Industry Insiders: Tessa Stuart

This week we were super excited to speak to supermarket guru and brand extraordinaire Tessa Stuart. She chatted to us about all her insider hints and tips, as well as sharing what she thinks are the three key things that make a successful food brand.

Who are you and what do you do?

I am Tessa Stuart and I'm a "shopper stalker". I work in the supermarket aisles, watching shoppers making their choices, and asking them EXACTLY what triggered them in those 20-30 seconds or so of attention to reach out and choose that food. I find out how and why food products get noticed. I recommend certain tweaks to packaging, price, presentation, and words on pack, to get those products really flying off that shelf. Sales are critical to survival in the very competitive supermarket environment. If you don't sell, you don't stay on shelf. I help my food clients survive and thrive. I check that their products are doing all they can to attract attention and sales.

I provide affordable "by the hour"consulting to food start-ups on packaging options, branding ideas, and new products, bookable at www.packedbranding.co.uk. My book of tips on branding and packaging for success, Packed: The Food Entrepreneur's Guide, How to Get Noticed And How To Be Loved is available on Amazon and on Kindle. It includes tips from innocent drinks, rude health, graze and higgidy.

What is your business mantra?

My business mantra is ‘keep on keeping on’. Polite persistence always reaps rewards. And always ask, because you might just get it!

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

1. Tasting fantastic.

2. Working out your margin right from the start so you can actually make money - always hard if you are aiming to create a high quality product with good ingredients.
3. Getting out there and letting everyone know - clearly - what you stand for.

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

I think it's not so much about surfing a trend, but more about creating a product that fills a real gap in the market, or is significantly better. Trends come and go and you don't want to be "last year's model", or competing with a million other popcorn brands.

What’s the strangest product you’ve had to research?

The strangest product I have ever tested with customers was lupin seeds. In France they are very popular. They didn't go down well here!

Why do you love working with small businesses?

I really love the energy of small businesses, and it gives me a huge kick to help them grow and create jobs.

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

The toughest part of starting a small business is not having enough hours in the day to do everything you want to achieve, and not taking a salary from the business in the early stages.

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

Be prepared that EVERYTHING takes much longer than you think it will to happen.

What do you think about our big ideas and what we’re trying to achieve?

[It’s] an utterly brilliant idea. All artisan businesses need friendly "shop-windows" and an enthusiastic network of like-minded start-ups and support helps them to celebrate the ups too!

You can find out some more about Tessa's work on her website, and can find her tweeting business tips and foodie advice here, too.

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