holding you up?”

   
   

2. Why Willy’s East London Early Adopters Were A Super Power Until They’re Not - constantly think House Hold Brand from the Jump

   
   

3. How to NOT Do A Deal With a Football Club: Painful Lessons from a deal with Watford that went Horribly Wrong (so much in this)

   
   

4. Willy Pies Sticker Principle + Danny Meyer Move The Salt Principle - “How you do ONE thing is how you do EVERYTHING”

   
   

5. The Delicate Dance of Working Back Margins + Working Forward Margins to Make the Pie Price Right.

   
   

6. How Willy’s Got Branded on The Menu at Arsenal Football Club: Show. Don’t Tell.

   
   

7. The Pride Principle: Why don’t let it fail” is a stronger motivation vs let’s make it work

   
   

Loved this one!!

Listen to the full episode here

 

Just because a product or brand works in the USA doesn’t mean it’ll work in the UK.>USA Ideas that Bombed in the UK:

• Hard seltzer
• Hard kombucha
• Protein water (Fiesty will change this)
• Nootropics - taking ages to land on our wet little islands>

The UK and USA are WILDLY similar and WILDLY different. So much cultural nuance. Think of The US Office (pile of sh*t) vs The UK Office (…long live the BrentMiester General). Lancashire isn’t Los Angeles. York isn’t New York. Liquid Death is a glorious, stomping, romping, raging triumph in the States. But, how are they building the brand in Europe?

Deee-light-ed to chat with the Head of Cultural Indoctrination, Oli Russel Cowan, on the podcast.

Oli is a surfer, podcaster, founder of festival platform Rad Season, and a legend.

And, he is the Head of Cultural Indoctrination for Liquid Death.

Different inputs = different outputs = TOTALLY unique approach to brand building.

Absolutely LOVED this one.

--------------------------------------------------
 ♨️Still bloody HUNGRY? Course ya are. Each week I spend 15 hours writing my newsletter. It’ll take you 5 mins to read. Full of wisdom from the biggest names in food and drink. Subscribe here🍪
----------------------------------------------

ON THE MENU:
1. How Liquid Death thinks, feels, and acts like surfers and skateboarders - leaning into fear through “Creative Audacity.”

2. The simple way Liquid Death does marketing: What do we find funny? What do our mates find funny? It’s that simple.

3. Why Liquid Death acts like an entertainment company first, and a brand second.

4. How Liquid Death is launching in the UK - find “interwoven subcultures” (this is genius): skateboarders, tattoo artists, punk rockers - “your early adopters are your mass market microphone.”

5. How Liquid Death uses D2C merch sales data to find their core sub-tribes globally (so clever) - always asking, where are the people who just “GET IT”?

6. Why Liquid Death looks like a beer can = Seth Godin’s Purple Cow.

7. Key leadership learnings from Mike Cessario: “As you get bigger, think smaller, bottom-up innovation.”

 👌 

Listen to the full episode here
 

Craving more? Check out Dan's Newsletter

Defining Identity by Business vs. Life Prisms, Staying in Business for 10 Years

I was an scatty anxious swamp of hangover when I walked through the doors. Thankfully. soon changed.

High White Ceilings. Dark Mahogany bar.

The Camberwell Arms is raw and capacious as tables capriciously flux with ravenous rabbles scoffing their faces with delectable dishes.

Here, the staff call you Darling and Honey. They’re Darling Honey’s. Sticky Toffee Pudding Charm. Warm Souls ooze an effortless, achingly cool charm.

We. Yes. Us. A brace of blokes, grabbed a brace of bar stalls, order a brace of brutally cold Estrella’s, braced ourselves for a tornado of unshackled gluttony.

Signature Scotch Bonnet and Pork fat on toast. Door-stop thick sourdough. Smothered in a crispy and cuddly, unctuous-utopia of pork fat. Topped with slap-ya-round-the-face Scotch Bonnet chilli’s.  SO.SO.SO delicious.

Mike Davies, the owner/operator of The Camberwell Arms is a wonderful human.

Mike through sheer grit and graft built The Camberwell Arms into an South London institution.

Mike is a partner at Franks, Peckham, too. Recently voted Europe’s Best Bar.

But success is shadowed with cost.  
In 2019, Mike had a mental breakdown, his head a hive of anxious wasps and worms and bats and bugs.

Thankfully he recovered, our conversation BLEW MY MIND.

Mike taught me something that’ll stick with me forever.

There’s two prisms to define ourselves by

1. Business Prism

2. Life Prism

Post 80’s gnarly nefarious neoliberalism we, too often, derive identity from our Business Prism (this is dangerous). After a while the business prism no longer works.

F*cking loved this one. You’re in for a treat.

---

Let me know if you need any more formatting!

----------------------------------------------------------- 

ON THE MENU: 
1. The Power of the Open Kitchen: Why You Must FEEL the Presence of the Landlord and Publican 
2. Why Constraint = Creativity + “The ascetic is the sideshow; people want to feel raw & brash authenticity” 
3. The Danger of the Cult of the Chef: We Are Losing Our Ability to Feel Real Warm Hospitality 
4. One Reframe to Avoid Burnout: What’s the Least Stressful and Easiest Way to Use My Skill Set? 
5. Business Prism vs. Life Prism: “You Are More Than Your Work” + “Work to Live, Live to Work” - Be Careful of the Ambition Trap 
6. Why DO Chefs Have Poor Mental Health? Hospitality Is Solving for Happy 
7. Why Being a Precocious Tw*t Is a Superpower to a Point - “Be Out of Your Depth but Really Believe in Something” 
8. Why You Must Create a Mindset Where You Tolerate the Flex of Ups and Downs and Float Over Obstacles 

----------------------------------------------------------- 

 “Get on the couch” 

“Spill the beans… let it all out…tell me about your supply chain problems"

*weep *weep

“Look, I JUST want to go to SOHO House and drink Negronis and talk about marketing and On Brand and  branding, creative ideas”

“I know…I know.

“…Go on have a tissue, look, I know, it’s tough being knee deep in excel”

Dee-lighted to announce a Supply Chain Therapy Sesh with our wonderful sponsor Unleashed. 

Most founders hate supply chain.

Giles Brook says “If you can’t hit 45% True Gross Margin… you don’t have a challenger brand” 

Getting all over your supply chain like hot rash claws back margin.

Margin C-A-T-A-P-U-L-T-S your brand to INFINITY and BEYOND 

Josh and Bryony are amazing human beings. They make supply chain fun. 

It’s Short. Snappy. 

You’re going to LOVE this one. 

Full episode in the comments below 

🤝 Let's Connect!

►Let’s link-up here ​ (https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-pope/)

►Stalk me here ​ (https://www.instagram.com/_hungry.pod/)

Craving more? Check out Dan's Newsletter

6.23am. My eyes stung when I got a call saying there’s a wild Aussie in London for 4 days.

You know what happened next

They said:

You two simply have to record a podcast

WhatsApp tennis ensued.

Aaron Trotman is a DONNY.

Founder of Australian Alch Free Wine brand NON

Launched in Melbourne, Sydney, Seoul, San Fransisco, New York, Barcelona, Los Angeles, Tokyo

And, now, finally London

Our conversation was WILD.

Felt like we were plugged into some Metamorfosi Muse - - inter—galacticA.

Spaceship Cruisers - - chugging fast n loose into the Wild - Wild Wild Wilderness of Curiosity

We waxed Ayahuasca, Trauma and Techno, Spaceships, Brands and Barber shops.

One of my faves to date.

At the end, Aaron gave me a NON stopper - it goes on top of their wine bottles

Ever since, it’s been on my desk

My brain is chocca bloca NON stoppa

Been looking at it NONstop

ON THE MENU:

1. Why Being a Founder is summed up in one sentence “You better like the taste of your own blood”
2. Why Wine Alternative is a Horrible name for a new category “Don't try and create another category”
3. How challenger food and drink business can launch in Japan, New York, Seoul, London - doing
4. Why NON said No to a huge Coles listing on the table “It’s better to go slower but go right”
5. Ayahuasca + 1 + 1 = 3 Challenger Founder Thinking: How Ayahuasca retreat in Colombia changed Aaron’s approach to leadership
6. How to Develop Your Founder Grit compartment “grit is half the battle, knowing you’ll pull it off and knowing it’s going to happen”.
7. The Challenger of being an Autistic leader and managing high performance teams “I felt the empathy but black ash would come out my mouth”
8. How NON are innovating OUTSIDE he bottle + playing with wine semiotics and spaceships to signal a totally new category - innovation often happen outside the bottle or packaging (think innocent wooly hats)

 👌 

Listen to the full episode here

📙Download HUNGRY Big Banging Reading list here 
🧾 HUNGRY survey would be so grateful if you may please fill out 

I remember sampling at Bayley & Sage.
On the shelf were two cans.
Black.
White.

A shrilly lady, probably called Wendy (definitely eats Brie) tuttered: “what ON EARTH is that… Canned water??!! that’s IS never going to work”

Buyers thought the same.
So did friends.
So did investors.
No one though it would work.
I kinda did, too

Josh White was maniacally obsessed, even possessed, with making canned water
work and reducing plastic.

They’ve been the proverbial punching bag for so many challenger brands who are now entering the category.

Josh’s approach to brand building is TOTALLY UNIQUE

Josh is a TOTAL Legend.

Cano Water® were the proverbial punching bag for so many challenger brands who are now entering the category.

Josh is a total legend. Raw. Honest. Vulnerable.

Someone who transmogrifies "No" from headwind to tailwind

ON THE MENU:

1. The Crucial Difference between innovators and copy cats - how to lead from the front and follow your creative calling

2. The Power of Juxtaposition in branding to stand out in crowded categories
How to Be the Richest Man in the World (…and it’s not financial)

3. Why Challenger Brands need to think like Fashion brand like Gucci or Channel to truly disrupt categories

4. How Josh Hustled to get Ed Sheeran, Lewis Hamilton,Harry Styles & more celebs drinking Cano

5. How the word “No” will make you indestructible if you just keep going - Cano were the punching bag for the category
 
6. “Just think about today” - Lessons from Rehab for challenger food and drink founders

7. The fine art of “Open” vs “Closed” distribution (this is super smart and something I’d never heard before)

8. How Josh got his brand in front of Ricky Gervais and Won investment

👌