How to run a successful food business

You don’t need a background in the food industry to launch a successful comestible. There are many paths to success in the food business. Food vans and pop-ups have provided an organic way for brands to establish and nurture themselves, even without a hefty chunk of startup capital. Your hot cakes might be selling well on a small scale, but now it’s time to get them in front of the mass market’s nose. This inspiring all-day event features talks from the entrepreneurs who’ve done just that. From the economies (and inconveniences) of scaling up a small-scale operation to the best ways to approach major retailers and running your on store, our speakers will impart hard-earned wisdom learned from their personal experiences of breaking into the national food market.

This large-scale seminar gives attendees the chance to find out how it’s done from the entrepreneurs who blazed the trail. You’ll receive advice and ingenuity aplenty from our panel of experts including Jimmy’s Iced Coffee founder Jim Cregan, who in just two years has scored space on the shelves of Selfridges, Whole Foods Market, Budgens and Ocado. Other speakers include Martha Swift, founder of Primrose Bakery, Planet Organic founder Renée Elliott, author and in-store food research specialist Tessa Stuart, and Pitt Cue Co. founder Jamie Berger.

This lively event explains, in plain English, what the budding foodie tycoon really needs to know. From the economies (and difficulties) of scaling up a small-scale operation to the best ways to approach major retailers, our speakers offer hard-earned wisdom based on personal experience. Come along and find out how a bit of elbow grease can make the impossible easy to achieve.

This course is for you if…

• • You’re a small scale food trader at local markets or through a single concession
• • You have developed a food product you’re keen to bring to market
• • You already operate a successful food van or pop-up and want to know how to expand or diversify
• • You’ve launched (or are close to launching) a food business or product, either locally or online, and want to know how to get it onto the shelves of major stores and national chains

Course description

This is a large-scale, seminar-style event featuring a panel of expert speakers, each discussing the lessons they learned during their own careers. Each of our speakers started out with passion, ideas and a minimal budget, and have established some of the nation’s most successful foodie brands, winning awards and loyal fans along the way. Topics covered on the day include:

• Getting started – and making a splash
• How to turn your idea into an investment
• The organic approach to brand development
• Marketing your new business
• Important moments along the journey – things the entrepreneurs wished they already knew, and what they’d do differently
• What can set you apart from the rest
• How to gain stockists
• Strategies for positioning your product
• How to improve chances of listing success
• Staying positive after knock-backs
• How to get a book deal
• Sizzling shelf presence - key packaging tips
• Packaging that works in independent stores and supermarkets, and how to stand out in both

Tutor profiles

Jim Cregan went to Oz after getting sick and tired of UK winters. During his time there, he found the phenomenon of ready-to-drink iced coffee. After coming home to the UK, he realised that nobody made anything close to what he had on his travels and decided to make his own. Jim teamed up with his sister, Sooz, to found Jimmy’s Iced Coffee in November 2010, and they sold their first products on the shelves of Selfridges in April 2011. Since the launch, they’ve gained listings with WHSmith Travel, Waitrose, Budgens, some lovely independents, Welcome Break and Ocado.

Martha Swift co-founded Primrose Bakery in October 2004 having started out baking for children’s parties, but quickly noticed how well the cupcakes went down with adults! Now, 10 years on, there are two shops – one in Primrose Hill and one in Covent Garden – plus three cookbooks and an app.

Renée Elliott opened Planet Organic in 1995, the first natural and organic supermarket in the UK, which now has six stores across London. After fifteen years as a Trustee of the Soil Association, she joined the Catering Mark Standards Board, which sets the food guidelines for schools, universities, hospitals and care homes across the country. Renée has written books on weaning babies and feeding children, and teaches baking and cooking from her home in Sussex.

Tessa Stuart specialises in food and drink customer research and shopper “stalking”, wrapping up in her cosy coat in the chilled aisles of major supermarkets, watching and interviewing shoppers as they make their food selections. Her clients include established household name brands like innocent drinks, Rude Health, Yorkshire Provender, Firefly Tonics, MOMA! Foods, Daylesford, Itsu Restaurants, Leon Restaurants, unearthed, and newer start-ups like G’Nosh Dips, Peters Yard Crispbreads, Soupologie, Claudi & Fin, Cuckoo, and Jimmys Iced Coffee. She helps food brands to perfect their sizing, branding, and pack health messages, so they get full attention and soaring sales from shoppers in the super-competitive supermarket aisles. You can find her books online, here.

Jamie Berger launched Pitt Cue Co. as an American BBQ food van in summer 2011 with business partner Tom Adams. Their take on ribs and pulled pork was a roaring success, and they moved from their parking spot under Hungerford Bridge to a bricks and mortar space just off Carnaby Street. Read Jay Rayner’s review here.

Full course and returns information on the Masterclasses website