Ever wondered what it takes to turn your passion into a successful enterprise? Pop a bag of popcorn and settle in for a riveting conversation with Louise Webb, the brains behind Popcorn Kitchen. Louise takes us on a journey through her career, from food science degree to sales director, before finally making the leap into entrepreneurship. Her tale, filled with highs and lows, reveals how a simple snack led her to the prestigious shelves of Selfridges.
We dive headfirst into the world of entrepreneurship as Louise shares her strategy for pitching Popcorn Kitchen to Selfridges, the innovative processes that make the brand unique, and her unique approach to problem-solving. Get ready for an inspiring lesson in resilience, a quality she admits was honed during her stint in retail. Louise’s mantra of 'win or learn' is a testament to her indomitable spirit, making her story a must-listen for any budding entrepreneur.
Finally, join us as Louise shares her experience of navigating the impact of COVID-19 on her popcorn business. Learn how she implemented new strategies to create a more robust, sustainable business model, including utilising hamper companies and student interns. As we wrap up, Louise gives us a look into Popcorn Kitchen's future, including their plans to attain B Corporation certification, and the significant role social media has played in their brand awareness. Enjoy a serving of inspiration, spiced with creativity and hard work, in our chat with Louise Webb.
Ever wondered what it takes to turn your passion into a successful enterprise? Pop a bag of popcorn and settle in for a riveting conversation with Louise Webb, the brains behind Popcorn Kitchen. Louise takes us on a journey through her career, from food science degree to sales director, before finally making the leap into entrepreneurship. Her tale, filled with highs and lows, reveals how a simple snack led her to the prestigious shelves of Selfridges.
We dive headfirst into the world of entrepreneurship as Louise shares her strategy for pitching Popcorn Kitchen to Selfridges, the innovative processes that make the brand unique, and her unique approach to problem-solving. Get ready for an inspiring lesson in resilience, a quality she admits was honed during her stint in retail. Louise’s mantra of 'win or learn' is a testament to her indomitable spirit, making her story a must-listen for any budding entrepreneur.
Finally, join us as Louise shares her experience of navigating the impact of COVID-19 on her popcorn business. Learn how she implemented new strategies to create a more robust, sustainable business model, including utilising hamper companies and student interns. As we wrap up, Louise gives us a look into Popcorn Kitchen's future, including their plans to attain B Corporation certification, and the significant role social media has played in their brand awareness. Enjoy a serving of inspiration, spiced with creativity and hard work, in our chat with Louise Webb.
3, 2, 1, 0, 10, lift off, lift off, lift off.
Speaker 2:And welcome to another episode of the Recipe for Grinners podcast. I'm your host, jake Greenwood, and in this podcast we interview the founders behind some of the best food and drink companies in the UK to find out the skills habits that they've used to grow their business. Now, to end the podcast, we have Louise Webb, the founder of the popcorn kitchen. Louise has had an incredible career journey that has led her to create one of the most innovative popcorn brands in the UK. From early days working in food science and buying in major retailers, louise has taken popcorn kitchen from festivals to shelves at self-ridges and other retailers, all the while focusing on the product, innovation and sustainability.
Speaker 2:Louise, welcome to the podcast, and I wanted to start and ask you about your previous careers before we jump into what you're up to now. So what were you doing prior to popcorn kitchen? And also listen to a story, actually that when you started one of your careers, that you sat down and wrote a 10-year plan about where you are now and where you wanted to get to and asked your managers for feedback. So I guess, jumping back to what we are up to and then maybe sort of talk about that story with the 10-year plan.
Speaker 1:Yes. So I had a great career actually. I did some fantastic jobs and worked with some amazing people, all of which have been able to shape me into the person that I am today. So I got a degree in food science, started in a lab, hated it because I was working on my own I'm an extrovert, so being on your own isn't the best but then I jumped into quality and new product development. So, as a food technologist, I then moved into buying in Safeway, which was a brilliant place to work, quite challenging, but really good. Help me with my resilience and tenacity.
Speaker 1:And then I moved into sales and it was like a Dr Water. I absolutely loved it and really excelled in it and thought this is the career I want and I was very ambitious. So I wrote this 10-year plan, basically from an account manager to a sales director, and I went to see my manager and I said this is what I want to do and I had all the roadmap and the timings and key milestones and he said to me oh my word. He said you are really ambitious. I said no, this is what I want to do. Anyway, I beat the 10 years. So within six years I'd actually become the sales director of KP Snats and I absolutely loved it, but there was something missing. I don't know what it was, but it was something missing. And I had a coaching session with a really good friend of mine who basically said it's more about entrepreneurialism with you, louise. I think maybe that's something you should explore. So a bit of consultancy, which I loved as well, but then Popcorn Kitchen came along and I've never looked back. It's been brilliant.
Speaker 2:You mentioned there the entrepreneurialism sort of bubbling in the background. Was there a moment that sort of you decided right now is the time, because obviously one thing is thinking about something, another thing is doing it. Do you remember that sort of time, peter? But you just thought something clicked and you just thought, right, I'm just going to do it and I'm going to go for it.
Speaker 1:Yes, you've got to love your job. You spend an awful lot of your time working earning money so you can do all the nice things. And I think for me it was when I became a sales director. I stopped doing the things that I really enjoyed the customer management, the new product development, working without my suppliers and it was more about policy and strategy and I just thought I want to do something different, I want to get back at the cold face again, and that was the moment for me. And then it was just about finding the right thing to do for me, which popcorn business was.
Speaker 2:And let's talk about sort of around. I think it was 2012, through the business launch, and then it was kind of just popping up at sort of festivals, right. What happened in 2017? Was that that moment where you just thought, right, this business is going to be something big, and was it kind of like your career, where you sat down and wrote that 10-year plan, thinking about sort of where it is now, where you wanted to get to?
Speaker 1:Yes, I mean it was fantastic. I mean the festivals are clearly great, fun and great to do, but there's no money in it. So, having worked in retail and having worked in FMCG for such a long time, we really understood the snacking category as well. So it kind of felt like the perfect marriage to me. So we set about creating a 10-year strategy of where we wanted to take the business, what the pack formats we were going to do, which channels that we were going to operate in, and we wanted to develop a brand which is a premium brand, which sits in more speciality channels. And since then we've been working with lots of fantastic customers and one of them that has supported us right from the start was Selfridges, and they are incredible to work with and also they're a great shop window for the brand and has really helped us launch our products.
Speaker 2:And you mentioned there sort of festivals, and then we've jumped now to Selfridges. What was that like? Transition like? So what does someone have to do? So you mentioned there like you create amazing brand. That's one thing. How do you get from just selling it to a few people to actually getting ready to pitch to Selfridges?
Speaker 1:And what?
Speaker 2:does that look like, and how did you get it done?
Speaker 1:It's really hard work. It sounds easy when you just say it oh yeah, we're in Selfridges, it's been really good. Oh yeah, we've grown double digit for the last three years. It sounds really easy. It's really hard work. So if anybody in sales people are out there, cold calling is a terrible thing. Trying to knock on people's doors selling samples Rejection is a way of life. Certainly, all of my experience of being in sales has certainly helped me continue with that resilience and persistence to actually get into these people and to be able to sell the fact that this is a fantastic product, we use great quality ingredients, everything's handmade and that we weren't going to just be another supermarket brand, because most of the popcorn brands are commoditized. Now it all gets sold at the pound and we just didn't want to do that. So, yeah, hard work. It's such hard work getting a new listing, and especially someone like Selfridges.
Speaker 2:Do you think your career as a buyer sort of helps you learn that sort of against tenacity and resilience to just keep going, Because you mentioned there, so you know hard work, knockbacks. Do you reckon that previous career really helped you create that sort of?
Speaker 1:No, definitely. I mean, retail is a tough business to work in and at the time, Safeway was going through a huge transition as well. It was a very aggressive culture, you know, and you really did have to stand on your own two feet and make sure that you fought for your categories and you fought for the investment that you needed in your categories. So I definitely feel that over my career, that you actually, you know, don't you take some tumbles in your career, but actually it's a good thing. You know, failure is a good thing because it allows you to. It allows you to become more resilient and more persevere with things more. And you know, sometimes you might not succeed in life, but you've got to keep on going. And I have a really nice personal motto, which is that either to win or learn. So, rather than win or make mistakes, because winning or learning sounds so much positive and I think I've learned so much and I'm continuously learning as well, every day until I learn something new.
Speaker 2:I love that so much. It's so I know it's something you can always say to yourself, but it's always hard to remember. That's you know, just even if it's not going well, that you're still learning. That's a great way to frame it while making sure everything's positive. So back to Selfridges. What was that pitch like? What did you present yourself to them? How did you position popcorn kitchen to them to stand out? And sort of, how did you get that first listing?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So the sending samples in being to nature saying we'd really like a break, lucky break met the buyer and they were really supportive and really lovely. You know they're quite challenging in terms of commercially, but was able to launch new products. They're very supportive and, you know, even today, every year they list us all year round in their stores and at Christmas time they really do support us. So, like this year, they're really interested in NPD and new products and they're willing to have a punt on new products and what we're delivering.
Speaker 1:So we've got lots of new products in there this year as well, which is fantastic news, and I love going there and doing sampling sessions because the shoppers really like the brand as well, because they've seen the brand grow over a number of years and some of them even ring me up and talk to me about it. I've got a lovely lady actually she lives next door to Steven Spielberg in London and she rang me up and she talked to me about how she was exporting my giant bottles of popcorn to Brazil and she was such a lovely lady and we spent hours on the phone. It was fantastic, it really was, but she buys it through Selfridges.
Speaker 1:Oh it's amazing, absolutely brilliant.
Speaker 2:Amazing. I was going to touch on that, but I must touch on now. So one thing I've heard you talk about is product development and innovation. I see your eyes light up, you get super excited about it, and how do you come across those ideas? And then how do you take them from your head to actually a product?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean a lot of it is about my personal.
Speaker 1:You know, when you're growing up you have little ideas of things or you really like something and you think, oh, I want to do something like that. So a great one of the I mean the giant bottle is a great example of that, of how we've continued to develop that. So as a kid, everyone used to have a large bottle of Bell's Whiskey I never drank, but my dad drank and then you put your pennies in it and I always remember the bottom fell out of it and feeling quite upset about that. So what do I do when you own a company? You develop a giant bottle that you can put your pennies in and then you can continue to develop the format and it's been brilliant. So it is a money box as well, our giant bottle.
Speaker 1:And then this year we had a bit of a you know another. Oh, I want to do something a bit different, because everything, all of our popcorn, is popped and home making and home baking is still a massive phenomena. It's an offshoot of COVID, when people were at home and doing things and there's lots of baking kits out on the market and I thought, oh, I want to do something with popcorn. So I developed a Pop it Home Kit which is full of fantastic chocolate bits. It's unbelievable and it's so easy to make.
Speaker 1:And you know a little secret here Popcorn actually, if you don't do something with it, it's quite boring and dull. So what you do with these kits, you actually coat it in chocolate and I've got some easy milk, belgian chocolate chips and some sweets and it's a really gooey mess and it's fantastic for children and we actually developed it in my kitchen with children in mind, which seems like a good example of how you actually got the NUs to use it. But it was incredibly messy or great fun we had. We had, we had fantastic. So I try to think about things. So, like my lemon drizzle popcorn is actually because of my love of lemon drizzle cake, which can be quite stodgy and maybe not, you know, not great for everyday stacking, but a bag of popcorn which, with a flavor profile of lemon drizzle which is ultimately delicious, is lowering calories, not a stodgy and you can eat on the go.
Speaker 2:So many different avenues I can go down there. I guess let's go to problems and solutions. You touched on it there with the Bell's whiskey example in your bottle. Some people see problems, they just accept them. But what I found so great about you, the story of, is that you actually thought we're importing this from Italy. The tell the story that you actually then bought your own equipment and now you're making actually in the UK.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh gosh. Yeah. So the problem with importing from Italy? There's lots of problems. The sustainability, the bottles were getting cracked, it was a load of wastage, it was just not working. So I went into a collaboration with a great group of guys called NPS in the UK and we went into a joint venture to buy this piece of kit to make the giant bottle in the UK. So we get a better quality, it's more sustainable because it's coming into the UK. We get service all year round because Italy used to have a holiday for three weeks in August, which is our key making time for Christmas. So, yeah, we bit the bullet, we invested the money and, yeah, we bought our own piece of kit.
Speaker 2:Is that you just thinking, right, we can do this in the UK? And you just thought, right, I'll just approach someone and I'll say, why don't you do this? You can benefit, I can benefit. Is that you just reaching out to people saying this to them?
Speaker 1:Well, we'd already been working with NPS on a different bottle, so it kind of made sense to have a conversation to say would you like? Because they? I'm not a plastics expert and nor am I a bottling expert, so it's always good to use people that are better than yourselves in the area of their strengths and not yours. So we had a conversation with them and they said, yeah, we'd love to do it. And we haven't looked back and they're really busy with it as well, which is great.
Speaker 2:Amazing, and one thing I heard you speak about as well, is that you've actively decided not to push hardcore for, like you know, the big retailers, the big four, and is there? I think, as you mentioned, that it's because you know people see, you know, think that's the right path to go down, but they are underlook, kind of like that other market which you're targeting. Is that the case?
Speaker 1:Yeah, definitely. I mean there is a place and a time for the big retailers and have been dealt with them for a lot of years. I understand exactly what they want. You know they want the best product they possibly can but at the cheapest price. And when I talk to my customers you know the farm shops and the garden centres they actually like the fact that we're not in big retailers because they like to list artisan products that people can't get in their big retailers. So that means that their shoppers aren't going to see my gifts in a Tesco's or a Sainsbury's and therefore they're OK with spending that bit more money because they know it's handmade, they know that it's hand-finished, they know it's using the best ingredients. So I definitely think there's a place for these big retailers. On volume products, but my gifts they're just not volume products. They are more for the discerning customer in garden centres where you expect to find something different.
Speaker 2:Now moving on to COVID. Obviously we know it's a terrible time, but I heard you say it was a bit of a blessing for you guys in a way. What kind of happened to you guys over that period and how have things been different since?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So, oh my gosh. I mean probably a lot of businesses. Covid came lockdown, came March 2020, all the shops closed. Oh my word. And where do we go? Where were we going to go?
Speaker 1:But what COVID did, bizarrely, was gave us time to step back and think. And it's a commodity that is quite scarce, actually, isn't it in life? Because we're all running around really quickly and I was able to say, right, ok, what is our new channel strategy based on the fact that everything's closed and we've got all this stock in the warehouse. We've got nowhere to go. So I started to look around and found hamper companies. So people at home. They didn't know what to do with themselves half the time, but they were going online and they were buying lots of things. So I developed a business in hamper companies and they were really supportive and, more importantly, they were growing so quickly. They needed to buy more products and I won hamper company Ring Me Up and they said to me I don't suppose you've got five pallets of stock, have you? And I said I have, I have, I've got five pallets. When do you want it Tomorrow? Anyway, they bought it for me and they solved a huge problem, but I created a stronger and better strategy, because I spent some time thinking about it to really understand what I wanted to do, and we've implemented that strategy. I'm just following that same strategy and that's led to so in Bizarrely, in 2020, I had my best every year at Popcorn Kitchen.
Speaker 1:We doubled the business in 21 and we doubled it again in 22. And we're having a cracking year this year. So well, you know we're going to grow again this year. So you know it is fantastic. It really was fantastic and also, controversially, it wouldn't have happened if I didn't have a little bounce back loan from Rishi or the deferral of that. So I think people forget sometimes that actually there are some people that really appreciate what the government of the time did for us.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I completely agree with that as well. I think people you know some aspects weren't right, but I think, yeah, the support they gave definitely helped out a lot of people. That's really good. So, growing year, doubling year on year is great, but I know one thing that's really important to you is sustainability. So what's that journey been like? At the same time You're growing, you're focusing on just shipping our product, but at the same time I know it's called sustainability what's that journey been like for you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think you know, as an individual, I want to do the right thing, I want to be seen to be doing the right thing, and I kind of had a bit of a scattergun approach. I didn't really understand what was the right thing to do. So we looked at making sure that our packaging was recyclable and we've got our giant bottle is curbside recyclable and that we're doing the best thing we can. We started to work with a company called Rewild, who are basically plant trees, and it all felt really good about it. But you know, as a scientist, I like facts and data and I didn't really understand what. So I'm planting some trees. That sounds really good, but what does it actually mean? So I was flirting with the idea of doing B Corp, but it takes a lot of time and it takes a lot of effort and I wanted to write a sustainability strategy but I wanted to do it really well, but again, I didn't have time to do all of the running of the business and all of this detailed analysis and investigation. So I live near Cranfield University and they have amazing people there and I applied for some interns, some students, some internships with the sustainability and the project basically was all about how does a business like mine become more sustainable? And the professor there wrote back and said we love the project. Louise, we really want to help you. Let me send you over some students. Oh, my word, there's a whole raft of amazing people you know much brighter than I am out there wanting to have all this experience of a company. So I've got two MSc students, already graduates, and they're basically become my sustainability strategist and they are writing my sustainability strategy.
Speaker 1:And then I spoke to a guy called Andy Hawkins, who I like to call Mr Beacock, so he effectively runs a Beacock training. I mean, he's a brilliant guy. You know what he doesn't know about Beacock is nobody's business. He's fantastic. Anyway, he explained to me the process. I talked to him about the students. He said, yes, do it, do it. And that's what we're going to do. We are going to. We're on the journey on Beacock.
Speaker 1:In fact, yesterday, hot off the press, we reached the 80 points plus to go into the next stage and put ourselves forward for the audit. So by the end of September we're going to be audit ready and then it takes about nine months for them to come and audit the company. But I'm really excited about that, and the guys have done such a great job for me as well. So I've really tapped into this kind of student internship opportunity and actually for any SME, I'd absolutely recommend it.
Speaker 1:There's all these students in this country that have got a really talented, a really well educated, but what they want is experience. So these guys are now going to go away and they're going to have six months of working with me and actually delivering my sustainability strategy. So I'm really proud of that, what they've done, and I'm really excited about the Beacock as well. So within that, we've got to know said I talked about trees and everything else but we'll rewilder, actually helping us to measure my carbon footprint, because my ultimate mission is to become carbon neutral as a company. Now, that's a long way off, but it's great to have a great goal like that, isn't it? And I know that we're going to achieve it with the help of rewild and how we can offset our carbon emissions and how we can do the best for the business to make sure that we are the most sustainable.
Speaker 2:That's incredible. It's that thread as well, where there's a problem and you sort of take an innovative approach to find a solution. This is really really great. One thing I heard you speak about as well is actually when you choose a partner, and one of the most important things is actually making sure that they have the right credentials, they can be audited, they have everything you want in place, so why is that so important for them to make sure that they have everything in place?
Speaker 1:Yes, again, because of my background and I used to do audits for Safeway as well food safety is incredibly important because people are going to consume your products. So for me, making sure that we have the right partners who help us with our manufacturing so we've got three in the UK. They've all got self-serve accreditation. They're all really good. If we ever have a problem, which is very rarely, they're always on the ball. They're always very supportive.
Speaker 1:And I've got a really big thing about customer service, because if you treat customers in the right way and you really bend over backwards for them delivering on time, do what you say you're going to do, if there's a problem, you fix it immediately with no quibble, those kind of things.
Speaker 1:And having those partners behind you is incredibly important to do that. And also on the sustainability journey, all of my suppliers have been really supportive of it. So because we need to understand their carbon footprints as well so we can measure our own carbon footprint. But yeah, so we do a sedex audit questionnaire every two years and we also which is the ethical part of it and then they send us the. They get audited every year for Salsa and then I go on site every year just to check it out, make sure everything's fine, but we don't have any issues. They are really good compliant partners and you can always tell when somebody isn't, because there's lots of mistakes, and so if the controls aren't in place, then you can tell when people are out of control. But my suppliers are fantastic, really good to work with.
Speaker 2:And is it really important to make sure when you're starting a journey, you look for those right partners, because I guess if they're not in the right standard, then that could hurt you further down the line. If, like say, you're doubling every year, then some people might be like you need this in place. So would you recommend that people really dig into making sure they actually know everything about those partners and actually do you say dig into or do you credit or what they have?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, it's the number one thing. If you're going into a food business or a food brand, your brand lives and dies on the quality of it, and so what you're trying to do, you're trying to mitigate any issues that you could have in the future. So by having people with accreditation, people that have got good hasps in place, so good quality management systems in place. So every time I look for a new supplier or new manufacturing partner, I always say to them first question what's your accreditation? Because there's no point If the answer is no, there's no point in working with them, because in today's world our customers expect a souter as a minimum and they won't entertain us if we don't have that. So very few anyway.
Speaker 2:Talking now about growing the business. One thing that I saw was Joe Wicks and he came across it and he was seeing online holding the amazing bottle you were talking about. So I guess, what are you doing in the background to make something like that happen? Is it an actively you outbounding people or are you doing something just organically in the background and just doing that and then those things just happen?
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh my God, if I knew how Joe Wicks got hold of my bottle of popcorn, I'd bottle that and sell it, because I mean I have no idea. I mean the very fact that he supported it. He called it his RayDark's, he was in bed with my. I mean I really liked Joe Wicks, right, I think, along with the whole heap of us. We were, you know and COVID, watching Joe every day. I'm not sure I did the exercise every day. We sat and had a cup of tea, just watched him from the sofa. But to have such an iconic person and a fellow entrepreneur as well, I mean he's done incredibly well for himself, and from very humble beginnings as well. So real inspiration for me. So the very fact he got hold of one of my bottles is brilliant.
Speaker 1:So it kind of came about by accident and you know, I'd love to have known where we got it from, but I've yet to find it out. But yeah, that was amazing. And then we were on this morning as well. So earlier on the year we were at home as well. And, gosh, these platforms have such big impact on your brand to drive brand awareness. I mean I don't. I mean Joe Wicks has got three and a half million followers.
Speaker 1:Then, you know, my brand is exposed to that on this morning. I mean I don't know how many million viewers are on it, but I knew something was happening because my sales were coming in and I was so excited and I've got the app. I've got the this morning app because I've always tried to get on to it and we've been sending samples in all the time and getting nowhere. And then, when the orders came in, I thought, oh my God, we're on this morning. So we got the video and we put it onto our social media and, just to give you a context, so every day I might sell, like I know, 50 pound a day on my website. I took over a thousand that morning. That's amazing. And then after that, you know, we get all these people signing up and we really look after our customers. We do lots of campaigns, we give them discounts as well and let them know when there's things coming up for sale. Yeah, it's been fantastic. It really has it's amazing A bit of luck, a bit of luck.
Speaker 2:It just goes to show, doesn't it? It's like you do all these things in the background and there's no progress bar to show you like where you're giving to, but then eventually something like it comes around and it just shows you'd be doing all the right stuff. I'm kind of short of time so I want to finish on last two questions.
Speaker 2:One is from your background, working as a buyer, what I think I heard you say that you know you can be quite firm. People don't realize that they can actually like push back on retailers and say actually no, we should do this, because I think they're not really in the position of power. You sort of I think you said never accept certain terms like be brave to negotiate. Is that what you kind of experienced from your buyer's background and is it something you'd recommend to people just to sort of push harder?
Speaker 1:I got a lie. Yes, it's the answer. I'm going to give you a really good example of this. So this is about transport, and I was. So transport last year was a nightmare because fuel was going through the roof. We had fuel surcharges. What's that all about? 15 to 20% on a pallet deal. I have no idea what that means, but it was ridiculous and it was really eating into my profitability. And then this year they passed on another price increase and I'm like thinking, oh, my word, it's such a big part and it's really crucifying me.
Speaker 1:And then I got speaking to somebody. I thought I'm just going to be inquisitive and start feeling where the market is, because it doesn't feel right, because petrol prices were coming down. And I got talking to a really great guy who runs his own transport firm and I said what is the fuel surcharge? Because I'm being charged 15 to 20%. And he said to me it's five. And I said what, what, what? I can't believe it. I'm being charged on this money.
Speaker 1:So effectively I've completely changed my haulier because I will not accept that I'm going to be paying these higher prices. And if they don't want to move their prices within that market there are lots of providers and when it's the old supply and demand. If you've got lots of supply, then it's a buyer's market and you don't have to accept price rises. And, quite frankly, I'm a little bit frustrated that everything, all the commodities, are coming off now and we should. If people are out there, I would highly recommend people do a tender because there are lots of businesses that want business and if you're the companies you're using at the moment are passing those savings on, then you should move.
Speaker 2:And is that just a process of you just like outbounding to like 10 different haulers? Is that how you do it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I say give me your pallet prices and that's it. They came with their pallet prices and I just did a quick. It didn't take me a long time because I don't have any time. I did a quick review of the market, of the people I chose, and then I found the cheapest one, and they do a fantastic job for me, really good.
Speaker 2:Amazing. And when I finish, our one final question, because you've got the same innovation as Keeter, you create amazing products.
Speaker 1:Is there one?
Speaker 2:looking at everything you've developed, one that stands out to you most, you're most proud of. Maybe it was sort of the process you went through or the creativity behind it. Is there something that stands out to you as like this is the one that I really, really am proud of.
Speaker 1:Yeah, pop at home. It's been such an incredible success so, and the story behind it's really lovely as well. So I really wanted to do this and my friend Jeanette I'm sure she wouldn't mind me saying Jeanette she came round this one weekend it was in October last year and to see me. I haven't seen her for a while and she walked through the door and before I could even say hello to her, I said can we develop a new product together? And she was like, oh yeah, love to do it. So we spent all day going round the supermarkets buying ingredients and sweets and everything else and popping corn in the kitchen and developing these products. And, oh Jay, they've sold hugely above the expectation. So we launched three in January, which was the Mini Eggs, rocky Road and a Smarties one, and they've been so successful. I've now got a Halloween one, a chocolate sprouts one, which is so quirky, so cute, and also a white chocolate snow is. They have done unbelievably well from a nothing start, so I'm really proud of that.
Speaker 2:Amazing. It seems like a perfect place to record the interview and I guess just want to say as well, like the constant theme that's running through is just how much fun you're having. At the same time it's stressful, it's super hard, but you can just see you smiling and just like, like just even that story there. You know, let's sit down in our afternoon and actually just create a new product. So it's really inspiring to listen to and it's such an amazing story. So thank you so much for coming on to chat.
Speaker 1:Thank you, jay, it's been brilliant, thank you.
Speaker 2:As always, guys, thank you so much for listening, really appreciate the support and if you guys like it and you're enjoying what you're listening to, please like and subscribe, and Friar Review would really appreciate it Again. We'll be back doing this weekly and, yeah, if you want to know more about Sourcing and Food Business, head to wwwjgrenewoodcom. But, guys, as always, thank you and be great.