Recipe for Greatness

Sam Mensah started off in the music industry - playing on stage, talking to major record labels, touring the country, but in the background his parents were running a Ghanaian bakery, Uncle Johns Bakery, that they set up 25 years ago. 
It was doing well but Sam believed it could do better. in 2015 he finally took the step and decided to john the family business. But this was not without challenges, sam had to reinvent the business in order for it to reach the goals he set for it which ultimately led the bakery to be stocked in Tesco, Morrisons and he has even bigger plans in the future. 
This is such an interesting chat with Sam about his journey. In this interview you will hear how he faces failure, how the people around you influence you, the importance of focusing on one thing and so much more. 
This really was one of my favourite interviews and really got me fired up. This is such a great listen to please enjoy my interview with Sam from Uncle Johns Bakery.

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This weeks guest is Dan Pope - Who is the sales manager for ManLife, One of the leading UK peanut butter brands shaking up the category. Dan was employee number 2 at the company.

Dan graduated university - all his other friends took jobs in London and followed the corporate route but Dan took a different journey that lead him to a few different places. Dan talks about the value of his non-conventional job and what he learnt. Eventually his path ran in to the Founder of ManiLife and Dan decided to join. We hear all about the value of being an employee at a start-up, what it is really like versus what people think it is like, on being a sponge soaking up all the information of people around him and how he learns from his mistakes.

This is such a great interview because people think they have to set up a company and be a founder, but what about being a number 2 or 3? Or being an employee and treating it as your mentorship to eventually go on to set up something yourself? A lot of interesting ideas we cover in this chat and Dan gives a really honest insight in to life at a start-up, what a typical week might look like and what he has personally got from his experience.

Please enjoy my chat with Dan from ManiLife

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Asher Flowers is the founder of Rogue, they create the most exceptional jams and chutneys from the likes of Espresso Martini Marmalade, Negroni Marmalade and many others.

Asher left his job in PR in London and moved back to Wales to set up his business. He started with £350 and began selling it at market stalls and trade shows. He got his break and pitched to Sainsbury's and Ocado and his national distribution journey began.

Asher is very open and honest about the mistakes he has made and discusses the lessons he has learnt on his journey. It really is a story of lots of ups and downs but Asher gives great advice on how to keep going.

We discuss how he got to meet the buyers for these big supermarkets and what a typical deal looks like. We talk about his experience with crowd funding and what the future holds for the business.

This is a great listen and it is really interesting to understand the scale and branding needed to go from a market stall to national distribution.

Please enjoy my conversation with Asher Flowers

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David Templer is a fitness and food enthusiast who has taken his side project in to a complete business. Also known as Temptation or the Shirtless Chef, David has around 400,000 thousand followers across his social media platform.

David went away travelling and started a Instagram account and it has grown and taken him on to TV shows such as Hairy Biker's Chocolate Challenge and also had his video picked up by Gordon Ramsey that made it on to the Daily Mail and ITV's Lorraine.

David is seen to never take himself too seriously on his social media platforms but in this interview we dive in to the business behind social media and what it really looks like. David talks about how to build a community of followers around what you love and how to create a business around that. David also goes in to some of his brand deals and shows us the scale they can reach.

This is a little different from our normal interviews, however, it is intentionally showing you how a food business can move beyond conventional shop fronts and be a social media business.

You can find more about David at:
https://www.instagram.com/temp_tation/
https://www.tiktok.com/@temp_tation?lang=en
www.litness.co.uk

If you want to learn more about starting a food business then head to www.jaygreenwood.com

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Teddy Rigby is the founder of Abbeville Supper Club and was a MasterChef 2020 Quarter-Finalist.

MasterChef is a well known annual cooking show hosted on BBC, the show receives (according to Google) 20,000 applications a year and chooses only 56. I talk with Teddy all about MasterChef and we get to hear a real behind the scenes look of what it is actually like to be on the show, applying, how it runs, what Greg and John are like and so much more. If you like MasterChef this is a must listen.

While waiting to hear from MasterChef Teddy launched his first food business with friend Jean-Pierre Bird (ex professional chef), which is a non-for-profit super club in Clapham called Abbeville Supper Club. They create the most amazing food and had plans to grown, lock down happened and forced Teddy and JP to pivot and start online cooking challenges and food delivery packages for people who need them. They have partnered with a charity called Royal Trinity Hospice and have raised over £6,000 for them. We talk about the lessons learnt in setting up the supper club, how he has had to adapt and future plans for the business.

Please sit back and enjoy my chat with Teddy Rigby.

Head to www.jaygreenwood.com to learn more about setting up a food business.

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Hugo Campbell is the founder of Feast It, an events booking platform ranging from food and drink to staff and photographers. Launching in 2016 it has grown and has been shortlisted for "Disruptor of The Year" for Great British Entrepreneur Awards and named Number 7 in Start Up's top 100 UK companies in 2020.
Hugo founded the business with long-term friend Digby. They have raised £2.7m in funding.
Hugo is an amazing founder. We talk about how to capture attention in articles, importance of co-founders, Paul Graham's "13 Things You Should Know About Starting A Company" and goal setting for the team. He finishes off with golden advice for any food caterers about how to stand out.
We also chat about how when they turned their business live online and within five minutes they took a huge booking!
It was an amazing conversation with so much great advice.
Please enjoy my conversation with Hugo

If you want to learn more about setting up a food business please head to www.jaygreenwood.com

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Angie Gewargis is the founder of My Cookie Dough who make the most incredible desserts. Since opening their first site in Cardiff they have expanded at a rapid pace and now have 14 sites operating across the UK and in the Middle East.

Angie came across the idea while at university with her co-founder Ricki. We talk about how branding was the most important thing and how it needs to be one of the first things to think about. Angie breaks down their methods and how it led to them growing such a fan base. We cover social media and the importance that it has had for their growth and Angie delivers tips on how to grow on social.

We also talk about how they have adapted their whole business model and switched to BIY (Bake It Yourself) My Cookie Dough Kits at home.

If you want to see some amazing desserts that will make you drool, click here. 

Another interview with an amazing founder - please enjoy.

If you want to learn more about setting up a food business then head over to www.jaygreenwood.com

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Adam Wills is the founder of Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Crosstown Doughnuts. He moved over from NZ in 1996 and in 2000 launched GBK which he sold in 2005. In 2010 he opened up Kopapa restaurant headed by Peter Gordon and then In 2014 he founded artisan doughnut concept Crosstown Doughnuts.

Adam is an exceptional entrepreneur with continued track record of success. We chat about his journey and how he almost blew up his first restaurant! We discuss how he identifies opportunities and what questions every aspiring food founder should be asking themselves.

This was a dream interview to chat with Adam. 

Adam Wills

If you want to learn more about setting up a food business then please head to www.jaygreenwood.com

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Claire Connor is the founder of A Pie Party. In this part of the series we are covering getting started. We will discuss Claire's journey, how she came to found her company, the struggles she had and how she got through. This is a great episode with an amazing story behind a great company. Please enjoy. If you want to learn more about setting up a food business then please head over to www.jaygreenwood.com. Subscribe and please leave a review! Any feedback is appreciated - you can reach me at [email protected]

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This is an introduction to the Recipe for Greatness podcast. The goal of this podcast is to share the stories of the people behind the best food companies in the UK and deconstruct how they did it, what skills and knowledge they used and most importantly, how you can get started.
I wish there was something like this when I started my food business - I really struggled at the start so I'm hoping this can help others.
I've been wanting to do this for AGES so would love to hear some feedback from you. This is something I really care about so please reach me at [email protected] or head over to my website - www.jaygreenwood.com to find out more.

Thank guys - be great!

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