
So what’s it really like to launch a new food brand? Launching any kind of food business takes nerves of steel, more money than predicted and taking risks that are way beyond the comfort zone. Lisa Sohanpal is on the brink of launching her long awaited range of ready meals to market but far from feeling like the beginning – she has come a long, long way to get to this juncture. With the real trial by fire just around the corner, we ask her “how ready is ready”?
“I’ve been told I can’t achieve what I am aiming for so many times now that I am switched off to hearing negativity. If I had listened to all those people along the way who said ‘it can’t be done’ I would not be at this point right now about to launch, I certainly would not have had the product I so wanted to produce. So my biggest strength is being stubborn and listening to my heart, and believing in it!” said Sohanpal, managing director of the new brand Mini nom nom’s.The demands on mums
Sohanpal devised the idea for her brand when making authentic curries for her three young children after a busy day at work. Despite working hard as a business woman and being a parent she said there is no way she would want to feed her children quick and unhealthy ready food just because it was there. As a dedicated foodie she did not rate the available ready meals as high quality and even suitable for kids as they were high in salt, sugar, preservatives and additives. She explained a disappointment when it came to reading the ingredients list – finding additives and artificial preservatives being used that would not be part of a home-made meal. Her belief, she said, is that children are “explorers” – but a lot of ready food does not encourage their innate sense to discover things for themselves. If anything it sets them back with bland colours, textures and food that is loaded with sugar and salt to make it addictive, she went on to say.- The healthy fast-food founders intent on securing the title of best employer in the food industry
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“It was a real blow not to win when we have been fighting for this so hard but we now have an extra 4,000 people who know about us and voted for our brand – which is wonderful,” she added. “There is rarely a downside to going for something with huge positivity and raising awareness. That is something I know about business – luck and achievement can usually be explained by determination and grit and believing in something.” Sohanpal and her team are now on the brink of launch, and she describes the excitement is “almost palpable”. Ocado and Selfridges are on board as retailers and others are hoped to follow soon. Could this be the dawn of the genuinely healthy world food ready meal? Sohanpal believes it is.Share this story