Baby food should not feel like a trade-off between “quick” and “good”. We sit down with Ed van der Lande, founder of More Toddler Meals, to unpack a deceptively simple question: how do you feed toddlers wholesome meals with real texture and visible ingredients when you are exhausted, out of the house, or racing between nursery pick-ups and work?

Ed traces the idea back to a moment on deployment in Somalia, watching his wife carry the full load at home and feeling the friction every parent knows. That frustration turned into an unusual solution: freeze drying. We break down, in plain English, how freeze drying differs from retort and pasteurised pouch foods, why heat can change flavour and texture, and why chewing and oral development matter when little ones are learning to eat. If you care about healthy toddler meals in the UK, convenient baby food, and what “shelf-stable” can look like without turning into puree, this will spark ideas.

We also get practical about building a product-based business. Ed shares the leap from British Army major to Amazon, the leadership principles he carried over (high standards, curiosity, customer obsession), and the systems he uses now to keep focus. From home recipe trials and brutally honest feedback to selling at markets, walking into independent retailers, and rethinking online growth, this is a candid look at what it really takes to launch and scale a food brand.

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We talk with Wild Things founder Fliss Newland about going from Mondelez to building an organic, plant-based gummy brand that targets families without losing the fun of sweets. She breaks down the practical steps behind the leap, from finding the right opportunity to nailing brand positioning, packaging, and early retail wins. 

• Childhood hustle stories and the influence of self-employed parents 
• Learning FMCG fundamentals at Mondelez, from perfect store to pricing and promotions 
• Moving to Asia to stretch skills and seek less mature markets 
• Taking on an existing vegan sweets business and spotting the product advantage 
• “manifesting” as networking, asking for help, and saying ambitions out loud 
• Qualitative consumer research with parents, including panels and real-world routines 
• Positioning sweets as balance and permissibility rather than guilt and restriction 
• Investing in distinctive branding to win at the shelf 
• Getting first sales via Lunch! trade show, distributors, independents, and sampling 
• Winning Ocado by pitching a tight proposition and staying focused on the target shopper 
• Founder highs and lows, sleep, decision-making speed, and building a team culture 

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if you want to know more about building a food business head to wwwjgreenwood.co.uk

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We talk with Owen Potts about building The Potts Partnership from a home kitchen into a premium ambient food manufacturer stocked by major UK supermarkets. We dig into hands-on learning, bold packaging choices like aluminium cans, and the unglamorous cash flow and operations work that makes growth possible. 

• Turning a gap year job in a jam factory into a career in food manufacturing and product development 
• Learning factories end to end by jumping onto every machine and process 
• Why partnerships break under pressure and how money triggers misalignment 
• Spotting a market gap for premium stocks and gravies in independents during the financial crisis 
• Using simple branding to stand out on shelf in butchers and farm shops 
• Scaling production through borrowed facilities, consultancy swaps, and early contract manufacturing 
• Getting supermarket buyers to engage by persevering until they taste the product 
• The origin story of stock in aluminium cans and using other categories as inspiration 
• Balancing brand identity with bold design across a range 
• Operational realities of new packaging and iterating the process to make it work 
• Why fast growth can crush cash flow and how pipeline fill changes the maths 
• Adapting from hands-on maker to team builder with engineers and product developers 
• Running a family business with clear role boundaries and aligned goals 
• Founder advice on passion, gut feel, and protecting equity 

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If you want to know more about starting a food business, head to www.jgreenwood.com. 

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We talk with Craig about how he leaves university, learns the fundamentals of margin and negotiation in meat trading, and turns a steam-cooked chicken discovery into GSN. We break down the scrappy freezer-in-gyms launch, the Covid pivot to e-commerce, and the principles that keep the brand focused on profitable growth. 

• leaving university to gain real-world experience in a family commodity trading business 
• Learning negotiation, margin, factory operations and spotting value in overlooked stock 
• the steam-cooked chicken moment and why convenience solves a real problem 
• choosing gyms as the first channel and placing branded freezers to create demand 
• handling rejection through cold outreach, common ground and a money-back guarantee 
• learning practical skills fast through trial, error, YouTube and asking for help 
• buying a decommissioned Tesco truck to solve frozen logistics and scale deliveries 
• building an efficient delivery route before hiring help 
• moving from credit-led growth to upfront payments to protect cash flow 
• pivoting during Covid by building paid ads and a stronger direct-to-consumer website 
• developing new high-protein ready meals by tracking food trends and relentless testing 
• expanding into under-served channels while avoiding over-reliance on one big retailer 

GSN Wesbite

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A teenage trader learns to move stock on Romford Market, then builds a clean‑label snack factory that challenges ultra‑processed bars and keeps going through COVID with a private‑label engine. Matt Hunt, co‑founder of The Protein Ball Co, joins us for a candid, high‑energy tour through graft, grit, and the choices that change a business. We dig into margins, manufacturing, pet treats you could eat, and a bold rebrand made to win shelves.

• early market lessons shaping sales craft and urgency
• olives to protein balls and the Expo West insight
• outsourcing pain points versus owning production
• factory build on a tight budget and fast scale to export
• airline margins, cancellations, and cash discipline
• educating customers on protein types and absorption
• clean labels versus ultra‑processed ingredients
• COVID impact and the private label pivot
• launching human‑grade dog treats with low carbs
• rebrand to Ballsy By Nature and paper packaging
• returning to proactive sales with a stronger story
• partnership roles, stress, and family balance

Please like and subscribe. And prior review, would really appreciate it. If you want to know more about starting a food business, head to www.jgreenwood.com

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We trace Yusuf’s path from schoolyard hustles to building a functional cold brew that swaps jitters for calm focus. The story spans painful caffeine experiments, tough retail lessons, and the mindset shift from making a product to selling one at a profit. Listen to the story of building Unconform

• early ventures and the itch to build 
• caffeine overload as the spark for a solution 
• cold brew, adaptogens, and nootropics for a smoother hit 
• scrappy R&D, 31 iterations, and crowdfunding proof 
• timing, outreach, and landing Holland and Barrett 
• taking feedback, rebranding for shelf visibility 
• packaging that signals benefit at a glance 
• avoiding ego traps and focusing on sales 
• the real maths of margins and target numbers 
• recommended resources for learning to sell

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If you want to know more about starting a food business, head to www.jgreenwood.com

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We explore how poker shaped Andrew Macleod's thinking and how those mental models helped him build Emilia’s Crafted Pasta into a debt-free, multi-site brand. From scouting Italy to opening under budget and growing slow, we show how to balance soul with margins.

• Poker as a mirror of risk and behaviour
• Bootstrapping events and earning trust without capital
• Finding the pasta gap and validating with travel and craft
• Raising seed from relationships built on delivery and discipline
• Securing a first site through persistence and landlord alignment
• Opening lean, surviving the quiet months, building word of mouth
• Frameworks for skill acquisition and early career risk-taking
• Balancing hospitality warmth with unit economics
• Cross-functional accountability and consequence visibility
• Choosing independence, optionality, and long-term brand depth

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If you want to know more about starting a food business, head to www.jaygreenwood.co.uk

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Will Howard shares his journey from hospitality worker to Managing Director of GrowUp Farms, revealing how purpose-driven leadership and vulnerability create stronger businesses and teams.

• Started career with a passion for food, working in hospitality before transitioning to FMCG roles at L'Oreal and PepsiCo
• Found his authentic leadership style at purpose-driven companies like Red Bull, Innocent and Ella's Kitchen
• Practices vulnerability by openly discussing mental health challenges with his team
• Maintains mental wellbeing through consistent morning exercise routines
• Joined GrowUp Farms after being impressed by both the team and product quality
• Explains how vertical farming creates perfect growing conditions without pesticides in the space of "three double-decker buses"
• Balances aggressive commercial growth targets with sustainable business practices
• Uses technology including AI and machine learning to optimise crop production
• Emphasises communication with context as essential for effective leadership
• Advocates normalising mental health support: "If you cut your finger, you put a plaster on it. It's normal the other way"

If you want to know more about starting a food business, head to www.jgreenwood.com.

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What does it take to build a thriving food brand that refuses to compromise on values? Karen and Patrick O'Flaherty, founders of Pip Organic, reveal the remarkable journey that transformed their humble market stall selling fresh juices into one of the UK's most trusted organic food and drink brands.

The husband-and-wife team share how their backgrounds in marketing and finance, combined with Patrick's family history in organic farming, created the perfect foundation for their business. Their adventure began at Borough Market in London, where queues quickly formed for their fresh organic juices. When customers started bringing bottles to fill for home consumption, they recognized a retail opportunity that would define their future.

The conversation takes a fascinating turn as they discuss a pivotal moment in their business journey – purchasing a bottling line at auction without fully consulting each other, a decision that nearly caused "a divorce in the car" but ultimately proved transformative for their production capabilities. This candid glimpse into their partnership reveals how entrepreneurial impulses sometimes clash with practical considerations.

Perhaps most compelling is how parenthood reshaped their business direction. When Karen and Patrick couldn't find clean-label products for their own children, they identified a crucial market gap: while the baby food category was predominantly organic, options disappeared once children outgrew the toddler stage. This insight led to their mission of creating products that pass a simple but powerful test: "Would we give this to our kids with a smile?"

Their commitment to quality comes with constraints – developing products takes longer, costs more, and sometimes means saying no to certain categories. Yet this unwavering approach has built extraordinary consumer trust. As they've scaled to over 10,000 distribution points across the UK without external investment, the O'Flahertys prove that patience in business can yield remarkable results.

What lessons might your business gain from their "you only get out what you put in" philosophy? Listen now to discover how authentic values and consumer-first thinking can create sustainable competitive advantage in even the most challenging markets.

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Matthew Jones is the founder of Bread Ahead bakery. On this episode, Matthew shares his remarkable journey from sleeping on bakery floors to building a global brand that's reshaping how people experience and understand artisan baking.

• Growing up in 1970s Britain surrounded by makers and creators despite the "dire" food scene
• Leaving school at 15 to pursue chef training through a Youth Training Scheme
• Working under Sir Terence Conran and learning from his visionary approach to restaurants
• Transitioning from chef to baker with the founding of Flower Power City Bakery in 1999
• Losing his first bakery business and hitting personal rock bottom due to alcohol addiction
• Finding sobriety and rebuilding his life through baking in 2010
• Starting Bread Ahead with just a market stall at Borough Market
• Creating a revolutionary bakery concept that combines retail with baking education
• Expanding internationally with 11 bakeries across the Middle East
• Evolving as a leader and finding joy in seeing young professionals succeed
• Maintaining focus through exercise, creative pursuits, and staying busy with varied activities

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