Brand Growth Heroes

Episode 69: Freja Foods, Founder Ed Armitage

How to Hit a £10m Run Rate in 3 Years!

In this latest episode, Fiona talks to Ed Armitage, founder of Freja Bone Broth, who shares the secrets behind his award-winning, digital-first, scaling food business. 
With a vision to become Europe's No. 1 bone broth brand, you'll hear how husband and wife team Ed and Jess built a multi-million-pound brand in just over three years - during extremely difficult economic conditions. 
Investors like Harry Cain, the ex-MD of innocent smoothies Giles Brook and the ex CEO Unilever Paul Polman, have all invested in the business, find out why here!

By the way, we do a quick-fire Q&A at the end, and Ed is incredibly generous with his tips on how to grow a Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) brand profitably, so make sure you stay around and don’t miss these valuable nuggets.

Here are the top 5 things you will learn from this episode:

• How Ed and Jess have built a business that turned over £1M in the first four weeks of 2024 alone!
• Why Harry Cain, the ex-MD of innocent smoothies Giles Brook ex CEO Unilever have all invested in the business
• How a digital-first brand allows them to avoid the gate-keepers that make business hard in retail grocery
• How to overcome the challenges that most consumer brand startups face 
• Ed’s 'turnover per full-time employee' Rule of thumb' that steers you on how many people to employ 

I hope you enjoyed this episode and that it has helped you and your business in some way!
If it has, please hit FOLLOW to subscribe and keep an eye out for the next episode, where I'll talk to another successful founder of a challenger brand who will share more valuable insights into driving growth. Your FOLLOW makes a big difference to me and to my business, thank you.
Click the Follow button beside Brand Growth Heroes by finding it on your favourite podcast app here.

Useful links:

Freja's Website

Find the founders on LinkedIn: Jessica Higgins & Ed Armitage

Freja on Instagram

Freja on Facebook

Please don't hesitate to join our Brand Growth Heroes community to stay updated with captivating stories and learnings from your beloved brands on their path to success! 

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Thanks to my Sound Engineer, Gyp Buggane, Ballagroove.com and my producer, Kathryn Watts, Social KEWS.

Founder Barney Mauleverer describes Fuel10k as 'a 12 year overnight success'

In Part 2 of our two part series covering the growth journey & sale of the protein breakfast brand Fuel10k to Premier Foods, learn:

• The three reasons that Fuel10k was the perfect fit for Premier Foods already impressive national brand portfolio
• It Fuel10K 10 years to get to £10 million in revenue but 2.5 years to do the next £10 million
• £10 million turnover is the magic number: the figure at which your P&L and growth trajectory to change for the better
• Why Fuel10K NEVER had an injection of big bucks & why they wanted to grow their business the old-fashioned way
• The role of Student Reps working in, in universities as part of their field sales and marketing team
• Why it's never too early to build relationships with the M&A advisory world
• One of Barney's key talents is putting the right people in the right roles
• Why Barney and his co-founders gave 1 years salary to those employees who had been in the business for over 2 years.

A favour! Could you #Payitforward?
I really hope that you enjoyed this episode & that it has helped you in some way!
If so, would you take 3 mins to click FOLLOW on your podcast app, as well as leave a review?
This small gift from you has a big impact on me ... and on MY business.
Thank you 🙏

Don't miss your favourite brands talk about how they grew their inspirational businesses!
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Are you curious to know what it's like for a founder in the week before a sale of their business?

➡ If you're building your consumer packaged goods business with the hope of one day selling it, and if you've ever wondered what it would be like to sell your branded business, then you've got to listen to this. Last week, FUEL10K (protein breakfast range) was sold to renowned UK CPG business Premier Foods.

In a two part series, Brand Growth Heroes host Fiona Fitzpatrick talks to Barney😜 Mauleverer about:

- How he & his team BUILT FUEL10K

- Why it was the right FIT for Premier Foods, and

- What it was like for him in the WEEK BEFORE the sale of the business at the end of October 2023.

First up - we revisit our episode with Barney from 2020, where the business was already turning over £12M in revenue and present in multiple international markets. 

Barney Mauleverer cut his teeth in food and drink during the front five years of early stage Innocent Drinks. Leaving in 2006 as European Manager, Barney sought a more entrepreneurial route of his own and set up food brand exporting company Fresh Marketing with pal Alex Matheson.

Listen to how Barney and his team built the Fuel 10K business, and in the next episode launching soon, we'll explore what it took to sell the business to Premier Foods.

A favour! Could you #Payitforward?
I really hope that you enjoyed this episode & that it has helped you in some way!
If so, would you take 3 mins to click FOLLOW on your podcast app, as well as leave a review?
This small gift from you has a big impact on me ... and on MY business.
Thank you 🙏

Don't miss your favourite brands talk about how they grew their inspirational businesses!
Click the Follow button beside Brand Growth Heroes on your podcast app

Follow Brand Growth Heroes here on Instagram, Tiktok, Linkedin

Become part of the Brand Growth Heroes community!
Sign up here for news and information on Brand Growth Heroes Accelerator Programme

COOK is an award winning frozen meals company based in the UK.  It’s impressive turnover of £130M comes from its it 98 retail stores and 1000 concessions that it supplies from its own manufacturing facilities.  Yet some 28 years from inception, the business STILL doesn’t sell to any major UK grocery retailers!

Founder Ed Perry tells me how he has managed to keep the business 100% privately owned, how their passion for creating a great company culture plays a central role in what they do, and how- to achieve their mission- they still cook using the same ingredients and techniques that a good cook would use at home in order

Here are the top 5 things you'll learn :

1. COOK started with just 1 store in 2006, and now has over 1600 employees and a turnover of £130M...yet is still 100% privately owned!
2. How COOK's core brand promise is the driving force behind their success
3. How the company's RAW TALENT program strives to help people rebuild their lives and contribute positively to society
4. Why Ed advises believes you have to measure your company culture
5. How building a business for the long term can give you the freedom to make decisions that can lead to better outcomes for society as a whole

A favour! Could you #Payitforward?
I really hope that you enjoyed this episode & that it has helped you in some way!
If so, would you take 3 mins to click FOLLOW on your podcast app, as well as leave a review?
This small gift from you has a big impact on me ... and on MY business.
Thank you 🙏

Don't miss your favourite brands talk about how they grew their inspirational businesses!
Click the Follow button beside Brand Growth Heroes on your podcast app

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Become part of the Brand Growth Heroes community!
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I've been in love with the bright, punchy and delicious Rude Health brand since it launched in 2006.

Originally a muesli business, Rude Health's revenue now comes predominantly from alt. milks, although this is something Camilla never would have imagined when they first launched them!

A well-known and much-loved brand in 4 major markets, Rude Health is admired for it's brightly coloured boxes and cartons which inject joy into mornings across the U.K, Portugal & Benelux.

Co-founder Camilla Barnard began the business 18 years ago with her ex-husband, with the intention of making healthier eating a celebration, not a sacrifice for as many people as they could. Compared to the expectations of many founders starting out today, you could say that the business has grown relatively slowly, however there's a massive upside to this: Rude Health is still over 90% privately owned, with their only 'major' minor shareholder being....PepsiCo!

Here are the Top 9 things you'll learn :

1. Camilla didn't know much about running a product-based business, let alone a food business, before she started, and why this mattered.
2. How Rude Health's earliest vision was always MASSIVE: to make healthy eating a celebration, not a sacrifice.
3. How Camilla is obsessed asking the right questions to her shoppers, consumers and retail buyers, and learn how you can do this too. 
4. What the brand-design process for the Rude Health brand looked like, in detail.
5. What the 'clothing' your brand wears says about it in terms of when and how to use it, and whether it's for you or not...
6. Why Rude Health has chosen to play mainly in Grocery Retail and not Online 
7. How Rude health split their marketing budget now vs. 3 years ago
8. The role of new product development in their business and how this has changed over time
9. How to recruit the right people for your business - is it skill, experience or mindset?

Could you #Payitforward?
If you enjoy this episode & it has helped you in some way, will you take 3 mins to leave a review on your podcast app?
This small gift from you has a big impact on me ... and on my business.
 Thank you 🙏

Don't miss your favourite brands talk about how they grew their inspirational businesses!
Click the Follow button beside Brand Growth Heroes on your podcast app

Follow Brand Growth Heroes here on Instagram, Tiktok, Linkedin

Become part of the Brand Growth Heroes community! Sign up here for news and information on Brand Growth Heroes Accelerator Programme

Email Fiona for a 1-1 coaching session: fiona@fionafitzconsulting.com

See how Fiona can help you design and develop group-coaching programmes for your senior commercial and marketing teams: Fiona Fitz Consulting

"What is Susan who's 40 talking about with her friends when she picks the kids up from school? Or what is Dave who's 50, who's a builder, sharing in his WhatsApp group? What kind of videos are you sharing that you're seeing online? Or what kind of TV shows are they watching and talking about with their friends?'

Subscribe now by hitting the followbutton beside Brand Growth Heroes on your podcast app.

As a rule, I don't interview marketing agencies on Brand Growth Heroes, but I made an exception when I reached out to our next guest.
Dan Knowlton is one half of Knowlton, a digital and social media market agency that has me in stitches with the videos they create and post on LinkedIn. If you don't follow them yet, I suggest you do.

Both Dan and his brother Lloyd Knowlton are hilarious. But why is this of value to you? Well, since I interviewed Jake Carls of Midday Squares and then Teddy and Marissa of Perfect Ted a few episodes ago, I've been exploring how the concept of advertainment works and why it's way more important to you as a grocery brand leader than just posting product shots.

Dan knows way more about advertainement than I do, so I thought a good chat with him would be of real value to us all.

Here are the top 5 things you'll learn :

1. How to truly understand your Target Audience, in a way you never have before
2. How to Connect with What Really Matters to your Audience
3. How to Trigger their Emotions
4. How to Build Trust and Overcome Objections 
5. Where to Allocate your Budget in your marketing funnel

Please leave a review on your podcast app if you enjoyed this episode!

Don't miss your favourite brands talk about how they grew their inspirational businesses!
Click the Follow button beside Brand Growth Heroes on your podcast app

Follow Brand Growth Heroes here on Instagram, Tiktok, Linkedin

Become part of the Brand Growth Heroes community! Sign up here for news and information on Brand Growth Heroes Accelerator Programme
Email Fiona for a 1-1 session: fiona@fionafitzconsulting.com
See how Fiona can group-coach your senior commercial and marketing teams internally: Fiona Fitz Consulting

ODDBOX is a D2C (Direct-to-Consumer) BCorp business with a bold vision: a world where all food grown is eaten.
 
Husband & wife team Deepak Ravindran and Emilie Vanpoperinghe founded the business 8 years ago, and have allowed their passion for sustainability to design their clever business model.

ODDBOX delivers boxes of fruit, vegetables, and other products that are at risk of waste to their 500,000 D2C customers. Working closely with growers and suppliers, they originally focused on produce that may not meet cosmetic specifications or size requirements set by retailers but is still perfectly good to eat. 

In this episode, they share their journey from coming up with the idea for ODDBOX and testing it with 20 customers, to eventually growing the business to £32 million

You’ll learn :

• How they started their business packing ODDBOXes in a local church hall
• How they accessed the cash to fund their spectacular growth
• The importance of their relationships with growers, managing the supply chain and ensuring excellent customer experience
• Their plans for future growth, including their recently launched ODDSHOP and ODDBOX-branded consumer packaged products
• How they implemented geo-targeted marketing strategies, focusing on driving demand in the specific areas where they were delivering their boxes.
• Why traditional marketing methods like leaflet distribution through door-to-door worked well for them
• Their thoughts and experience of the effectiveness of influencer marketing but later found it to be successful in building awareness and trust.

Don't miss your favourite brands talk about how they grew their inspirational businesses!
Click the Follow button beside Brand Growth Heroes on your podcast app

Follow Brand Growth Heroes here on Instagram, Tiktok, Linkedin

Become part of the Brand Growth Heroes community!
Sign up here for news and information on Brand Growth Heroes Accelerator Programme
Email Fiona for a 1-1 session: fiona@fionafitzconsulting.com
See how Fiona can group-coach your senior commercial and marketing teams internally: Fiona Fitz Consulting

Get ready for a dose of entrepreneurial truth bombs as the vivacious trailblazer, Amelia Christie-Miller, spills the beans on one of the blunders she made whilst venturing towards business triumph! Bold Bean Co.

YOU too can be featured on Brand Growth Bloopers! Just send me a WhatsApp on +447418605547 and tell me the following:

• Your name
• Your brand website and Instagram handle
• A quick outline of your brand growth blooper, for example, 'manufacturing disaster, wrong ingredients' or 'no laptop power at a Tesco buyer meeting' etc
• What's in it for you? If you are chosen to feature on the show, you'll have the opportunity to share your brand growth blooper story as well as sharing your website, instagram and LinkedIn handles to thousands of listeners around the world. You could even do what Simona Deifta did in one of our first bonus episodes, and share a coupon code so that listeners can buy your product with an exclusive discount!

So that you don't miss your favourite brands talk about how they grew their inspirational businesses,
click the Follow button beside Brand Growth Heroes on your podcast app (on apple podcasts it's three dots like this (...)

Follow Brand Growth Heroes here on Instagram, Tiktok, Linkedin

Become part of the Brand Growth Heroes community!
Sign up here for news and information on Brand Growth Heroes Accelerator Programme
Email Fiona for a 1-1 session: fiona@fionafitzconsulting.com
See how Fiona can group-coach your senior commercial and marketing teams internally: Fiona Fitz Consulting

 As the founder or leader of a grocery brand, have you ever thought it would be GREAT to pool your central costs with other brands like yours?

Follow Brand Growth Heroes here on Instagram, Tiktok, Linkedin

I certainly considered it when I was launching GU Chocolate Puds in France years ago, and as a result,  I created a shared field sales team with Innocent France for the French market, and it was certainly something worth doing for the period of time it worked for both businesses.

I wanted to explore what this looks like today, so in this next episode, I talk to Ben Arib, founder of Rebel Kitchen, and more recently Nurture Brands, a cohort of eight better-for-you brands - Rebel Kitchen & Myracle Kitchen, Primal Pantry, Doisy & Dam, Emily, Jax Coco, Indie Ba - that share the same platform (and equity) in order to mutualize a lot of their costs.

Ben explains how the Nurture Brands' shared model works, why he started it, and all the economics behind it.

So that you don't miss the leaders of your favourite brands talk about how they grew their inspirational businesses, click the Follow button beside Brand Growth Heroes on your podcast app (on apple podcasts it's three dots like this (...)

Become part of the Brand Growth Heroes community!
Sign up here for news and information on Brand Growth Heroes Accelerator Programme
Email Fiona for a 1-1 session: fiona@fionafitzconsulting.com
See how Fiona can group-coach your senior commercial and marketing teams internally: Fiona Fitz Consulting