Recipe for Greatness
Recipe for Greatness
From Neuroscience to Snacks: Olly Hiscocks' Journey to Revolutionise the Olive and Snack Industry | Repost
Repost from 2020 | What happens when a neuroscience enthusiast shifts gears to revolutionise the olive market? Meet Olly Hiscocks, the mastermind behind Olly's, a vibrant brand that's breathed fresh life into olives, nuts, and snacking pretzels. Olly's journey began with just 50 pounds and a kitchen full of experimental flavours tested on friends and family before making it big. Listen as Olly reveals the quirky character names behind his products, the importance of eye-catching branding, and how his story of persistence, passion, and authenticity led to early sales success.
Ever wondered about the unexpected pitfalls in the food industry? Olly shares a surprising tale involving improperly stored garlic and an enlightening conversation with a CEO that shaped his business mindset. Explore the power of an authentic story in the entrepreneurial world as we discuss my own career shift from neuroscience to founding a startup. Together, we highlight the thrill of sales, the necessity of relentless pursuit, and how genuine narratives resonate with customers and drive impressive results.
Navigating the challenges of entrepreneurship, Olly opens up about the dynamic experience of being a single founder, overproducing for Sainsbury's, and handling lockdown excess supply. Discover the importance of networking, mentorship, and community initiatives like the Nest Foundation, which empowers women to start their own businesses. Learn why delegating responsibilities and hiring skilled team members is crucial for growth, and why taking risks and experimenting with new ideas are vital steps toward long-term success. If you're passionate about the food industry or entrepreneurship, this episode is packed with invaluable insights and inspiring stories.
Three, two, one, zero and liftoff, liftoff, liftoff. Hello, welcome to the Recipe for Greatness podcast. I'm Jake Greenwood. Now. The goal of this podcast is to interview the founders behind some of the best food companies to find out how they did it and what skills and knowledge we can use to grow our own business. Now.
Jay:Today's guest is Ollie Hitchcock. He is the founder of Ollie's. Four years ago, they came into the olive market and reinvented the category. They've gone on to do nuts and the most recent innovation has been snacking pretzels as a better alternative to crisps. Ollie's are stocked in Sainsbury's, ocado, selfridges, virgin Trains, major Airlines, the Eurostar and many others.
Jay:Ollie talks about how he set up his business with less than 50 pounds and how he trialled the product with friends and family at markets or at home. We talk all about how he thinks about following your gut and staying true to yourself and the brand and everything you do, and how he tries to turn any problem into a win. Oli is such a humble, great guy and he offers so much advice in this interview, so please sit back, enjoy my chat with Oli, the founder of Oli's, and lift off, lift off. Enjoy my chat with ollie, the founder of ollie's. Ollie, thanks so much for joining our podcast. I've been doing my research and I've got a million questions to ask, but you know we've got a limited amount of time, so I want to start off with talking about what does the bandit, the captain, the connoisseur, the explorer, the hippie and the veteran, what are they and how?
Olly:do they?
Jay:come out.
Olly:Wow, god, you're taking me back. Thank you for having me on. So that was the morning after I had the light bulb moment, let's say with the olives, which was literally plain and simply. I looked at the olive fixture when I went to go buy some olives. I absolutely love olives. There's no color, there's no character, there's no innovation in the market. This was a few years ago, obviously, because obviously we're here now. That basically gave me the idea of launching a brand of olives.
Olly:So I think those characters all came from the core belief that I thought that there should be a brand of olives. And for some reason, the next morning I literally just started writing flavor combinations down and these characters just came to me. So I started scrib and these characters just came to me. So I started like scribbling these characters and doing these like little yeah, character caricatures of olives. I can, I can, I can find out. I'll send you the actual pictures of them. I've still got the originals, um, but so, for example, like the my initial fiery chili, I just thought, oh yeah, he sounds like a bit of a badass, he's gonna be a bandit. Then the lemon, lemon. I had a honey and lemon. I was like, oh, that sounds quite nice Like frolic through a field. I think that's a hippie. So they were all basically the characters that I attached to each of the flavors. So we had six that we launched on the market in 2016.
Jay:And have they stayed or have they kind of gone into the background a little bit?
Olly:They have.
Olly:So they have.
Olly:We've constantly kind of been bringing them in a little bit, because I think what we realized is that we made a really big thing about the characters, which is interesting now, because what I then learned to believe and see with our products, with the olives, is like what most people really want to know is like what's the flavor?
Olly:Like we've got to hammer home the flavor. So what we've done across the range now is we've made the flavor, the lead and everything, um, but it's quite interesting because you so they're all still on the packets, just slightly, uh, slightly more subdued, but it's so interesting like you look at minor figures, for example, and their branding, which is just awesome, and they've got these huge characters on pack and these tiny, tiny, like the tiny uh flavor tag. So it's like I guess it's kind of just like thinking about what, what is it within your category that's going to draw people to your product? And I think, yeah, I think for us within snacking, people really want to know, like, I mean, what, what are they eating? Like, what is the flavor? Um, so you've got to be got to be loud on that yeah, and you sort of touched on it there.
Jay:But you know olives, they've been in supermarkets, they've been around for a while, and you walk down a chilled section. You see, you know just typical olives. You don't really notice them too much. So when you walk down there, what? What did you see as the opportunity and how did you think, right, we can stand out here I think I think I think I took a lot of inspiration from other categories.
Olly:So I look. So I always refer back to proper corn and what they did with Popcorn Again innocent and juices. They just brought color, character, just life, to a category which is very own label focused, very corporate and big brand, and so I mean that's what I saw and it was specifically within the chilled sector. So if you go to your chillers, even to this day, still it is plastic pots, pretty boring basic wraparounds. There's no one really trying to jazz it up a little bit. And if you look at all of the trends within food at the moment, there's this premiumization feel.
Olly:People are looking to buy into stories and brands are just becoming even more important in this day and age. It's like a brand that you can trust and a story that you can buy into. It definitely has a big impact now, especially in the supermarket. So that was it really. I just wanted to like my name was Ollie. I liked olives. I just thought, look, ollie's olives, away we go. So yeah, I just thought we could do something really different here the way we flavor the olives, the way we package the branding, the way we communicate on social media, just completely blow it, apart from what a traditional olive brand would do.
Jay:You said you have the light bulb moment. How quickly does it take from that light bulb going off to you getting down, getting?
Olly:dirty and actually making something. I got down and dirty very quickly with this light bulb, to be fair. No, like I I had. I'd had a couple of like I've always had my little black book of ideas. So at university I was writing stuff down and at that time there's just so many other things at university which pull like, pulled you in different directions, and it just became very frustrating when you see something you've written down two years ago pop up and you're like I could have done that. Um, and yeah, I. Basically, after that happened a couple of times, I just vowed that the next time I had it I would just do it. And so, for example, with the olives, I the idea came to me and in any an evening, when I was at a friend's house, the next morning I went to a market stall, I bought olives, I started marinating, I just started drawing these characters.
Jay:So I mean, it was, it was pretty immediate, to be fair and so you know, you start making them, you test them on friends and family. How are you finding out if they're any good?
Olly:yeah, yeah. So again I was in my parent. I was in my parents house which I'm now coincidentally back in and I literally just came up with a whole range of flavors. I don't know where some of the combinations came from, but I did a balsamic and mint olive, which was horrendous, but I just put them into massive sandwich bags and I took them back to my mate's house. And I just got them into massive sandwich bags and I took them back to my mate's house and I just got them sampling them and a couple of them actually just really stuck. And literally at this point I bought a bulk tin of olives, fresh ingredients from the market. I just chopped them all up, mixed them up, just gave them a try, one of them actually, which to this day we're still going to try and bring back in. But we had a sweet ginger chili and spring onion, which was oh yeah, it's like an asian, asian infusion.
Olly:It's just like with the sugar element. It makes it slightly difficult with a long life product, but, um, yeah, those are great. Um, but yeah, I literally sandwich bags, took them to my mates, got them trying it. And again, I just like the, the big thing which I always recommend for food businesses or any startup. To be honest, it's like getting into a market stall. Get yourself a stand. I mean, it's slightly more difficult in this day and age, but like 30 quid for a pitch on a weekend and you will interact with hundreds of consumers who are there just having a good time and you have that opportunity to chat to find out what flavors they like. Do they like this branding? What price would you pay? Like it's just the perfect test bed, um, so yeah, I like the very early stages. It's just literally get that minimum viable product, which I didn't really like know the time back then, but I just made the basic formula of what I wanted to do and just like, took it, took it to a market still yeah.
Jay:So at this point, I mean, you're probably only like well, you're less than 50 quid invested, really probably at this point, and you're just getting out in front of people and testing it. So were you just getting feedback from them? Were you trying to see if people would come back and buy more to work out? If it was going well? How did you know, like, right, this is actually really good products and we can go the next step yeah, yeah, I think like like in in, like, inherently, I've always been a pretty uh, optimistic and like, let's say, relatively driven person.
Olly:So I just I was just excited. I was excited by the market. Still, I love doing it. I was still working a nine-to-five job at a gp surgery, monday to friday but I just I just loved it. Like I just I just genuinely enjoyed it. I didn't think, I didn't really think about the monetary side of it. To be honest, I probably was losing money with the like calculations I was doing at the start. But like I just I just really engaged with the customer and I loved, I loved the wholesale process and it just it just confirmed this idea that there is something here, there is this idea of bringing a brand to all is really um, really stuck with me, and it then was I mean, it then was uh, a bit of time actually to then for me to develop it into like the later, later stages of, let's say, the early parts of the business, because I then got to the point where people were coming back to the market.
Olly:Still, they liked them. They then were asking me, where could they buy them during the week. So I thought, okay, I've got to try and like push these into places where they can go to during the week. So I then started selling into delis, which was interesting because I realized I liked making the olives, but I wasn't very good at monitoring the uh, let's say the technical side of food. I just thought, look, marinade olives, put it in a pot it's going to last for 12 months. Obviously that doesn't. That isn't the case. So the first few customers I put them into they had like exploding pots and like olives going off the whole works. But like again, like I was just getting like confirmation from people that they liked this concept, um and like, and that was it really. I just I started making them in bulk and sending them to pubs, um, and then I just kept getting drawn back to this idea of snacking. The couple of people within the food industry which I had spoken to completely pushed me away from the idea of it. They're like snacking is really competitive. It's low margin when it comes to olives. Go into chilled because that's where the margin is, or go into bulk because that's where the volume is. Um, and I mean I didn't waste that much time actually trying to pursue what they said.
Olly:I still like, like I always say to anybody that I speak to. It's just like stick to your guns, stick to your hunch. Like nine times out of ten, most decisions that I make will start off with a hunch, and obviously you then do the work to make sure it's not ridiculous. But I've always I've always like quite trusted that and like I think like there's a reason why, there's a reason why you're different and there's a reason why it hasn't happened yet and like the people that have gone before you are trying to tell you to do something which they've done, which means that you're not gonna really have that difference. So like, yeah, definitely, like I guess I've just gone off on a tangent there to give a bit of advice, but like sticking, sticking, sticking to your hunch is like a really big thing for me. Um, but yeah, that basically ended up taking us to the concepts with the snack pouch and you.
Jay:You touched on there about the technical stuff and I um, I read a story about that you wanted to find out about. You know how you can? You know the basically the technical stuff. So you spoke to the biggest producer of olives in the UK and you ended up being transferred to the CEO and asking them for advice, shiles from Olives et al.
Olly:Honestly, man, uh, so I was this. This was all very, very fair. So there's a, there's a tox, there's a. There's a toxin which, like garlic cloves, can produce if you have fresh garlic that you put in an anaerobic atmosphere. So if you just cover it in oil, it can produce a toxin which can be really um, I mean, it can, it can be quite dangerous. So at the time I didn't really know about this and then I called what is that?
Olly:yeah, I think somebody mentioned it to me so I thought, right, I I haven't, I don't really have any idea about this, so I just then googled olives and then called olives a towel and I just, yeah, got pinged around their switchboard and ended up with their ceo and I was like, uh, hey, right, I'm, my name is ollie, I'm just making up some olives at home, like I just wanted to check that I'm doing it right. And he was like what the hell? Like how, what, how, I'm on the phone to you, um, but he definitely struck some fear into me and definitely made me realise that, like food, the tech side of food is very important to look after, for sure.
Jay:And I wonder from that sort of how much that shapes, because it seems like to me you're always just knocking on doors. It's not like right, we're comfortable, it's like you're just constantly pushing forward and you're not afraid to just pick up the phone. How much is that experience just picking up the phone, talking to ceo, getting great advice has that shaped kind of how you approach certain situations now?
Olly:yeah, yeah, big time. And I I think a big, a big thing like selling has always got to be at the core of the business, like, and like that is that is what the business is. Um, without without people that are just going to get out there and and do those calls and knock on doors and make those sales, you're not going to last very long. Um, luckily, I just quite enjoyed it, like I always I always found it quite fun trying to like like wriggle your way into places, like inherently, it's really competitive. So, like, when you get that win and getting that that little rush of a, of an approval email, it just yeah, it just it just got me going really.
Olly:Um, but yeah, I think, like you've got, you've got to be, you've got to not have no shame, but you've got to just go for it. Like if you know that your product and you believe a product should work there, you should be going, going at it every angle possible to make sure you speak to the right person. And when you get to that person, just go to like I always say you've got to politely harass them like they're busy people and you've got to keep knocking on the door to put keep yourself front of mind. And again, like it goes back to like if you have a hunch and a belief that you think you should be somewhere, there's a reason behind that, and until you get like a, I mean, I always say like a no is just a delayed yes anyway. So like even the no is not a no.
Jay:Um, you just got to keep pushing yeah and uh, I want to sort of as well mention that you know you're, before you kind of go in full time with um ollie's olives. You know, before you kind of go in full time with Ollie's Olives, you know you actually had a place at medical school and there's a quote that I heard you mention. It was on the internet, so it may not be accurate, but it was like to thine own self be true, and what does that mean to you and how has that kind of shaped your choices and your career path?
Olly:Yeah, yeah, you've done some great digging, jay. Honestly, where are you finding this stuff, man, you should be a journalist, love it. Um, I, yeah. So that was actually something my, my, my grandpa, always said to my dad and my dad's always said to me and like, I think, luckily, my, my parents have been like incredibly supportive of whatever decision I've made. And when I was at university I did neuroscience and I thought that was going to lead into the medical path and that's kind of where I was heading. But I'd literally always had this idea of starting a business. I've always wanted to do it and I think it got to a point where you've got to listen to yourself and those are the hardest decisions. That probably was the hardest decision I've had to make throughout.
Olly:The whole business is actually committing to taking a risk and doing something which you have no real idea about. But again, it goes back to that idea just be true to yourself, be true to what you believe in, be true to what you want the business to be. Um, like another. Another good old quote is like uh, what was it? Um, be yourself, because everybody else is taken, because actually, like when, like when you can.
Olly:Really, I think businesses that do well will often have quite a strong story, whether it's from the founder or from the actual core of what the business is going after and that's what people buy into. And I remember speaking to uh lauren orchard, our old sainsbury's buyer, and that's the strength that you have as a small brand is that you have a story, you have something which people can really buy into. All the big corporates, I mean, like they go into the supermarkets and all they talk about is numbers, like that gets boring. So like if you can really like be true to yourself and develop a story which is authentic around why you started a business and what and why you're doing what you're doing, that's a massive sell.
Jay:It's a massive sell and you saw, I think we might touch on that as well. But so in the first six months you launched, I read that you guys did amazing 70,000 pounds worth of sales and you guys were in. You know, I think read it as like Sainsbury's Virgin Trains. How did you get those listings? Was it just purely based on your passion and the story, or was it a combination of a few things?
Olly:So we launched. We launched september 2017 and we launched at the speciality fine food fair trade show in london. Um, we, we had luckily so I had been. I had been pushing the olives in the previous pop format for a while before that, so we'd already kind of got a lay of the land, but we just didn't have the right format of product. So doing that trade show was great because that got us introduced to a couple of people.
Olly:I remember having the Tesco's and the Sainsbury's go past. You're like, oh my God, imagine if you just land a supermarket which doesn't happen just like that. Like imagine if you just land a supermarket which doesn't happen just like that, but like I think you, you again like very quickly know where you think the product will work best. Like there were, there were competitive products in the market anyway, so if you see a similar product to yours somewhere, like inevitably you could be there. Um, so no, we, yeah, within our first six months, we had, uh, secured a handful of wholesalers. Again, I really recommend getting into bed with a couple of good wholesalers because they will act as a bit of a third party sales arm for you and will be the wheels into hundreds of like independent stores, which they're like building that independent arm in your business at the start is like incredibly valuable, because those are those like the loyal, loyal stores which you can be flexible with, you can do samplings with, you can just try different things out. So, like, working those independents is great.
Olly:Um, and then we we landed Ocado because they did a, it was like a supplier, it was kind of like an invitation to really small suppliers to to come and pitch them and luckily that went really well.
Olly:And then Eurostar and Brewdog were two accounts that we got into really early, early doors. So yeah, we we kind of like we took a very scattergun approach and, like what I always like said is that we we could be a healthy alternative, a healthy alternative to a packet of crisps. So, with our products being ambient, with a long shelf life, not having any oil or stones in the bag, we were literally like the olive version of a crisp. So I literally took the first six months where it was literally just me and just cooled anywhere that I could find, knocked on doors which would have a pack of crisps, um, and that opened up some great doors and how important has it been for you reaching out to people in the industry or outside the industry for helping advice to get you to where you are now like I wouldn't know, there's no way I would would be able to do it still without doing that.
Olly:Um, I think, especially when you start off by yourself, like it is a lonely journey, like there's no two ways about it, you will see, I was watching my mates going off to nine to five jobs and going off for like work, drinks and all that stuff, and you're like, well, I'm just like flogging olives.
Olly:I could have gone to medicals, I could be doing medical school right now and I'm trying to sell olives to like this pub in bournemouth or something like that. And it's, it's actually the, the communication and networks that you build in the food industry. You suddenly realize, like we, we're all doing this. Like, yes, you might be the only person within your business doing it, but everyone is going through that early grind at the start, and then you realize, all right, we're all in the same boat. Like you all realize that it takes like 10 emails to get a response from a buyer. You just understand that that is just kind of how the food and startup world works. It isn't just a matter of like, I've got a great product here. It is, they're going to buy it, it's going to sell really well. So, yeah, we were really lucky with that no-transcript, so being part of that network was amazing.
Jay:Yeah, and what do you think about single co-founder versus, you know sorry, single founder versus co-founders? Because some people say, you know co-founder, they couldn't have done it without them. Or some founders are like you know, it had to just be me. How do you think about it? And if you had to sign me again, would you do it differently?
Olly:Well, it was quite interesting. So the first chunk of investment we took right at the start to fund the first order of the olive pouches. I remember the investment group who had been again brilliant, the Guys for Startup Funding Club club. They actually said to me they are sometimes quite wary of a single founder business. Um, just because they know it's how hard it is and having that, uh, second, third person makes a huge difference. Like I don't think, like it's all dependent on the person.
Olly:Really, I think luckily I was, I was happy enough to get up and do it myself. Like not, maybe not everybody is, maybe some people like to like to have that, like that second or third person. I again, maybe it was like, maybe it's a bit of my nature, but I at the early stage is something I've really learned to change. Is I quite liked having control over bits of the business? I think when it's your, when it's at the early stage, is something I've really learned to change. Is I quite liked having control over all the bits of the business?
Olly:I think when it's at the start it's like your baby. You believe that you are the best person to look after it. I've now completely U-turned on that and realized that actually hiring people and investing into people that are much better than you in the different aspects of the business is like incredibly fun to do because, yes, you have people to join you, but it's just incredibly rewarding to see them do so well and they help push the business. So it's like there's there's, I'd say. The only pro, the only potential negative is just like your, your, your like mental health, let's say like it's just great to have somebody there to do it with at the start.
Jay:If you, uh, are comfortable doing it by yourself, then like away you go, you're just as strong as anybody else yeah, and it seems to me like you're an absolute master in turning what could be perceived as like a negative situation into a positive. And there's two stories and you can talk about one or the other. But one is when you first went into Sainsbury's and you overproduced, and then the other one is with lockdown and the excess supply you had of nuts. You can choose either one you want, but sort of how it may have seemed bad, but really it was a blessing yeah, yeah, yeah, no.
Olly:So I think. So what I will highlight at this point Sam, my brother, had come into the business. So then at those, I think that's when it really becomes helpful to have somebody there, because inevitably it's going to hit the fan at some point. And actually when it's kind of like battle stations, it's good to have people there, like that is really when it counts.
Olly:The Sainsbury's one yeah, completely overproduced. It was the first time that we'd moved into a chilled category so we're used to a 12-month shelf life product Ambien and we'd moved into a 30-day chilled product and we just massively overproduced. We thought that we were going to. We were given a 200-store listing, inevitably it. We were gonna. We were given a 200 store listing, um, inevitably like, it takes time to get through the supply chain. So if you think you're going to be on shelf in 200 stores in a supermarket, you're not like never expect that you will actually be on the that shelf and never expect you're going to hit the rate of sale that you, well well, are targeted with at the start, because it takes time to build that up. So, yeah, we completely naively overproduced and had like thousands, tens of thousands of parts which we didn't have any other customer for. So me and Sam just rented this chiller space down in West London and then it was a slog, man, like I'm not going to say that I enjoyed it, but like we just wrote everybody we could in and just took the time to just hit as many like supermarket locations as possible that we were stocked in and we're just handing pots out and just handing pots out. We went to liverpool street and got like chased away by all the business there because we were like handing them to all of their like workers. I it, we were just like literally just throwing olives around the place and, yeah, as horrible as it was during those couple of weeks, yeah it was an incredible learning because we found out that how important sampling was. We really saw how that kind of like generosity element and that opportunity to interact with people that will hopefully then be customers um really does, really does help. And, yeah, like, some of the stores that we handed product out and sampled outside and inside are still the best-selling stores we have today.
Olly:So, um, yeah, like, maybe, maybe it's a good, maybe it's probably a good thing more than a bad thing, but yeah, as you said, I do try and spin a positive on nearly everything. It's scarily, having now watched the Donald Trump documentary, that's literally what he does. So I want to avoid that. But no, the dips are going to come, come, you're going to get knocked back and they're like maybe, maybe it's just inherently because it's happened enough times now and I've realized that things will just like, like what will be, will be, in a sense, and like they do come back around and um, yeah, not to say, when you get knocked in, knocked over at the, at the start it's, it's a rough one, but yeah, when you, when you kind of just get into the mindset that you can overcome things and things improve, then yeah, it's just a minor blip and I want to move on to.
Jay:You know olives, but then come nuts, but then now it's pretzels and, yeah, it seems like you are constantly innovating, and how important has that been to you know? You say to keep innovating and then discover the pretzels. How is it going and how is it?
Olly:Yeah, so I think we definitely become more of that. At the start we were like look, the brand is.
Jay:Ollie's Olives.
Olly:We're going to be the olive brand of the world, we're going to champion olives and go into all the different types of olive formats we can, and going into chilled and trying chilled. I quickly realized that within the olive space, if you don't have your own factory, it's then quite difficult to really make a dent. And we didn't want to own a factory, we didn't want to run a factory. So with that we kind of realized that we needed to adopt a slightly different model. And then we were like right, we've obviously really we've got some success going with the pouches. We obviously know what we're doing within snacking. Let's develop snacking. So the success that we've had with Olives is it's the color, it's the character, it's something slightly different from a branding perspective, but ultimately it's the real quality, the quality elements of really bringing ensuring that you really are the best quality product on the shelf for that type of product. And we kind of thought, right, so what other categories within snacking are a little bit tired, could do with a bit of rejuvenation from a branding perspective. But also there is a bit of room above to develop flavors and improve on the quality. And we saw that with nuts, we saw that with pretzels. So we then quickly, yeah, I think we then realized that actually, like is, you've got to be careful. Like, for us, it's really working. Going down the MPD route is really working. And as soon as you kind of build a relationship with somebody which you can then start showing them new, new products, that's the easiest sell instead of taking other products to new customers or current products to new customers. Build that relationship and then start developing that relationship so you can really build that account. Yeah, no, it's been great, it's really been.
Olly:The nuts came. We were doing the nuts for a while because pub groups wanted people to do the full bar snack offering. So they'd say, we want the olives, but can you do more? So we then thought, right, let's just do nuts, started doing those in bulk, but we decided to keep that under the radar because at that point it was still olives, like we're an olive company. And then, yeah, when COVID hit, we had literally a mountain of nuts and we were like, right, right, well, all the pubs are closed, so what we're going to do with these? So Sam again came up with the clever idea of putting them onto Amazon and just selling them online and we didn't really think like bulk nuts would really go that well. But the whole consumer mindset when lockdown hit changed. People were looking for value. They were buying in bulk, on the go kind of just went out the window. So they absolutely flew. And then again, like the feedback that we were getting on the products through all the reviews, it's just like the quality is incredible, the flavors are incredible, so we then right, right, we're going to get this into a retail format.
Olly:Um, and then the pretzels. Yeah, I was over in, uh, new york a year ago and saw the concept over there and absolutely loved it. I literally again, I don't think since the light bulb moment of the olives, let's say that was the next one. That was the first time I've had it since and I just became obsessed with these.
Olly:Pretzel. Crisps is what they call it in States and we've called it pretzel fins. But the UK consumer, we love crisps, we're crisp fiends. But the whole healthy aspect of the market now where people are looking for that healthier alternative, yeah, these pretzel thins of ours 80% less saturated fat, 40% fewer calories than your standard potato crisp they still have the same eating experience as crisps because of the thin texture and they also completely trump. Oh God, I've referred to Trump again. It could be trump the current pretzels, because inherently, my, I don't really like the inherent, sorry, the current format of pretzel, where it's just it's snacky, it's a dense, like it's it's quite dry and claggy, where these, again, with the thinner texture, it allows you to put more flavor on um, it's just, yeah, crispier and a much more enjoyable experience. So, yeah, I tried them over there, absolutely love them and uh, yeah, just it became a real labor of love trying to find somebody to make them yeah, and I think, uh, that is a good light bulb moment.
Jay:I can't wait to see, uh, how big they become over here, because I think, uh, it's definitely going to be something big. Um, and of getting attention. It seems like ollie's is so cheeky and fun. How important is that uh get attention. Make sure you're still relevant in the market yeah, yeah, yeah.
Olly:I think like in in with with the growth of digital and online and like even and now online shopping as well like having a presence, whether it's social or we didn't really touch any sort of pr related stuff and we still don't really but kind of just making sure that you are kind of front and center and communicating in a way that people can engage with, like that's most important thing.
Olly:Anybody can like send out content, but to actually really make it kind of human and fun, like I think that's what people really buy into, but it is really important. It's it's a it's a big old world with a lot of noise. You've got to find your voice within that and really be consistent with that. The easiest thing to do is trying to communicate as you would personally not to say I'm a cheeky or a funny person, but I think we have developed that culture within the business. We don't take ourselves too seriously, we're hard workers, a funny person, but like I think we have like developed that culture within the business, like we don't take ourselves too seriously, like we are, we're hard workers, but laid back at the same time, and I think like people just just engage with that um and just communicating.
Jay:Communicating that online is, yeah, it's fun yeah, I think it all comes back to what you kind of sort of said consistently is just be true to yourself and do it um. I want to talk about some of the stuff that you're involved in, you know, outside of just the, the snapping category. So you're, um involved with the nest foundation and you're involved with the seed funds. So how, over the years, has your thought process changed about business and yourself and kind of what you want to be about and the brand itself?
Olly:Yeah, yeah. So the seed fund was, is is, I mean, incredible? Uh, an incredible outfit of people in a competition. It's something that I actually entered. Unfortunately, I didn't win, but then built a really great relationship with the guys that run it. They run a competition for startup brands where you can pitch to some really relevant and high up people within the food industry. You get to talk to the Fenix buyers and the organic buyers and it's just a really great scheme where they take 12 people on and then those 12 are essentially finalists. But you go through this like workshop for six weeks where then they just help you, help you develop your business and your brand and then they pick one winner. So that was amazing and I then got the opportunity to to then go back and help them and be a judge as part of that. So that was really cool and, again, just like how important that network building was for me at the start and how helpful that was just being able to give that back to the food, the food community, and like I try and be as like open and communicative and like if people need help, like I don't think like it should be an issue for anybody really just to pick up the phone, because I think if anyone was asked like who helped you back in the day, there would have been a few people that really kind of went out their way to just give them a bit bits of advice.
Olly:And the next one. The next one was um, it's kind of two-part really. So my sister, my sister came on board for a little bit, uh, to help the business, and we always wanted to do a little bit more. Like, I think, when you get yourself to a uh, a level of business like at the start, like for me, for me it was all just about selling, I just wanted to sell and and I think maybe that's some people would say, well, you should have a sustainable arm from the start. You should be giving back from the start. For me, you don't have a business if you're not selling and you need to make that work. And then, when you get to that point, then you can really start fleshing it out. So, no, we got to a stage where we wanted to start giving back and um, uh, ella actually picked the nest foundation, so it was actually something that she, she came across and uh, nest do some incredible work with um women in underprivileged parts of the world and helps them set up their own business, and I think that was just really.
Olly:It really resonated with me, because it all kind of goes back to that market stall, um, start, and that's essentially what a lot of the businesses that nest support they're. They're women all over the world that are making stuff from their home. They're just like selling them at local markets and actually being able to, to support them and helping that, uh, helping that growth. Yes, it's been, it's been incredible, but I think it is important, it's so important for every business now to give back. It's so easy to just focus on the numbers and just like look at the profit and that success, but like inevitably, like that is important, but like there's so much more that you can do, um, and if you can, why wouldn't you?
Jay:absolutely. And one final question um what words of advice would you go back to give ollie, say, in 2015, 16? Um what would you say?
Olly:um, uh, let go a little bit and don't try and do everything yourself for so long. Um, that definitely. Um, yeah, giving up responsibility, uh, will only do the business good, and and we absolutely like all the hires that we've made. So the team is just five, but, like I, I'm so, so happy with all of the guys that we brought on board, and just having that awareness of there are people out there that can do stuff better, um, would be a really good word of advice, like for myself back then, because I was trying to do everything I was trying to do the marketing and the accounting and and ultimately that spreads yourself too thin and what I wanted to do and was necessarily like, let's say, good at, was selling. So that's what I should do and I should get other people who are better at the other bits to look after that.
Olly:So, um, yeah, definitely, uh, don't try and do everything yourself. Um, I think I was good. I was, I was good at it at the start, but but again, like you've really like hit home on it, which has been, which is great, and I'm reach out to the network and keep that communication line open with fellow brands and people like mentors or whatever. Because you suddenly realize like we're all, we're all in the same fit, like the same boat here, we're all going through the same highs and lows. What else did I say?
Jay:you've given things more than you already had to give.
Olly:So you've gone above and beyond yeah, yeah, just do it, just do it ultimately, like sometimes, again, just do it, like just take the leap. Something we kind of live by with the business now is like if we come up with concepts or ideas whether it's npd or marketing tips or whatever like let's just try it. Like there's like what's the worst that can happen, and if you don't try you, you don't know. So, um, just being uh, we can sometimes be a little bit too gung ho with all that stuff, but I just think, yeah, sometimes just got got to go for it.
Jay:Yeah, Well, I can ask you a million questions but I think it's been great.
Olly:I've really enjoyed the questions actually that's great, as always, guys.
Jay: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 Again. We'll be back doing this weekly and, yeah, if you want to know more about starting a food business, head to wwwjgreenwoodcom. But, guys, as always, thank you and be great.