Hunter & Gather owner, Amy Moring talks about how the company turned over 6 figures and her plans for the future...

Hunter & Gather are an innovative Real Food brand catering for those on a Paleo, Keto, Sugar Free, Gluten Free, Vegan or Real Food Lifestyle. They believe in a diet free from sugars, grains and harmful fats to enable you to be the best version of yourself. 

​Year one as a new food business, and Amy Moring has had a profound year . Read about her amazing journey with co-founder Jeff. Some of their fabulous achievements include:

• They have turned over 6 figures!
• They have won 'Newcomer Business Of The Year' category of speciality Food Magazine 
• They have won two 'Great Taste Golds'
• They have secured listings with Wholefoods, Ocado,Revital as well as two wholesalers
• They are exporting to Dubai, Germany and Iceland 
• They became the top seller in our category on Amazon

Read on to find out about how they did this!

Hello and welcome to Introvert Thoughts - Business Spotlight, a place where we celebrate successful businesses. It is also a place where people can share inspiration and passion for business with others who want to start a business. To start off, can you explain a little about your background in business? How did you start doing what you are doing now, and about your journey?

Amy Moring: Jeff and I are the Co-Founders of Hunter & Gather. I am known as the coeliac girl as I was diagnosed at 18-months old. From a life of cooking real food from scratch, I became accustomed to eating vegetables, meat and lower carbohydrates. Jeff (known as the Experimenter Boy) lived on a conventional western diet until his teenage years, plagued by a poor stomach and acne. After meeting Amy, he went on a journey of self discovery and researched the Paleo and Keto Diets - seeing significant improvements in his health and wellness when he stopped eating sugars, grains and harmful fats. Our combination of Free From lifestyle and Jeff's experiments led to the creation of our very first innovative product - our simple 4 ingredient avocado oil mayonnaise.

 Tell us what it was like in the first week or two of starting your own business?

I would have to say it was exciting in the first few weeks. The unknowing if anyone else would see what you see in your product is a nerve-wracking. We remember jumping around the living room when our first order came in during the first week of launching our website. 

How did you fund your business in the initial stages and how has that changed as time went on?
Initially we funded the business and first production run with our own savings - as the business grew we sought investors to enable us to grow and succeed rapidly. 

What's the most important thing you're working on right now, and how are you making it happen?
Distribution is important for us, we are looking to gain the right customers in the right places. We are making this happen by creating online trade portals, to streamline the process for new stockists that want to work direct and also adding new wholesalers to reach more trade customers throughout the UK and further afield. 
​
Tell us about your support network - did you have the backing of your friends and family?
Yes we did in terms of offering to lend a hand or an ear for support but sadly no one that has worked in the food sector. We therefore reached out to support groups on Facebook and have networked with other like minded brands and social figures. There are some great networks out there if you look. 

Don't think about today, think about what could you do to finance the next big listing or what will happen when you need to pack 100 orders a day

​

What gets you out of bed in the morning?

The desire to keep pushing forward with the business and seeing the delight from new customers that find us. 

Tell us how you got your first few clients?
We got our first few clients from social media groups on Facebook. Ensure you join groups that your target market are in and share share share. Ensure to ask for the admins permission. We recommend providing free content too - if you write blogs or ebooks that are great, then imagine how good the paid product will be. You can also utilise bloggers on Instagram if you offer them a free product to review - in return you can ask them to share on their page or stories. 

Can you share tips with our readers on how to make it past the 12-months mark?

Ensure you are forward thinking in terms of the business operations and financing. Don't think about today, think about what could you do to finance the next big listing or what will happen when you need to pack 100 orders a day, you won't be doing that from home so will need a warehouse system. Always try to think of the next step before you are there. 

Having a clear goal of where you want to take the brand and then build it that way from the beginning. If your desire is to sell solely on a market stall then a simple online presence will be all that is needed. If you want to go big and hit retail and grocer accounts, growing your followers and awareness is very important. 

What is your commercial strategy and how do you plan to make even more money?
Our strategy is to work on distribution so that we can be purchased in any given town in the UK, alongside increasing our marketing and awareness. We are also aiming to be listed in at least one grocery account by the end of 2019. 

Finally let's talk about the future. Where do you see yourself and your business in five years' time? 
We will be the market leaders in the Real Food, healthy eating space - we will be listed in multiple grocers such as Sainsburys, Morrisons, Tesco, Waitrose and we will be exporting to the U.S and Europe. 

Do you have a story to share? Get in touch for a feature on this blog in order to talk about how your business excelled in the first 12-18 months.