Supplier stories

TRIBE was founded after the three co-founders ran a 1,000 mile run across Eastern Europe to raise money to support victims of human trafficking. On their journey, Tom, Rob & Guy realised they weren’t being properly fuelled by what was on the market at the time, and decided to quit their jobs and create a natural, plant-based alterative that puts taste first! Introducing TRIBE – a range of 100% natural, plant-based Protein Flapjacks, packed with wholesome, minimal ingredients, protein and with 1p from each bar donated to TRIBE Freedom Foundation.

Shocked by the amount of sugar in the leading brands of chocolate spreads Kevin & Kellie Bath wanted to find a healthier alternative for their young children. The search for a reduced sugar alternative proved fruitless and with children being the biggest consumers of chocolate spread, revealed a crucial gap in the market….and so JimJams was born.

Since 1960, Larry’s Fishcakes has been delivering delicious fishcakes made with passion and dedication. As a proud, three-generation family-run business, they have upheld the values of quality, tradition, and family legacy. For over six decades, their fishcakes have been a favourite, crafted with quality ingredients and a commitment to excellence that has been passed down through the generations.

Founded by Andy Cato, one half of Groove Armada, who read an article about the impact of food production on the climate ending in the line “if you don’t like the system, don’t depend on it” he set about a journey of self-sufficiency culminating in him selling the publishing rights to his music (his pension!) and buying a farm and set about his journey of becoming a regenerative farming. Wildfarmed as we know it today was founded in 2018, and are on a mission to transform landscapes by producing delicious, healthy and regenerative flour and bread. Wildfarmed grow wheat in a way that increases biodiversity, restores soil fertility and brings nature and wildlife back into our fields and landscapes.

Growing up, Cathy Moseley (Founder of Boundless) says she didn’t realise the food you ate had such an impact on your overall wellbeing. It wasn’t until she got older and realised the key to all of this was looking after her gut through good food whilst still being able to snack. However, there was nothing available on-the-go to look after her mind & microbiome.

So, she combined the thing we love the most with a determination to empower better choices in snacking and created Boundless – the world’s first gut health snacking range. Their diverse range of products has something for everyone – with taste and health at the forefront of everything they do.

Doughboys was founded by twin brothers, Luke & Owen Buckmaster who after working within the hospitality sector, experienced first-hand the impact of the skilled labour shortage and saw a gap in the pizza market for handmade authentic Italian frozen pizzas – a category that is dominated by a handful of big manufactures and flooded with of poor-quality, highly processed and un-nutritional products.

They’re on a mission to change the perception of ready made frozen pizzas by offering their entirely handmade, restaurant-quality Italian pizzas that can be cooked in only a few minutes and do not require a highly skilled pizza chef.

Ning Ma owned and ran a few of Asian street food restaurants and during the pandemic, when restaurants were closed, Ning had to think of new ways to make an income and serve her customers. Ning discovered a high demand for bubble tea, but it was a specialist drink and only available in certain areas, meaning customers had to travel to find it. Ning decided to start creating the drinks in her restaurants and make them available on delivery, which is where she started to see challenges such as storage, energy costs and flavour inconsistencies when making the drinks.

Ning set about working on a new bubble tea concept and wanted a quicker solution to make the drink so that it was accessible for any venue looking to serve it. Ning created a jasmine tea infused fruit syrup, and worked hard to produce pre-cooked Tapioca balls that can be ready in 20 seconds (it usually takes 2 hours to cook)! Creating these products would enable any hospitality outlet (kiosks, cafe’s, coffee shops, restaurants etc) to make and serve a tea in less than one minute as there is no need to brew the tea, which saves on time, space, and energy costs. In 2021, Ning launched TeaJoy to the UK market, an innovative and on-trend bubble tea brand and the only concept of its kind.

Just Love was founded by Mike Woods, a father of 3 children, 2 of which have severe anaphylactic allergies. Coming from a history managing food factories that could never guarantee safe products for his children, Mike started Just Love in 2010, launching the UK’s first ever ‘nut free’ celebration cake onto UK shelves. After watching his children get excluded from birthday parties, turned away from restaurants and excluded from the experiences other children were having, he felt compelled to remove more allergens, expand the range and launch into Food service.

Just Love is still a family business. Mike’s wife Karen and daughter Danika are in the company – Danika being one of the children with the allergies is now heading up the brand and marketing department.