Real Snacks That Actually Nourish | Ineke Nugteren - Nourish Founder

We sit down with Ineke Nugteren, a nurse turned founder, to unpack how frontline healthcare experience sparked a mission to change what everyday snacking looks like. We talk through the messy realities of building Nourish from a kitchen table into major UK retail, while staying focused on real ingredients, gut health and balanced blood sugar.

• seeing conventional low-fat guidance fail patients in real life
• a turning-point patient story that triggered deeper nutrition research
• volunteering in Africa and learning what “enough” can look like
• launching Nourish by testing demand quickly rather than overplanning
• why coconut becomes the base ingredient and how fat is reframed as fuel
• the formulation trade-offs behind fresh ingredients and shorter shelf life
• navigating HFSS rules and educating customers about saturated fat
• landing Selfridges through the right buyer relationship and timing
• scaling operations through supply shocks, organic constraints and co-manufacturing
• simplifying brand messaging to focus on gut health and blood sugar balance
• building cautiously without big raises and keeping education central
• practical first steps for a better relationship with food, plus magnesium and vitamin D

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if you want to know more about starting food business, head to www.jgreenwood.com.

Transcript

Welcome And The Nourish Story

Jay Greenwood 0:00

Three two one and welcome to the recipe for Greatest Podcast. I'm Helena Greenwood, and in this podcast we're introduced to handles behind some of the best food and root brands in the UK to see the one of the skills that they've used to grow their business. Today I'm joined by Enikel Nicoturin. Inekel is a New Zealand-trained nurse with a background in intensive care, travel medicine, nutrition and functional medicine. In 2015, she founded Nourish, building a covenant-led health snack brand focused on real ingredients, fiber, gut health, and better everyday indulgence. Nourish is going to sort of say many name for food in Cardo, April and Cole for a Mason and Virgin Atlantic. Welcome to the podcast.

Ineke Nugteren 0:43

Thank you for helping me.

Jay Greenwood 0:44

I want

When Healthcare Advice Stops Working

Jay Greenwood 0:45

to jump into the first question and ask you about how your time in healthcare and how, when you're working in healthcare, how you started to create the link between what maybe people were eating and how that influenced health.

Ineke Nugteren 0:58

Yeah, absolutely. I think I mean it's the building blocks and foundation of why Nourish started. And it wasn't something that I consciously made a decision of overnight. It was sort of over time. And after working in primary care, so I started intensive care, then I did travel medicine, I worked um in orphanages in Africa, and then went back into primary care. And I was seeing, I was giving this message to patients that we were, you know, done by the medical team where, you know, eat low fat, you know, load up with carbs, um, eat small meals, and I just saw patients actually getting larger. They would have complications, they were really unwell, they were having medication after medication, and they just weren't getting better with the traditional conventional medicine route. Um, at the same time, I also had to go gluten-free myself, and I just saw that actually the food choices out there, just it didn't stack up. What we were saying in the conventional medical world didn't make sense in terms of what I was seeing in results in patients. And it was through my own experience as well as working with those patients that led me to start investigating around food and how that could actually impact how we felt as an individual. And I think the big shift for me was where food, I think sometimes food controls people rather than people being in control of food. And for me, that become became the the bit that I wanted to work on with patients and with myself. Because I think once you know how food makes you feel, you're you're so empowered in the choices that you can make after that.

Jay Greenwood 2:27

And was there any big moment where you really saw the impact of, I guess maybe even the health system, where it's being really treated downstream rather than more the preventative side of stuff or food? Was there any big moment that came to you or was it just a culmination of all these moments together?

Ineke Nugteren 2:41

Um, it was definitely a combination. I I remember one particular patient actually, um, she was morbidly obese and she was desperate to have knee surgery. She ate like a bird, and it didn't matter how little she ate, she just kept on putting on weight. And it that's that was actually it was it was horrible to watch because all the information and the advice we're giving her just didn't make a difference. It was kind of at that point, as well as then obviously other patients as well, but particularly her, that that really changed how we looked at food. Um, so I'd say that's probably that was the the final straw, really, for me, investigating food as an impact on your health and well-being.

Africa, Community And A Bigger Perspective

Jay Greenwood 3:19

I want to jump back to one thing you said earlier about uh your time in Africa. I'm curious, what took you to Africa? Was it just part of your studies or because it feels like it's a real passionate sort of thing that's kind of stayed with you throughout your sort of career? So maybe what took you there and what were some of the big things you took away from your time there?

Ineke Nugteren 3:36

Yeah, I mean, it I would have to say it was only related to health. It wasn't, I just wanted to give back. Um I always wanted to go to Africa. Um, so I joined a um volunteer um organisation and then went over and worked in an orphanage. Um, went there to be in the medical um realm only in the orphanage, ended up doing everything on top of that, um, including being the only white um skinned person there for a period of time, um, you know, helped teach in the classrooms. But I think for me, it was pivotal in seeing how communities can thrive. Um, and it wasn't all just around health, it was just, it was, it was just so empowering seeing how happy people could be on so such a little amount of food, you know, clothing, um, all the noise that we get confused with in the Western world. Um, but it it definitely helped to shape as well where I went in medicine. It was from that that I then did travel medicine, pharmaceuticals, and then pivoted into nutrition.

The Fast Start Without Overthinking

Jay Greenwood 4:34

And what was the moment when you because I know that you kind of like pivoted to medicine, you did lots of different things as well, but when was that moment where you started thinking, right, business? Maybe there's an opportunity for me to create something. And there's one thing thinking about it, but then taking that step is such a huge difference from actually, you know, from thinking it to doing it. So how did that all come right?

Ineke Nugteren 4:56

Yeah. Um, I really wish I could say I had this, you know, moment where I thought, right, I'm gonna write a business plan because I've got something here. Um, it it did happen kind of overnight. Um, but it was when I was creating snacks and people said to me, These taste so good, you should just try and sell them. So, you know, being very, very naive, I went to a local health food store in Ryegate. Um, I said, Would you, you know, would you consider buying them? They liked them, so they said, sure, we'll do them. We had our first Christmas market that was back in December 2015. It was a success. So we made ourselves a company. And I remember just having enough knowledge to know how many shares to put down on company's house. Um, and that was that was sort of the starting moment. Um, but it was that that that encouragement from colleagues um to go and sell products um that that started it. And from there, the momentum just grew. You know, we went into suffrages within those first 12 months. From there, we got picked up by Dalesfit and then to Whole Foods. Um, and it started, it stayed very much as a kitchen table project for the first few years. Um, I also had a daughter at that time who was four years old, um, and I was still nursing on the side. So, you know, sort of my my my weeks were long, many hours worked. Um, but it was yeah, it was that initial sort of prompt from colleagues um that I worked with.

Jay Greenwood 6:18

That's incredible. So to say you were busy would be an understatement if you've got a daughter still working and then thinking, right, I'll do this business line. So I think a lot of people maybe go maybe the other way, guessing from what you said, is they go, right, I'll spend ages working on a business plan, I'll come up with anything about the product. But you're saying you just were creating these taxes one day went into a store and just said, Would you sell these? Was it as simple as that?

Ineke Nugteren 6:41

That's right. Yeah, it's as simple as that.

Jay Greenwood 6:44

It's amazing. It's so amazing. And it's it's it's a real lesson there, right? Because instead of overthinking it spending ages, you just got the signal straight away to say, yeah, we'll give it a go.

Ineke Nugteren 6:54

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, in hindsight, if I look back, I think, gosh, I wish I had an amazing business plan and I wish I knew what I was doing. But I guess in the naivety of not, I would never maybe have made that first step if I wasn't so naive as I was back then. Um and I certainly learned the hard way, but but learned so many valuable lessons over time.

Why Coconut And Why Fat Matters

Jay Greenwood 7:14

And talk to me about the product. So, coconut, why coconut? What do people need to know about the difference between, say, coconut versus say the oats of this world, not to disotes or anything like that, but just like why why coconut?

Ineke Nugteren 7:26

Yeah. Um, when I started, coconut was actually a little bit of a thing back then, but I think coconut's an amazing um product, especially if you cannot have gluten because it's not another grain. And grains sometimes can be quite full of just empty carbohydrates if they're not paired well with protein and good healthy fats. And I think after working in medicine and seeing how we villainized fat, it made me realize that actually fat is fuel for the body. What the, what you know, what the villain is is sugar and those sort of empty carbohydrates. And so coconut is a is a an amazing form of fat. And I just that's sort of the unsung hero, and that's the reason that we created some of the products based on that. It's a is a great ingredient to work with to pair with different flavors, um, and there's so many different ways that you can make products from it. Um, it contains amazing um we say MCT, so medium chain triglycerides, which is really healthy fats, um, really great source of fuel for the body. It's got lyric acid, which your gut loves. So there's so many amazing properties of coconut. I think the key for me was, and it's the reason that we started organic as well, is that a lot of coconut products on the market, traditionally over years, have tasted horrendous. And actually, I hated coconut as a child. Um, and now I have a whole range of coconut products. But I think that's because it's got sulfites in it and it sits on the supermarket shelf and it tastes awful, it's dry, it's been in a bag for ages, you know, it's heavily processed. Whereas we've used organic coconut, you know, it's come fresh from the plantations, it tastes incredible, no sulfites. Um, and when you've had coconut there and you know how it's fueling your body, it totally changes the way that you look at food. But that's that's I guess the the reason that we used coconut from the beginning.

Jay Greenwood 9:12

And then talk about the formulation side of it. Because I read, I think it was quote, you can't believe everything instead, but it was, you know, when you were trying to sort of hit certain uh nutritional things from making it free from, you were sort of taking things out, but then having to add things in, which was almost adding to the problem. So how do you get around that formulation side of stuff actually getting the product right? And how how frustrating or how difficult was it to do?

Ineke Nugteren 9:34

Yeah, I think the biggest frustration is that when you're dealing with fresh ingredients and you don't want to compromise, is that the one thing that changes is shelf life, you know, and and a lot of retailers want, you know, a couple of years they could on on shelf life. Um, it's a bit like milk. If you look at milk in a supermarket compared to coming straight off a farm, you know, if it's heavily processed, even it goes well beyond its expiry date. But actually, if it comes straight off a farm, it has it has a shelf life and it goes off. And people almost look at it as that as a bad thing, but actually it's a good thing. If food goes off, it means it's fresh. So it's it's a good thing. But trying to change that in the industry is really difficult. So when we're formulating it, um I very much looked around other ingredients that would help support that. So, you know, rather than putting fine sugars in, we use things like organic maple syrup or raw honey. Raw honey acts as a natural preservative, so actually that works really well in the products. And then we'd use things like freeze-dried um technologies of fruit so that we're still getting all the goodness of the fruit in. Um, and I guess for us it's the sourcing of the ingredients, and that's where we were able to not make um compromises in the way that we source things like cacao butter and powder and things like that. Um, but it it definitely was tricky in the beginning, and we've had to work over time with packaging formats to try and extend the shelf life as much as we can without compromising and adding in these artificial sweeteners and additives and things.

Jay Greenwood 10:55

Yeah, I want to talk to you about this sort of, I guess, the consumer conception of snacks as fat content, because that must be a challenge that you have to overcome and a frustration. Because I guess you see on the other side of stuff maybe brands uh that have like I think it's low fat, low carb, but then on the ingredient list is just use a stuff. I mean, it's a random, it takes like 10 years to read through it all and stuff. So I guess how's that challenge? And then how do you think around maybe the long-term, I guess maybe maybe the health impacts of maybe these what appear healthy stacks, where actually there's actually some negative aspects to them?

Ineke Nugteren 11:37

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, actually, one of the biggest things we come against is HFSS as a company. So the high fat, sugar, salt um legislation, because we we sit in high fat because we've got coconut as a base, and actually we take all of the points for positives. We have low sugar, we're low sodium. Um, we've got great fruit and nut content, which gives us loads of points. But the problem is that we don't get enough good points to beat the saturated fat found in coconut. So, yes, it is something that customers look at and they think, oh, you've got a lot of saturated fat, which comes from coconut. Um, in terms of how that sits against other competitors, it is an education piece and it definitely is mindset. It's changing, but it is slow. Um, and it's it's it's not that not that easy. But I always say to people, you know, look at the back of your ingredients, and if you can recognize everything that's in it, then it's actually good for you. But I think it's just a mindset um shift that's going to happen over time that comes with education.

Jay Greenwood 12:34

Um how big are you seeing that impact now? Have you seen because I think that I was looking at my subpeer group as well, I've significant change in how they look at fats. Is that something you're seeing across the consumer sort of segment?

Ineke Nugteren 12:48

Definitely people who are educating themselves around how food makes them feel and they're more aware. I I've seen only positive things around fat. Um, I think it's becoming more and more common now for people to look and see things like UPFs as more of the villain and high in sugar um rather than it being fat. Um you know, the thing is if fat's paired with really high sugar, then the fat is going to be bad because your body uptakes the sugar first, so then it doesn't want, you know, then it stores the fat. But if you've got fat and you haven't got all the fine sugar, your body's gonna love you.

Jay Greenwood 13:21

It's very interesting as well. I was talking to um the founder of a really great hydration brand that I really like, and he's explaining to me how people think sugars are negative, but you actually need some sugars to help absorb some of the hydration. And he was saying it's just one of those things that people just don't realize that. And it's just so interesting. You really need to understand how your body works, really understand how to make it feel good.

Ineke Nugteren 13:42

Yeah, 100%. I think you know, it's it's going back to that um phrase I said in the beginning is that when you feel as though you're in control of food rather than the other way around, you the empowerment that gives individuals is huge because everybody's journey with health and nutrition is is going to be slightly different. And what you need is gonna be slightly different than what I need, and depending on the ages that we are, it's gonna be slightly different again. Um I think knowing how you feel when you consume something is is so important.

Getting Into Selfridges Early

Jay Greenwood 14:09

Uh we earlier mentioned some big brands who sort of passed over quite quickly, but self-ridges, how did they come around? And you mentioned they came around quite quickly. How did those conversations start? And how did you get them from you know being interested to actually say, all right, we're stock cute?

Ineke Nugteren 14:23

Yeah, I'm I'm actually trying to remember how that all happened. But what I do what I do remember is that it was a time when the Hemsley sisters were doing a feature and selfridges, and they did a pop-up cafe. And so they did this whole thing around wellness brands coming into the food hall. And we we were selected as one of those. You know, reached out to the buyer, we got picked up, they loved the product. Um, I had an amazing buyer actually. She was really, really lovely and really supportive of what we were trying to do. Um, but we we literally were making that in our kitchen. I don't know if you get away with that now, but we were making our kitchen, and then my husband would actually drive into Selfridges underneath Selfridges on a Saturday morning, really early, all the way into London to drop off our delivery for the week. Um and yeah, I think it was just that we we managed to get a great buyer. And I think if you if you have relationships with great buyers, you know, it can open doors, and that opened a door for us. And yeah, we haven't looked back since then.

Scaling Production And Surviving Supply Shocks

Jay Greenwood 15:17

And we touched on working with fresh products and that conway come comes with operational challenges. So working with like building this brand and also also building the products that you meant to do a lot in your kitchen. How operationally have you gone from scaling it from a you know very much kitchen to higher scales? Has it been anything that's really surprised you and sort of growing that maybe you didn't realise would be such a big issue or a big challenge?

Ineke Nugteren 15:43

Yeah, I have it's been multiple things in the surprise and loads of challenges. We started in our kitchen, we moved to an office that we converted, and then more recently, sort of in the last five, six years, we moved to a bigger commercial kitchen. Um, I think um operationally, you know, doing a lot of it ourselves, obviously, knowing the kits that you require, um, working out, you know, sort of run rates of ingredients and then supply issues, especially if you're organic certified, um, and all the accreditations that you have to jump through to be able to have those certifications has probably been one of the biggest challenges, um, particularly in the last sort of two, three years where ingredient sourcing has become expensive and you know there's been such major fluctuations. You know, you look at cacao or coconut, and then you know, there's various shipping pathways that are shut. Um, that's definitely had challenges that obviously I could I didn't ever anticipate. I've definitely learned to sort of anticipate the unexpected, because if you don't, you're going to get caught out a lot. Um, and I think the other side of that is so we do a lot of it ourselves, and then we've also started using a co-manufacturer, and this is the second time we've done that um for a couple of our lines, and that has definitely not been a walk in the park. Um it's it's had major challenges. So I think there's challenges doing it yourself, but there's equally huge challenges when you then rely on a partner to produce something for you that they might have the kit that you don't have the kit for. Um I I think, you know, um the the recent times with obviously COVID, the wars that have happened, um supply issues, and then you know, more recently in the last 12 months sort of this the staffing costs that have increased, um they're all challenges that I didn't think would come around all at once, is what it feels like. Um I'd say that's probably been the main the major challenge from for us.

Jay Greenwood 17:35

And you spoke there about being organic certified. How challenging was that and how difficult is it to get the process in place? I guess there's some sort of like process with I guess ingredients tracking and making sure everything's fine. How is it is it technology that helps hold that now, or is it just a really hard process that you just have to operationally just get behind and really understand?

Ineke Nugteren 17:56

Yeah, I mean, there probably is technology, but actually a lot of it is manual. Um But we we're part of the Organic Food Federation and they have been nothing short of amazing. They they're really supportive. So I think there is there's a lot of help out there if you want to get things done right, as long as you ask questions and you've got full transparency and honesty, and I think that's been key in maintaining organic certification. The difficulty is trying to find suppliers or alternative suppliers when your supply chain has an issue because all of a sudden you're narrowed down to who you can draw supply from. So that's probably been the biggest challenge with trying to be organic. But in terms of being organic certified and the board that we work with, they've been great.

Jay Greenwood 18:36

That's right, that's very interesting.

Retail Messaging Around Gut Health

Jay Greenwood 18:38

And I want to now talk about sort of the product and where it's sold. So you're still across quite a few different retailers now. I think we've got Virgin, which is a recent one, and then you've also then got Amazon, other retailers. Is there any like key things you've learned around selling this product that's worked better than maybe other ways, maybe messaging or basically maybe what consumers are looking for, any insights that you've sort of gained over the time?

Ineke Nugteren 19:01

I'd say, in terms of working directly with a retailer, the relationship with the buyer is hugely important. In terms of messaging, I think in the beginning, I wanted to be everything for everybody. Um, and you can't be everything for everybody. It's probably one of the biggest lessons I've learned in still learning. When we look at um front of pack, when we look at design, when we look at the messaging that we're giving to the buyer, I think we can become really confusing if we think that you know everybody's gonna love us because we deliver everything. Um, so that that's really helped streamline us in the last 12 months. You know, who are we, what are we about? And we are all about um optimizing gut health and keeping your blood sugar balanced. And those two things is now what sort of underpins everything that we try and say when we're messaging, um, whether it's on Amazon, whether it's our advertising on a cardo, you know, speaking to our virgin Atlantic buyer, whoever it is, that's that's really the foundation of what we're about.

Jay Greenwood 19:55

And did you find once you sort of nailed that key messaging, you wanted to get across that kind of then really saw sort of everything sort of uptake in maybe a buyer's interest or also sales as well and conversion online?

Ineke Nugteren 20:07

Definitely seeing an uptake over social um and engagement from our consumers online for sure. I think the buyers now suddenly get who we're about. I think in the past it was confusing for them. Um it was also confusing for us um in terms of where we were actually trying to direct the company and and which lines fit where, because that's the other thing is we've got you know a range of SKUs, but not all of those SKUs work in every single retailer. You know, there'll be some that work for a farm shop, there is some that work in the Tesco's, but they're not going to be the same. So I think um that's really helped us as a team in terms of directing which SKUs belong where.

Jay Greenwood 20:45

And is that just looking at data? You're looking at sales data across different um categories and then seeing or retailers and seeing, oh, this was working better here, so it's more likely to work well over here.

Ineke Nugteren 20:56

Yeah, it's it's looking at um, you know, different metrics and things like that, but also taking our feedback. You know, I think when we reached out to supermarkets three, four years ago, we didn't have the right product, and whilst they loved it, that feedback was great. Although it was hard, it is good to know that you know it's not all of our products are going to work for them and the price point has to be right. So I think taking that feedback on board and then making sure we've got a product that will work has been really, really key for us.

Jay Greenwood 21:23

And one thing across my research, like obviously, I think it was another quote, again, could be wrong, but it was like uh small steps at a time or each step at a time. And I get the impression from the journey that it's been quite a well thought out process where you haven't tried to rush a million miles ahead where maybe the temptation is to try to, you know, get for you. I guess you see these stories online of uh, you know, people going from, you know, s launching to hundreds of millions in like twelve months or something. So how have you, I guess, reserved yourself to sort of focus on actually getting the foundations right and building it, you know, the right way, I guess, almost?

Ineke Nugteren 21:59

Yeah. Um yeah, the word reserved and that's probably is more of my character. I am you know, I'm not I think maybe because I had um kids when I started the business, I'm a little bit apprehensive of taking too much risk. So sometimes that can be mean that I have been the lid on the company. Um, but I think it's probably stopped us from just rushing ahead. The other thing is um cash, you know, we haven't done big raises where we've had all of a sudden, you know, hundreds of thousands of dollars or um pounds to be able to um to to fire ahead, which I think sometimes when you do get that large investment, the a lot of people then go the marketing route. And I think marketing is amazing. But I didn't want to be another brand that actually had an idea that someone else made it and we just put a marketing message on the front. That's not what we're about. It's about education, it's about making a difference in the food and um drink industry, but more importantly in the everyday consumer. And so for us that's been really, really important to stand separate from those other companies who've sort of you know had a lot of money, they've fired a marketing message onto a product that someone else has made for them, and then they've put it on the shelf. Um, and we're not that that same company.

Jay Greenwood 23:13

And how have you found sort of growing the business? Um, your background's like so credible, you understand like food really well, you understand nutrition, the science behind it really well, but then creating a brand that's also really fun and exciting as well. How do you balance the educational piece? Because I guess maybe there's a temptation for us to just always explain to people like, you know, this is beautiful because of XYZ, da da da da. How's that balance been for you growing on that brand? Um, and actually leaving a really fun, like really like appealing, like fun element to it.

Ineke Nugteren 23:43

Yeah, I don't know that I've done fun as well as I could have. Um, so we're definitely actually there's a work that we've got going on at the moment. We've we launched 18 months ago um a range of brownie bars, and these brownie bars have done really well. It's the you know mini format of the format of that that's gone on Virgin Atlantic Airlines, it's gone into Google Offices and MetaOffices, um, it's selling on a cardo now, um, and then on our website, um, and is start doing export with it as well. And I think what I'm trying to say is with that product, is we've seen how it works, and we've also realized now that needs to go on a multi-box where it's accessible and it is fun, and the information stands out on a supermarket shelf, and that's kind of where now the company's headed. I think um branding up until now has been quite soft and giftable, is it looks nice, but it hasn't been necessarily fun and really specific in terms of its messaging. So that's been a big shift for us in the last 18 months, yeah. Something that we want to build on.

Jay Greenwood 24:44

Do you see the future of the brand always being coconut-based, or is there anything else you're working on in the future now where you see the evolution of the brand going at all?

Ineke Nugteren 24:53

Yeah, I think um I I don't think it always has to be coconut-based. No, I I mean I think there's some amazing ingredients that form the basis of loads of snacks, and that'd be things like nuts and seeds. Um, you know, occasionally there is a bit of dry fruit. Um, coconut obviously is great because it does help to replace things like having to put really heavily processed grains in. It's not that I'm opposed to grains, but I just think that has been what makes snacks cheap. Um, but it often is empty carbs if it's not paired well. So it's we don't have to sell coconut. I think there's other opportunities within um the snacking range, but up until now it has been the base because it's it's been an easy base to have as an alternative to cereals.

Jay Greenwood 25:34

And talk to me now about the the future, the brand. We touched on it before about sort of where you sort of see the brand going. Is there anything or sort of the next sort of 12 months or anything you're really working on? Anything you want to uh really, I guess, one tell us about or one sort of things you're working on in the background?

Ineke Nugteren 25:51

Yeah, I think for me, the vision is to make genuinely nourishing food accessible for everyone. Um, and that's not just in premium retailers. So within the next year, our goal is to see a multi-pack format on the shelves of places like Waitro, Sainsbury's, and Tesco's at a price point that makes a difference for people who are making everyday choices around stacking. So I think um for me, beyond retail, I also want to see nourishing places where people currently don't have good options. So that might be in an airport, it might be in a cafe chain or some or in travel hubs. Um, but you know, because those are moments where people are looking for something that tastes indulgent but is still good for them when they're on the go. But for me, the the key, the the big thing that we've got going on at the moment is the next 12 months for the multi-pack into the supermarkets.

Jay Greenwood 26:38

And I want to then go back now to you with the brand at the very beginning and think about, you know, you are, you know, you're you're a mother, you're working, you're doing so much. What was the point where you suddenly thought, I'm now gonna turn this into a full-time position? What when was that moment where you find because you mentioned as well you're risk-averse, right? So when's that time you thought, right, now it's time, now I can really do this and go full on.

Ineke Nugteren 27:00

Yeah. Um I don't think there was an exact moment. I wish I could tell you. Um, but it it um I would say it probably happened about four, four or five years into the company um being made. So we're looking around COVID time. And during that time, um I had actually then had another child as well. Um, and we had to take all the manufacturing ourselves um because of the restrictions that we had on terms of um people contact. And we were still relatively small then, but we had our bigger facility. And at that point, I just worked around the clock really for the company. I still kept up my nursing, and I always have to because otherwise I'll lose my registration. Um, and that's something I'm not going to lose. So I still have to do my nursing hours over every three-year period. Um, but that it was at that point that I was I was full-time and in nourish, other than being a mum on the audacation and the other extra hours in between. Um, that's that it was at point, so it would have been about 2020.

Founder Life, Routines And Support

Jay Greenwood 28:03

And is there any sort of like frameworks or any like schedules you keep in place, try balance doing all of this? Is there anything you've like worked, what tried many things and find one thing's worked? Or how do you like manage the time? So it sounds like you have a lot going on.

Ineke Nugteren 28:18

I do. I think every founder does, you know, it's a as a juggle. I will say it sometimes it can be quite a lonely journey, but I've been really fortunate, you know, being part of play um groups like Bible and Built um and other various entrepreneur networks in the UK, which has really been supportive. I think um trying to balance it where because you feel guilty all the time as a as a founder, you know, you feel guilty that you're not giving enough time to the business, and then you feel guilty that you're not giving enough time to kids, you know, you're not giving enough time to your partner, whatever it might be. Um I don't think I have it perfect, but I I think I've learned that it's not with quantity, it's quality time. So, you know, making sure that your diary, I always the night before, I always bullet point everything I'm doing for the day ahead, um, so that I've got it already organized when I when I start the next day. Um, I try and be really um specific about times that I can book meetings into my calendar. And then I plan up my weeks, which yeah, sounds mundane, but actually if I don't have any, I find when I don't have a strategy to how I'm gonna approach the next day, inevitably five hours have gone by and I have done things, but I can't actually say they've been productive. Yeah.

Jay Greenwood 29:30

So I think we're doing well.

Ineke Nugteren 29:33

Yeah.

Jay Greenwood 29:33

Yeah. Amazing.

One Small Change To Start Today

Jay Greenwood 29:35

And I want to finish on one question. Maybe it's a little bit wild, maybe it's a bit too out there, but if you have to think about one thing that people could start doing or implementing to maybe have a better relationship with food and maybe how it makes them feel, is there anything that comes to your mind like the first thing that's a recommended? This is coming from someone who has no idea or no clue or no insight at all. So that's coming from myself's perspective as well as curious.

Ineke Nugteren 29:59

Yeah. Um, can I say two?

Jay Greenwood 30:01

Yeah, four. So you can say three or not, you can say yeah, you can say three. You can say as many as you want, basically.

Ineke Nugteren 30:06

So I always think the first thing, if you're going to make a change, I think people always think they have to do a huge overhaul. You don't. It's just if you make one choice in a day that's slightly different. So it might be your first minute of your day. And if you can add some protein into that first minute of the day and some healthy fats, so that you're powering your body for the day ahead. I think that's where people should start. So people have, you know, it's not about making a big change. And added with that, it's not about taking things out. It's about crowding all those things that you may not be including in your diet in. Because inevitably that crowds some of those things that you probably shouldn't have in your diet out. But, you know, it's putting in rather than taking out. Because I think people always think, oh, you know, if there's so much I can't have now, but it's not about that. It's about what are you missing that you can put in. So I'd say that's probably the first thing. Um, and the other thing is um I am still an advocate for a couple of supplements, and I think everybody in the UK is deficient in magnesium, specifically magnesium, biglyconate or glyconate form, and vitamin D. Um, and I think if if people could take those two um as a minimum, it would make a massive difference to how we felt.

Jay Greenwood 31:15

Amazing. And I think the first one's like we would like ethos for life as well, when you really think about it as well. It's funny how they kind of like actually interlink for everything. So yeah, it's a great point to end

Where To Buy And Final Requests

Jay Greenwood 31:24

up. Well, I want to say thank you so much for coming on the podcast, share that story, and also to know I get to say it, how amazing the products are, because I've tried them, they're brilliant, and um yeah, I'd highly recommend this to people. And for people listening, where's the best place for them maybe to explore them or read more about them or purchase them?

Ineke Nugteren 31:42

Yeah, so we have our website, um www. Um, and it's narrowish hyphen growcookandjoy.com, or you can get most of the range on a cardo. Um, able and coal stockers as well. Is if you're in London based, you've got Whole Foods, you've got Planet Organic, and there is numerous amounts of independence throughout the UK as well that you can purchase them from.

Jay Greenwood 32:02

Amazing. And we'll include some uh links in the show notes. So honestly, thank you so much for coming on. It's been such an honour and a privilege.

Ineke Nugteren 32:10

Thank you so much for having me.

Jay Greenwood 32:14

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 write a review, we'd really appreciate it. Um, again, we'll be back doing this weekly. And yeah, if you want to know more about starting food business, head to www.jgreenwood.com. But, guys, as always, thank you. It'd be great.