It’s not often you get to talk to a real food hero and someone who has created great products which are absolutely delicious! Today is my great pleasure to be talking to the inspirational Julie Waddell, creator and head of Love Moorish, and she is going to share some insights into how she went from the kitchen to the supermarket shelf.
Julie welcome and thank you for joining us at Food on the Blog. Now I’ll come out with it straight away, we’re all jealous. You seem to be living the dream having built up the booming, quality brand Moorish from scratch. You’re obviously a serious foodie, was Love Moorish literally started in your kitchen?
Thanks very much for having me, it all still seems a bit like a dream! Yes, it was literally something I ‘invented’ for my young family to make healthy food taste amazing.
The idea of smoked humous just sounds so good, and it really hits the trend with smoked foods being in the spotlight. What was your original inspiration?
Initially I was just trying to think of ways to make something that’s healthy and popular in my house taste fantastic. I know that smoking food adds a really delicious umami twist and I discovered a James Martin recipe for smoked duck, which you can smoked on the hob in a wok using rice, tea and sugar. I tried it on the chickpeas and haven’t looked back since.
You started with smoked humous and then add other products into the range. That’s hard enough, but you have managed to make them all successful. How do you gauge what you should be making that people will buy? Do you have mass tasting sessions or something?
Unlike big brands, we don’t have expensive tasting panels, we just go for flavour combinations that work well with our smoked twist, are healthy and importantly… unique. We have a development kitchen in the factory where we play and experiment with different ideas, that’s one of my favourite bits of the job. We ask the ladies in the admin office to come in and anyone we can grab from the factory, including the bosses who love to have a taste! When we get a unanimous “wow” and the product ticks all the boxes I mentioned above, then we’ll go for it.
Most people would think getting into a big supermarket like Waitrose must be the real “yes!” moment, was that the case for you? What was your mark for success, the moment you though “I’ve made it!”?
I had a couple of small ‘yes!’ moments, like when I took the smoked humous to my local deli for a blind taste test and it came out as 4:1 winner over normal humous and also when I had my first shelf life test results which showed that the cold smoking was a natural way of curing the products meaning they’d work really well in retail. But, I can’t deny that getting a listing with Waitrose was an amazing moment, we had a long way to go from getting the good news to making it happen in a very short space of time, but when you get an opportunity like that, you do everything you need to to bring it to fruition.
As I said it’s a lot of people’s dream to be in your shoes, so do have any tips for anyone starting out in business?
If you have great idea, market-test it, ask people who don’t know you if they’d buy your product or service. If they say yes and you have the determination and drive to do it you’ll succeed. Understand what gives you a place in the market, something has to be unique whether that’s where you’re selling it or what you’re selling. Get loads of advice, people are surprisingly willing to help when they spot a good thing; mentors and advisors have been invaluable to me. Spend money wisely; know what to invest in (for me it was trademarking and legal advice) and know where to be frugal (we use a freelance designer rather than a large agency, we also use a book-keeper for day to day finance and only call on the accountant at the end of the financial year). Lastly, have BAGS of energy, don’t let the knocks stop you and enjoy!
Thank you very much Julie for sharing your experience, I’m sure you will inspire our readers as much as you have inspired me!
Love Moorish products are currently available at Waitrose, Ocado, Harvey Nichols, Holland & Barrett, Wholefoods Market, Booths and Budgens (a list I am sure will keep growing and growing), so go give them a try I’m sure you will Love Moorish too!
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