Recipe for Greatness

Today on the podcast we have Siddhi Mittal who is the Co-founder of YHANGRY that she launched in 2019 with her co-founder Heinin Zhang. Y/hangry is the The very first affordable private chef platform allowing you to instantly book a professional chef to come cook for you at home From as little as £100 including groceries. Y/Hangry recently raised £1.5 million from notable angel investors and Siddhi and Heinin have also both been shortlisted for Food and Drink Heroes - Service Entrepreneurs Of The Year.

I loved this chat with Siddhi, not only is she super interesting and such a passionate entrepreneur but she gives SO much advice. Whether it is testing your idea, what things to measure for performance, how to find those first customers and so much more. We also dig deep in to a shared passion of ours, reading and writing, and talk about the benefits of both and the impact they have had.

One of my favourite conversations on this podcast so far. Please sit back and enjoy my conversation with Siddhi from Y/Hangry

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Today we have Amanda Argent who is the co-founder of Soupologie & Foodologie, which she set up in 2012 with her husband Stephen.

Stephen who had just sold his business and started making soup with Amanda. After it being a big hit with friends and family they decided to try sell it.

Fast forward to today Soupologie is stocked in Waitrose and has been a best seller on Ocado since 2014 & Foodologie is in 450 Tesco stores nationwide.

This is such a great chat for two reasons, one because even despite all the success, Amanda is so humble and doesn't shout about her impact in the business as she leads the sales and marketing of the business. Secondly, she breaks down how to have a top selling brand and how to stay one for over 6 years.

I loved talking to Amanda and if you listened to a recent interview with Jacqueline from The Great British Porridge Co - you begin to see a theme of just following your gut and keeping things simple and things fall in to place.

So sit back and please enjoy my conversation with Amanda from Soupologie & Foodologie

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Stef Pellegrino is the co-founder of Purely Plantain Chips, a brand on a mission to make the world of snacking more exciting. Stef and her co-founder Mark set up the business in 2017 after traveling around South America where they discovered how delicious the plantain chips were there vs what was out there in the market.

Stef is great in this conversation because we have all had that light bulb moment where we think, I have an idea that I think would work. In this chat Stef unpacks the steps from idea, product testing, branding, packaging to launch and gives real context to the work and time involved in launching a product.

Stef also talks about the value of a coach and how surrounding yourself with people you look up to, that combination was transformational for her journey in business.

So much value in this chat, with so many tips. Sit back and pleas enjoy my conversation with Stef from Purley.

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Jacqueline Barleycorn is the founder of The Great British Porridge Co that launched in 2018 with a mission to get people more excited about porridge with flavours such as strawberry and peanut butter, They are now stocked in Sainsbury's across the country.

Before porridge Jacqueline and her husband had just settled in to retirement but Jacqueline decided that wasn't for her so decided to start a business. This is such a great listen because so often in business world it is preached about business strategy and how there is a right and wrong way to do it but Jacqueline is so humble about her skill set and is a perfect example of how you should follow you gut and trust in the process and things can fall in to place.

Talking to Jacqueline was so refreshing and a reminder of why business is so exciting because there is no right or wrong path - it is just your path!

Sit back and please enjoy my conversation with Jacqueline from The Great British Porridge Co

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Finn Lagun is the co-founder of Pasta Evangelists and the Chief Marketing Officer. Pasta Evangelists deliver fresh, restaurant quality pasta to your door. Finn joined in 2017 and he and his co-founders launched the business in 2018. Later that year they appeared on Dragons Den and told they were "Pasta Le Disaster" and delusional. Fast forward to 2021 a majority stake was just purchased by Barilla.

Finn unpacks all the secrets behind scaling a direct to consumer brand, how you stand out in  a food market, how to create authority in the industry, the most successful marketing channels and so much more. 

Finn gives so much incredible advise for anyone marketing food, especially anyone doing direct to consumer marketing. 

Finn is someone I really look up to and admire a lot so this was such a huge honour for me. Sit back and please enjoy my chat with Finn Lagun from Pasta Evangelists.

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Anushi Desai is the co-founder of Plant Pops which are popped lotus seeds snacks. They have won Winner of Best Snacking Innovation at the 2019 World Food Innovation Awards. Shortlisted for a Great British Food Award and Anushi was named on starling banks top 15 food entrepreneurs to watch in 2021.

Anushi left the world of management consulting in 2019 to go full time with Plant Pops, however she was busy creating the brand in the evenings after work and testing them on her co-workers. Anushi refers to her time at plant pops as her real life MBA and she talks all about her journey, the challenges faced, Covid being a huge one but how she and the business has over come them. 

Anushi gives plenty of advise to future food founders in this - please sit back and enjoy my chat with Anushi from Plant Pops.

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Joe Moruzzi is the founder of Pleesecakes who make the most incredible, cheesecake porn, if you will, desserts. They are stocked in Selfridges, Whole foods and have nationwide delivery. They have over 216 thousand followers on instagram and have been enjoyed by many big celebrities, including the queen.

Joe started making cheesecakes in 2015 while running a painting and decorating company, two years later he decided to launch an instagram page to try sell 5 a month while still working. In January 2017 he launched the page and on the first day he got 50 orders and within a week over 15,000 followers.

He had a crazy first year, appearing on ITV this morning, getting a book deal and publishing it, as mentioned making a queen for the cake and being asked to go on Dragons Den.

But with all that success on the surface, what is really going on behind the scenes? We talk about the sacrifices Joe had to make, the debt he got himself in, the crazy hours worked and his love for failure. Joe gives such an honest account of what it is like to grow a company from the bottom up, but he emphasises hes not special, he had no unique skill or head start, anyone can do it with the right mindset and work ethic.

I loved chatting to Joe and it was just so nice to hear how honest he was about all the bumps on the way. Its a great listen and the journey is amazing.

Please enjoy my chat with Joe from Pleesecakes.

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Adam Smith is a founder of the multi-award-winning, global initiative: The Real Junk Food Project set up in December 2013, to revolutionise the disposal of avoidable food waste into landfill, idea is to feed bellies, not bins.

In 2019, TRJFP intercepted about 400 tonnes of food, the equivalent of 950,000 meals. In the first 12 weeks of lockdown in 2020 alone, the team intercepted double that amount – comparable to 1.9 million meals. They also run multiple projects across the world and have Fed over 13 million people.

Adam is also a professional chef for over ten years, Adam has held a wealth of head chef positions, internationally.

Adam and TRJFP have received numerous plaudits and awards from organisations ranging from NESTA to The Observer. In 2014, Adam was voted one of the forty most influential men in the world by AskMen. The Telegraph voted Adam as one of the 50 th most influential people in UK Food & Drink – Food & Drink Power List 2017.

Adam was a featured speaker on the TedX broadcast from Warwick University on February 28th 2015.

In 2010 at aged 25 Adam was found in a field, pronounced dead at the scene by the police, with only cocaine keeping his heart beating, he had attempted suicide.

We hear about Adams story, what led him to that moment, and how he went on to achieve the things he has

Adam is a reminder to us all that despite the challenges we face, there is always purpose and meaning to be found.

Please enjoy my chat with Adam Smith.

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Today on the podcast we have Joe Taylor who is the co-founder of Real Handful. 

Joe  was working in IT and while backpacking in America in 2006 had the idea for trail mixes and saw a gap in the market. 

Joe left the world of computers and entered the food and drink world where he worked for notable companies such has Innocent and Heinz, to name a few. 

10 years after his initial inspiration, in 2016 he set up Real Handful with his wife Carley: frustrated with the snacks offering the next health miracle or being pure indulgent they set out to make better snacks that improve lives using plant based foods. 

Joe's journey is an incredible listen, we chat about so may things from the benefits of working at a start up  & large companies, the embrace of the food and drink culture, unpacking your idea to your why, category and the market, how to open conversations with retails industry leaders and how to frame conversations and so much more. 

So much value  in this conversation. Please Enjoy this episode with Joe Taylor.

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Huw Gott Is the co-founder of Hawksmoor, which first opened in 2006 and has grown to become one of the UK’s most respected restaurant groups. 

They have a reputation for being the best employers in the industry, being the only hospitality company to have appeared in the Annual Sunday Times Best Places to Work list for each of the last 9 years. 

They’re also a founding member of the Sustainable Restaurants Association and have raised over £1.5 million pounds for charity. And they’ve pulled off the difficult trick of remaining a critics favourite 15 years after first opening and Jay Rayner has named them one of his favourite restaurants of the last 10 years.

Huw Is a legend in the industry and we talk about his journey with Hawksmoor. How after 3 failed attempts, him and Will gambled everything on their 4th venture; Hawksmoor. We hear Huw's take on what makes Hawksmoor special, the challenges involved in their journey and reflections on their newest venture; Hawksmoor New York.

This is a dream come true interview for me so please enjoy.

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