close
SM-Stamp-Join-1
  • Selfish Mother is the most brilliant blogging platform. Join here for free & you can post a blog within minutes. We don't edit or approve your words before they go live - it's up to you. And, with our cool new 'squares' design - you can share your blog to Instagram, too. What are you waiting for? Come join in! We can't wait to read what YOU have to say...

  • Your basic information

  • Your account information

View as: GRID LIST

Secret Diary of a Mumpreneur: Playgroups, Piccolos and Pitching Up.

1
I met Lucy at a playgroup, one of those places that smells faintly of wee, tea and scouts. The class was supposed to ‘awaken our babies’ senses’ with shiny bits of fabric and tinnitus-inducing piccolos but really all the Mums knew it was a brilliant excuse to escape the mountains of grubby baby-grows at home and talk to some actual-real-life grown-ups.

Lucy and I became friends and, when she told me she had an idea for a business, I was all ears.  We were both four months into our maternity leave and panicking about how to juggle small babies

SelfishMother.com
2
and busy jobs. The thought of running our own show, fitting family life around a rewarding business really was the dream.  Besides, Lucy’s idea was a belter – an all-natural frozen yoghurt lolly for kids.

We decided have a go at creating some recipes at home but progress was slow to begin with – we created some pretty strange tasting concoctions –  Rhubarb and custard flavour anyone? But we drank wine, laughed and ate lollies amongst the chaos of buggies and baby bouncers. It took months to get the recipe right and when finally we did, we took a

SelfishMother.com
3
big gamble and entered a competition with Sainsbury’s called ‘Pitch Up’ – sort of an X Factor for food start-ups. Just like X Factor contestants, we were convinced we had talents to rival Whitney Houston but knew there was a small risk that a metaphorical Simon Cowell might not be of the same mind. We started planning to sell at farmer’s markets and (almost) forgot all about it.

Then we got THE CALL! From 400 applicants, we were one of ten to be invited to pitch for a contract with Sainsbury’s! We danced around the kitchen until our

SelfishMother.com
4
feet hurt and then reality set in. At that stage, we had nothing to prove we were a ‘proper’ business, no packaging, no website, we’d never even sold a lolly. We had just six weeks to change all that and we worked our socks off finding a factory to help us scale the recipe and a designer to create the brand. Yolly (as we were known at the time) was born.

To this day I don’t think I’ve faced an event that’s terrified me more but when the Pitching Day arrived, we got through it with sweaty palms and metaphorical Simon didn’t seem to want

SelfishMother.com
5
to press the big red buzzer.  The wait for the call to come afterwards was strangely reminiscent of childbirth (long, painful, just minus the laughing gas) but, when come it did, with news that we’d been successful, I cried, partly out of happiness but mostly because of sheer, unmitigated terror. Somehow, we’d managed to persuade a huge nationwide supermarket that two South London Mums could supply them with their first order of 16,000 lollies. HELP.

TOP TIPS FOR FOOD START UPS

DO test your product on your target market BEFORE launching it. 

SelfishMother.com
6
Our X factor story is unusual and consumer feedback is vital to getting your product right

DO some of your own product development – it will help you understand the technical challenges BUT you’ll save time and money in the long run if you hire a food technologist

DO scope out the competition and understand what your USP is and what your target price point should be.

www.claudiandfin.co.uk

SelfishMother.com

By

This blog was originally posted on SelfishMother.com - why not sign up & share what's on your mind, too?

Why not write for Selfish Mother, too? You can sign up for free and post immediately.


We regularly share posts on @SelfishMother Instagram and Facebook :)

Secret Diary, Mumpreneur: Playgroups, Business pitches, business pitches, pitching your business, food founder, female founder, mumpreneur, work life balance, working mum, the juggle, Claudi & Fin

- 25 Sep 18

I met Lucy at a playgroup, one of those places that smells faintly of wee, tea and scouts. The class was supposed to ‘awaken our babies’ senses’ with shiny bits of fabric and tinnitus-inducing piccolos but really all the Mums knew it was a brilliant excuse to escape the mountains of grubby baby-grows at home and talk to some actual-real-life grown-ups.

Lucy and I became friends and, when she told me she had an idea for a business, I was all ears.  We were both four months into our maternity leave and panicking about how to juggle small babies and busy jobs. The thought of running our own show, fitting family life around a rewarding business really was the dream.  Besides, Lucy’s idea was a belter – an all-natural frozen yoghurt lolly for kids.

We decided have a go at creating some recipes at home but progress was slow to begin with – we created some pretty strange tasting concoctions –  Rhubarb and custard flavour anyone? But we drank wine, laughed and ate lollies amongst the chaos of buggies and baby bouncers. It took months to get the recipe right and when finally we did, we took a big gamble and entered a competition with Sainsbury’s called ‘Pitch Up’ – sort of an X Factor for food start-ups. Just like X Factor contestants, we were convinced we had talents to rival Whitney Houston but knew there was a small risk that a metaphorical Simon Cowell might not be of the same mind. We started planning to sell at farmer’s markets and (almost) forgot all about it.

Secret Diary, Mumpreneur: Playgroups, Business pitches, business pitches, pitching your business, food founder, female founder, mumpreneur, work life balance, working mum, the juggle, Claudi & Fin

Then we got THE CALL! From 400 applicants, we were one of ten to be invited to pitch for a contract with Sainsbury’s! We danced around the kitchen until our feet hurt and then reality set in. At that stage, we had nothing to prove we were a ‘proper’ business, no packaging, no website, we’d never even sold a lolly. We had just six weeks to change all that and we worked our socks off finding a factory to help us scale the recipe and a designer to create the brand. Yolly (as we were known at the time) was born.

To this day I don’t think I’ve faced an event that’s terrified me more but when the Pitching Day arrived, we got through it with sweaty palms and metaphorical Simon didn’t seem to want to press the big red buzzer.  The wait for the call to come afterwards was strangely reminiscent of childbirth (long, painful, just minus the laughing gas) but, when come it did, with news that we’d been successful, I cried, partly out of happiness but mostly because of sheer, unmitigated terror. Somehow, we’d managed to persuade a huge nationwide supermarket that two South London Mums could supply them with their first order of 16,000 lollies. HELP.

TOP TIPS FOR FOOD START UPS

DO test your product on your target market BEFORE launching it.  Our X factor story is unusual and consumer feedback is vital to getting your product right

DO some of your own product development – it will help you understand the technical challenges BUT you’ll save time and money in the long run if you hire a food technologist

DO scope out the competition and understand what your USP is and what your target price point should be.

www.claudiandfin.co.uk

Did you enjoy this post? If so please support the writer: like, share and comment!


Why not join the SM CLUB, too? You can share posts & events immediately. It's free!

I’m a mumpreneur and Mum to seven year old Finlay, trying (but not always succeeding) to do both those jobs well. I’m a ninja of the juggle, nailing loads of washing on conference calls and silencing my son by conjuring a well-timed snack whilst simultaneously bashing a keyboard. My brand has grown from the kitchen table to supermarket shelf and my boy has grown from 50cm to well over a metre. I can’t take all the credit for those two things but I can try and enjoy the ride even if I sometimes drop the ball. When I’m not out and about being mumpreneurial, I can mostly be found in my spare room in ‘activewear’. Very occasionally I am actually active in it too.

Post Tags


Keep up to date with Selfish Mother — Sign up for our newsletter and follow us on social media