Choc and awe: the women turning food into business success

For Michelle “Clippy” McKenna, it was a burning desire to promote that most prosaic of fruits, the British apple. She was poised to start a PhD, investigating food networks and sustainability, when she realised there was a better way to celebrate the nation’s heritage fruit. “I love making things and talking to people. So maybe I could make something, and sell it,” she said. After months of trials, errors, recipe lessons and an experimental farmers’ market stall, her range of apple-based jams and chutneys was ready to launch.

We work every day, weekends and night-times. Clippy McKenna

Using apples from her garden and a couple of neighbours, Clippy and her partner Paul launched their concern as a limited company: making a couple of hundred jars a week from a pan on the kitchen stove. When it all got too big to fit into her Manchester home, they hired space in an artisan unit, found a courier firm to deliver supplies, then finally managed to teach other people to help with production.

In between it all, Clippy had a daughter, Rosie, who came with her to meetings with the bank manager, and around farm shops and delis as she took round samples and negotiated stocks.

From kitchen to supermarket shelves

Four years down the line, Clippy’s jams are now in major supermarkets like Tesco and Asda, as well as high-end stores like Fortnums and Harvey Nichols. “We work every day, weekends, and night-times,” she says – joking that her toddler plays on a toy laptop and insists on sending important emails before she’ll come to the table for lunch. But there’s nothing she wouldn’t change – and her passion for the apple is undimmed, with a nationwide tour teaching people the skills of preserve-making, and even her own local radio show.

There are frustrations, of course. It’s a struggle to get anything out of the banks, even with her track record. One wanted £1,000 just to set up an overdraft facility, she says. But she set out to champion the British apple and make a living, and that’s exactly what she’s doing.

Chocs away

Fiona Sciolti has what many people might consider the dream job: making hand-made artisan chocolates, using flowers, herbs and fruits that she forages herself near her home in north Lincolnshire. But just a few years ago, she was a stay-at-home mum with four children, who loved not just cooking, but providing the best food she could, even down to making her own butter. She’d promised herself that once they were all at school, she would try and combine her hobby with making some money, and the flexibility to still be there for the family. “One day I just woke up and said: ‘Right. Today I am going to make chocolates.”

She obsessed about getting everything exactly right, giving away thousands of samples before getting out there and selling to the public. Some free courses from the local Business Link proved invaluable: “My mentor made me understand the unique value of my work in a way I would never have realised. I’d really underestimated what I was doing and that people would find my chocolates so unique.” she says.

Balancing act

For a business that was supposed to dovetail with the children’s school hours it has grown way beyond that. “It never goes away. Having a business from home means you work into the night, juggling mealtimes with the family.” Weekends are spent with her husband driving to farmers markets and food festivals, and her two eldest children have now taken hygiene courses so they can join in.

Surviving through the recession certainly hasn’t been easy, especially in the north of England where money is tight and handmade chocolates are an occasional luxury. But Fiona insists even this can be a good thing. “It teaches you to sharpen up every aspect of your business – and you’re set up to do very well when you come out the other end.” Thanks to media coverage and some local awards, she’s now trying to work out how to take her business to the next level. There really aren’t enough hours in the day.

Francesca Wharton had her “Eureka moment” in her car, a rare moment to herself after she’d dropped her children off with her parents. She realised that even working part time as a teaching assistant, she hadn’t found time to do any baking. “It got me thinking about the idea of having fresh dough ready to take out of the freezer and make cookies, that the children could help cut out and decorate.” From there, her make-your-own cookie business was born, using dry ingredients for a longer shelf life, with rustic-looking packaging which was originally all she could afford.

Sharing experiences

She tested out new recipes on her own children and their friends, and drove around local delis and farm shops with samples for customers to try. “For years I was a stay-at-home mum, revolving my life around three toddlers. What I really enjoy now is the freedom to organise my own time.”

Local business development agencies have provided invaluable help, from production facilities to advise on marketing and book-keeping. Food shows and festivals have become a place to meet other producers, and share experiences. “Everyone is really helpful to each other, we’re all aiming for the same thing, we’re not trying to compete for space.”

I am out to make a living, but I want to make people smile. Fiona Sciolti

Now Fran, too, wants to scale up from that kitchen table. Buoyed up by winning a Great Taste Award last year, a revamped website for online sales, and a wider distribution deal is next on the cards.

These women, and others like them, are the unsung success stories behind the headlines about Britain’s economic gloom. But this isn’t one of those stories about “having it all” – these are businesses born to celebrate British produce, old-fashioned artisan skills, and respect for the local environment. As Fiona Sciolti puts it: “It’s about bringing goodness into peoples’ lives. I am out to make a living, of course, but I want to make people smile.”