Recipe for Greatness

Imran Merza - who is Imran?
He is the founder of Jealous Sweets. I first came across Jealous Sweets in a coffee shop, they caught my eye, and they're absolutely delicious. They are stocked in Asda, Ocado and they are generating revenue in the millions. 

Jealous sweets was set up back in 2010 and launched it in 2011 with his co-founder Taz, they started off in Selfridges as gifting boxes and grow their product and range from there. We chat about how they went about developing the perfect vegan natural sweet in 2010, We hear about Imran's persistence to get in front of the buyers at the major retailers. We dive in to his mindset, how the habits and routines he has engrained in his day-to-day set him up for success and we hear the advice he got from industry legends. 

This conversation really dives deep in to the mindset of how to create a happy, abundant life and focus in business. Imran offers great tips with actionable advice on how you can start adding things to your daily routine to improve your mindset. Imran is a legend and we could have chatted all day about business. 

I'm Jay Greenwood and this is Recipe for Greatness.

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Zan Kaufman is the founder of Bleecker Burger. You may know all about the their world famous burger winning award countless awards such as Best Burger In The World by Foodie Hub.

Zan started off her career in New York as a corporate lawyer but after pondering some of lifes bigger questions, Zan started working in a burger joint. This burger and its taste changed Zan and her life - she left her corporate job and worked their full time.

When Zan moved to London in 2011 she began her plans to launch her burger business - Bleecker burger.

What started off as a van in a car park has now grown to 4 restaurants.

We hear all about her journey, the new challenges that come with scaling. Zan dives in to the importance of her values and standing for things bigger than business; equality, inclusion and diversity.

Zan is bloody awesome - I've admired her and Bleecker for years so this was such an honour for me.

Please enjoy my chat with Zan Kaufman from Bleecker Burger.

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Thom Elliot is the co-founder of Pizza Pilgrims that he set up in 2011 with his brother James. Thom comes from an advertising background and James from tv, After a few pints in the pub they decided it was time to do something themselves.

Pizza pilgrims was born but they realised they needed a pizza oven to sell pizzas - they decided to buy Piaggion Ape van and add a pizza oven - not wanting to pay the huge import shipping fees to get it from Italy they set up on their pilgrimage to go to Italy, pick up the van and drive it back while learning all about pizza on the way home. They got a production company involved and off they went.

They returned to London and set up a street food market stall in Soho and after great success they decided to take on the restaurant world

Fast forward to today and they operate 14 sites, have released a cook book and have just put out there most recent book Pizza, history recipes people place love

When the pandemic hit they were forced to close all sites but the birth of "Pizza in the Post" happened and after having aspirations to hopefully sell 100 a day at some point - they put 50 on the website and sold out in 20 seconds.

Thom gives us an amazing account of what it was like starting a business and the highs and lows associated with it. One thing for sure is how fun Thom and James have clearly had on the way and it makes you just want to be apart of it from the start. Thom talks so passionately about the importance of people being the core to the success of a business and how he believes investing in them is the key to a great company.

Chatting to thom is a dream for me because I've been watching their journey since 2014 with admiration so to finally chat to him was a privilege. Thom gives so much value and great perspective of what this is all about at the end of the day.

Please sit back and enjoy my chat with Thom from Pizza Pilgrims.

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Helenor and Mike are the founders of Troo - you may have seen their granola or porridge in places such as Sainsbury's or Waitrose. They create delicious granola, porridge and syrups that all promote gut health, with high levels of functional fibre, low sugar and made with all natural ingredients.

Helenor started making granola at home for her son after seeing how much sugar is in shop bought options and this ultimately led to the business being set up. Mike noticed the early signs of the big trend towards gut health and they set out a their mission to sell amazing tasting granola and porridge while educating the population about gut health.

We cover so much in this chat, you'll hear one of the most amazing stories that really captures the entrepreneurial spirit of Helenor and Mike when they talk about their pitch to Sainsbury's. We also talk about why standing for a mission that is bigger than your product is so important and how it shapes your future business operations. We cover gut health and just how important it is in your life and behind the scenes of what it was like scaling Troo.

Mike and helenor are husband and wife and they are so fun and enjoyable to chat to. Not only are they exceptional business minded individuals but they are also TV stars that we touch on at the end. I think you'll be able to tell just how much I enjoyed chatting with them. Sit back and please enjoy my chat with Mike and Helenor from Troo.

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Dominique Woolf is the founder of The Woolf's Kitchen - They make the most amazing sauces such as Tamarin Ketchup, Jalapeno and Lime and have just launched some new nuts!

Dominique launched her business in the middle of lock, oh and she is also a mum of three all under the age of 5!

Dominique talks all about how you find your calling for a business and the importance of tasting and experiencing different career paths. Dominique started in the music industry but didn't quite feel it was her true calling - until she came back to her Thai inspiration.

What started of as an idea quickly turned in to Dominique creating sauces at home and then going to a market and selling 250 bottles in 2 days. That gave Dominique the fuel to launch the business that was planned in April but then the UK national lock down came in but that didn't stop Dominique and she launched in June. The Woolf's Kitchen and Dominique's journey has got national press, radio coverage and led to her being the finalist of Enterprise Nations Female Start-Up of the year.

Dominique breaks down all the stages involved in creating the product, immersing yourself in the category, testing the product, building the brand and selling. This is a great listen for aspiring food business founders looking to get the hints and tips to launch their business! Please enjoy my chat with Dominique from The Woolf's Kitchen.

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This week my guest is Olly Hiscocks who is the founder of Olly's. 4 years ago he entered the olive market and reinvented the category. They have gone on to do nuts and their most recent innovation has been snacking pretzels as a better alternative to crisps.

What started off in his kitchen and a market stall, Olly's are stocked in Sainsbury's, Ocado, Selfridges, Virgin trains, Major airlines, Euro star and many others.

Olly talks about how he set up his business with less then 50 pounds and how he trialed the product with friends and family and at markets. We talk all about how he thinks about following your gut and staying true to yourself in the brand and everything you do and how he try's to turn any problem in to a win.

Olly is such a humble, great guy and he offers so much advice in this interview. Please Enjoy my chat with Olly the founder of Olly's.

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Stephen Tozer is one of the founders of Le Bab, Maison Bab and Kebab Queen that reinvented the kebab. When I say kebab - think Michelin star kebab.

Stephen met him co-founder Ed at Oxford university which they parted ways, Ed to go train at Michel Roux Jr two Michelin Star restaurant Le Gavroche and Stephen to work in the city.

After some time Stephen felt his long life passion for food and cooking draw him back to the idea of opening a restaurant and convinced his friend Ed to join him. Together they convinced Manu who also worked at Le Gavroche to join.

In this Chat we talk all about the Stephens process from coming up with the idea, facing his choice to leave his career and follow his passion. We talk about the journey to opening up a restaurant, raising money, finding mentors and what his philosophy behind business is. Stephen also launched an initiative in lock down called The Restaurant Co-operative that kept his staff in employment and fed over 9000 NHS staff.

I loved chatting with Stephen not only is he such an awesome guys, but his advice is incredible in this interview for people thinking about entering the restaurant world. This one ran for a while and we could have chatted for even longer - please enjoy my chat with Stephen Tozer.

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Today’s guest is Sophie McGregor who is the co-founder of Griddle who make delicious whole grain pancakes with less sugar and no artificial flavours, they are available in Sainsbury’s and Amazon.

This is such a great chat because Sophie really provides context of what it takes and how long it takes to come up with an idea, test the market, manufacture the product and get it in to a retailer.

Not only was Sophie setting up Griddle but her and her co founder Ella we’re working at the same time!

We talk about how she thinks about the importance of standing for something more then just a product but it’s values and Sophie’s and Ella's work with charities over lockdown and future plans for the brand.

This really is such a great chat to get behind the scenes about the journey of getting a product in to a major retailer, please enjoy my chat with Sophie from Griddle.

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Today my guest is Jason Mulhall who is the founder of Karnival. Karnival work with some of the biggest companies in the world and smaller start-ups and create pop up food experiences in their offices.

We talk about his journey in to entrepreneurship and how he was actively brain storming ideas and problems to solve so he could create a company. Jason tried other business ideas and after experiments and tests he realised they weren't going to achieve what he had set out to. Jason Didn't give up and kept trying new ideas and came across the idea of setting up street food pop-ups inside offices and founded his company.

We talk about how he convinced these companies in 2016 to let different street food brands come from the streets of London and in to the office to sell food - it may seem obvious now - but 5 years ago it wasn't a big thing. We talk about how he scaled from one client to 50. This is a great chat because its a really honest account of not only trial and error, but not giving up, persevering and starting small and growing big! Jason is a friend and he is such a lovely bloke - I could chat forever with him about food and business - please enjoy my chat with Jason from Karnival.

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Eloise Head is the founder of Fitwaffle. If recently you have been on social media and you came across some mouth-watering food pictures or incredible home baking recipes there is a chance it was Eloise with Fitwaffle. She has over 1.2 Million followers and her recipes get picked up weekly by the national media and get tens of thousands of shares. If you want to have some home baking recipe inspiration head to her page: Fitwaffle Kitchen.

Eloise started the page just over 3 years ago that started off as a hobby when she and her partner, Bernie, would post photos of their cheat meals. That page grew in popularity and Eloise started getting requests from restaurants to post content for them. Eloise grew the fitwaffle platform and over the years has gained over 1.2m followers and it is now a fully fledged business.

This was so interesting to talk to Eloise. A couple of episodes back I spoke with David Templer who creates contents for brands but Eloise does it specifically for food brands. You really see how this is such a huge industry and once you have the following there is a lot of money to be made.

Eloise gives such a honest and open review of what it takes to grow a platform like she has and the time and effort it takes on a daily basis to manage it. We also chat about what it is like when your hobby becomes your full time job.

I loved chatting with Eloise, she is one of the nicest, happy and most genuine people I have met and it comes across in this interview. Please enjoy my conversation with Eloise Head from Fitwaffle.

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