Industry Insiders: Kate Finch

This week we've been chatting to successful foodie entrepreneur turned business consultant Kate Finch. She's got loads of experience working in the industry, so it was great to talk about all things start up and grill her on her top insider tips.

Tell us a bit about yourself who are you and what do you do?

My name is Kate Finch and I’m the founder of a children’s food business called Junior’s Pantry. I started the business after spotting a gap in the market for wholesome nutritious meals for primary school aged children – I built the business from scratch whilst being a mother (of sorts) to my two girls then aged 7 and 9.  I launched the meals into Ocado within a year of starting the business and then into Waitrose a year later.  I took the decision to walk away from my supermarket contracts ('what, are you mad?' I hear you shout) [and] I now concentrate on helping other small emerging businesses achieve their new business dreams. For some it's shaping their idea and understanding how their idea could become a business, for others it's how to move to the next step or  how to look at distribution, or how to develop marketing ideas.  I can offer advice on all aspects of running a business having faced pretty much every single issue myself!

What is your business mantra?

When I was struggling and feeling like I was going nowhere I use to remind myself that not everyone could start a business from scratch so my mantra became “If it was easy everyone would do it”!

How important is a good business plan?

I think a business plan is really important if only if it’s for you to focus your thoughts about your business, it is very good to revisit the plan from the heady days of optimism to the reality of real life as a small business producer.  Obviously anyone looking to invest in your business will want to see your plan so from that perspective it’s worth focusing on. Setting down in writing what your financial expectations are is very good for scenario testing, best, medium and worse case expectations – you have to know how you will manage financially if there are any hiccups (and there will be).  Always build in a contingencey for unforeseen events.

What do you think are the three key things that make a strong food brand?

1. Being different

2. Outstanding packaging

3. A great back story

Do you have any predictions on what will be trending in the foodie world in the next 6 months?

Gosh, this is a tough one – when I started, all the food shows were awash with Popcorn, which does seem to have made it into the mainstream and will probably stay as a healthy alternative to crisps. More recently the shows have seen more than their fair share of Tea and Coconut water.  I think the core elements will be health driven, I think low sugar or no sugar will be very important and brands promoting positive health benefits like vitamin fortified foods will probably have more of an opportunity. The key is to have a discernibly different product from what already exists in the category.

How do you think small artisan food producers should be supported?

I often think that small artisan food producers should focus on what they do best, producing great food.  The logistics, distribution, marketing all get in the way and often these are areas where they need help and advice.

What do you think is the toughest part of starting a small food business?

How long have I got??!!  I think of all the businesses you can start food has to be in the top three of most difficult!   Food has a number of issues that make it tricky, but the key one; food handled badly could make someone very ill or worse kill them, therefore regulation around the storing, preparing, cooking, packaging, distribution, etc are all governed very rigorously.  From a consumers perspective this is brilliant from a producers side this is a minefield ensuring that you or your suppliers comply with said regulation.  So I would say understanding what you need to do to produce your products and be compliant is tough.  I would also say understanding how scaling your product into larger volumes without compromising on quality is something that all small food producers have struggled with at some point.

What are your words of wisdom for anyone thinking of starting a new business?

Really think very hard about it; you cannot go into a new business half hearted, you need to be absolutely convinced your product is brilliant and is going to fly off any shelf it appears on.  Running a business will impact massively on your life, your partners, your children’s, in fact everyone around you so be prepared for giving up everything for it (no I’m not exaggerating and I would argue if you’re not giving up everything for it in the early days you’re not working hard enough).  Running a business is a bit like having a baby, you have no concept of what it’s going to be like until the baby arrives and it will absorb every waking hour and keep you awake at night, but like that first smile, seeing you product on a shelf or in someone’s shopping basket is worth all the hard work.

What do you think about our big ideas and what we’re trying to achieve? 
I think it’s a great idea to create a hub.  Food is an interesting sector where you can speak to “competitors” in the food sector who are not direct competitors to your product.  This makes the food world a really helpful and friendly network – finding a mentor who is the same boat as you, but not exactly, is immensely helpful. For me, it was a Pie producer: we both had chilled, short shelf-life products so had the same issues on production, distribution etc, but we were not competing for the same customers.

Looking to get in touch with Kate? You can find her on tweeting here, or on her website here.

Are you an Industry Insider who wants to be featured on our blog? We'd love to hear all your foodie insider tips and tricks- drop us a Tweet @KitchTablePro with the hashtag #IndustryInsiders or send us a message to hello@kitchentableprojects.com