Untold: Behind the Scenes in the UK Food & Drink Industry

Berczy Hard Seltzer Founders Nick Graham and Nick Johnson speak openly about navigating through Co-Founder troubles, building a new category and their imminent launch in to America. 

Dr Will, from Dr Wills speaks to us about how they landed some incredible distribution, had an investor lined up to complete their full round in one go, the investor then goes silent!.... A Tesco launch without the resources to support! How the team changed this around to have one of the most successful crowd funding campaigns going! As always we uncover the tough times and the effect on founder mental Health! 

In true Untold fashion we dive in to the Untold story of appearing on Dragons Den. We chat to Harry about his experience from setting up The Savourists to appearing BBC1 Dragons Den. The Low Times, the high times and the lessons learned along the way!

Great to welcome Kitty to Untold as the new Co-Host. Sad to see Mariana move on to focus her efforts elsewhere but excited to be back to it with Kitty. Preview to Harry's Experience on the Den too! 

In this episode we chat with Helena Hills from TrueStart Coffee about taking the difficult decision to redo a much loved product and rebrand completely. Helena talks openly about the emotional side of making difficult but necessary decisions. 

Helena Hills is the co-founder of TrueStart Coffee, an ethical family business that exists to spread massive positive energy and make you feel amazing! They make clean, healthy, vibrant, award-winningly tasty coffee that doesn't compromise on people or the planet. Helena and her husband and co-founder Simon have two little boys and live in Bristol, where TrueStart was born too. 

In this episode we chat with Joe Taylor, Co-Founder of Real Handful. Joe tells the dramatic story of a product recall that happened in while launching into  a major supermarket. He talks openly about how he managed to pull  through the episode and what he learned about looking after his mental health in the process. 

Joe Taylor is the Co-Founder, with his wife Carly, of Real Handful snacks.  Prior to launching Real Handful in 2016 Joe worked in commercial and category roles at innocent drinks, Kellogg & Heinz.  He lives in South Manchester with Carly and their three boys and loves all things start-up and food & drink related.

In this episode we chat with Olly about the early days of Olly's Olives. Olly tells us how  he almost quit but managed to persist through the grind of knocking on doors, late nights of packing olives and being let down by funders.

Olly turned down Medical School in 2017 to launch Olly's Olives and chase the snacking dream! Having built the business up from the West London Market stall, Olly's now is a Global Snacking Brand selling in over 20 countries with a range consisting of award-winning olives, nut mixes and brand new Pretzel Thins!

In this episode we caught up with the Renée Elliott, Founder of Planet Organic. Renée shares the story of how her co-founder tried to remove her from the business she had built culminating in an 11-day battle at the High Court. Renée lives and breathes her holistic approach to health. She shares her tips on how to stay healthy and sane in turbulent times.

Renée founded Planet Organic, the first organic supermarket in the UK and now a successful multi-million pound brand. She is a successful author and co-founder of Beluga Bean, a business and life skills academy, and dedicates her time to supporting others live life with values and passion.

In this episode Ed Woolner shares with us the story of POW, an energy drinks company that he founded in 2014 and closed down in 2018. Ed speaks openly about deciding to close the business down after building up wide distribution in the multiples. 

Growing up in wales Ed knew from a young age he wanted to live by the sea and never left it moving from Swansea to West Dorset straight after University. After four years at the world’s first Fairtrade Organic Tea business Clipper, he developed a passion for fast moving entrepreunerial business; leading to a career of building brands and businesses from the ground up. In 2008 Ed joined Monster Energy and spend 5 years growing the UK and Irish business to over 90m. This journey inspired him to start his own business The Powerful Water company, which launched in 2014 took on the challenge of bringing health to the energy category. After four challenging years, some great distribution and a lot of learning the business was shut down in 2018. With 14 years experience in soft drinks Ed set up an incubator for Nichols PLC in 2019 and launched the purpose driven soft drinks brand Feel Good drinks in 2020 and is on a personal mission to make the world feel better one sip at a time.

We are back for Season 2! Our first guest is Ed Hauck co-founder of the Curators. We chat with Ed about his career in FMCG and the early days of setting up the Curators. Ed opens up about the challenges of getting manufacturing up and running in the early days and the journey of finding the right product.

Ed Hauck has had a colourful 20-year career in FMCG spanning household names such as L'Oreal, Levis and Puma. Ed sold his first brand Suso in 2011 and co-founded The Curators in 2017.