Sunday 3 November 2013

From Caterpillar to Butterfly


Hello folks - long time no write! It has been sooooo busy that I have barely had time to catch breath. A lot has happened since my last blog in June. Let's see...

July 29th - went part time from day job

August 7th - resigned altogether! Sounded okay if I said I was leaving to start my own business - slightly less reasonable if I said it was to make marshmallows.

August 18th - two of our marshmallows win stars at the Great Taste Awards.

August 22nd - we win a Highly Commended at the Hampshire Life Food and Drink Awards - all voted for by customers so I am especially chuffed.

September - the amazing Marcus from the Artisan Food Club in London introduces us to a whole host of new customers - sales are on the up! And in between he steers us novice food entrepreneurs in the right direction. Not sure where we would be without him.


September 28th - I do a demo on making marshmallows at Farnham Food Festival and discover I actually quite enjoy that sort of thing! We sell out of marshmallows.

October - the whole month is taken over by our new brand and packaging development. The lovely Steph from 3 Men and a Suit (www.3men.co.uk) works incredibly hard to get everything just right. 

We ended up with a new name and logo:

And our packaging is completely transformed. Its funny - I always thought our old packaging looked quite good. But I really think the new packaging looks so much better. Check out the before and after pictures below:





They are even bar coded! And have nutrition info! (thanks Rachael Abson - I hope you read this!)

Throughout everything, the very generous spirited and knowledgeable Rob offers support, advice and encouragement. I am actually beginning to believe that we have a proper business on our hands. 

Apparently, Rob tells me that when Gu first launched, they put their product on to supermarket shelves and watched how many people took them to the checkout to buy. Imagine their disappointment when they found out they were not actually for sale! 

I haven't gone quite that far yet, but I did shuffle some products along in M & S and squeezed mine on.....just to see how they would look on the shelves of course. I must say, I think they fitted right in! I might pay a visit to Waitrose next week....

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