People Doing Things

In this episode we are taking a look at the 'little everyday luxuries' quietly taking over the UK retail aisle with Siddhi, founder of Rhythm 108. Siddhi started her career far away from the food industry, working as an investment analyst in Mumbai. But a relocation to Switzerland inspired a massive career pivot. Embracing the slower, Alpine pace of life, she fell in love with the historic Swiss culture of craftsmanship and patisserie - and noticed a glaring gap in the market. Traditional chocolate was legendary, but it wasn't built for a modern generation demanding clean ingredients, organic sourcing, and full transparency. The result was Rhythm 108, a challenger brand making vegan, gluten-free, and palm-oil-free chocolate crafted by Swiss chocolatiers. Now stocked in Sainsbury's, Asda, Waitrose, Whole Foods, and Planet Organic, Rhythm 108 is rapidly expanding beyond the chocolate bar into spreads and biscuits.  In this episode, we talk about navigating the global cocoa crisis, where premium indulgence is shifting, and how to maintain 'slow living' principles while scaling a high-growth business. Unwrap and enjoy.  

In this episode we are reinventing the humble crisp packet and talking about the brutal reality of viral scale with Del Currie, the founder of Spudos. In the UK alone, we buy roughly 6 billion bags of crisps a year, and the average packet takes about 80 years to decompose because it cannot be recycled. Del didn't set out to fix this because of a lifelong background in food manufacturing. He actually runs Analog Republic, a custom app development agency building tech for clients ranging from the Foo Fighters and Kanye West to Stanford University. But when his daughter opened a zero-waste shop, he realised he couldn't buy his favourite snack without the plastic guilt. Unable to find refillable crisps in a tub, he hired a 'crisp consultant', sourced sustainable potatoes, and built the solution himself. Spudos pairs unpackaged, hand-cooked crisps with DIY flavour sachets called 'Spud Dust'. But the real story is what happens when a physical product goes viral. After securing investment from Deborah Meaden and Peter Jones on Dragons' Den, Spudos went from 30 orders a day to 15,000 in just two weeks. Del had to scale his team from 1 to 21 staff overnight, rent a massive warehouse in Stanmore, and front £200k in inventory just to survive the broadcast bump. In this episode, we delve into the cash flow crunch, why home-compostable packaging costs 10x more than standard plastic, and the operational headache of pulling a business back down to a sustainable baseline after a massive TV spike. Grab your Spud Dust, give it a shake, and enjoy.  

In this episode we are swapping the scroll for a moment of pause with Georgie Bell, co-founder of The Heart Cut - an independent bottler that is democratising the whisky industry for a new world. Historically, independent bottling was reserved for the 0.1% niche of traditional whisky drinkers. It was a bit dusty, heavily reliant on third-party cask brokers, and the true story of the distillery was often lost along the way. Georgie and her husband, Fabrizio, saw an opportunity to zag against tradition and do things a little differently. Georgie is a whisky prodigy. Starting her career as a bartender in Edinburgh, she went on to become the Global Whisky Ambassador at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society by age 24. She holds a degree in distilling with the highest mark in the world that year, is a Keeper of the Quaich (pronounced quake), and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Distillers. After 13 years climbing the ranks at corporate giants like Diageo and Bacardi, she traded corporate travel for the barrel. Launched in September 2023 - the exact same week she gave birth to twin girls - The Heart Cut goes directly to the world's most exciting distilleries. Buying 100% of their casks from partners like White Peak in England, Stauning in Denmark, and Starward in Australia, they preserve the full story of the makers. With their brand new 'Slow Whisky Club' subscription, they are delivering 30ml 'pocket pours' straight to your door, moving whisky away from an exclusive club towards a form of personal discovery and pleasure.  In this episode, we talk about the reality of launching a business while welcoming twins, leaving corporate infrastructure behind, and why the 'slow movement' is exactly what the modern drinks industry needs. Pour yourself a dram and enjoy.  

Here we look inside the dustier corners of our kitchen cabinets with Rupert Derham, the founder of Spice Dept - the brand redefining the spice aisle through particular quality.  As a generation of home cooks, we care where our ingredients come from. The origins of our olive oil. The provenance of our heirloom beans. Our sourdough, made locally, ideally by someone we could name. But when a recipe calls for smoked paprika or ground cumin, we head to the supermarket aisle and grab whatever generic glass jar is closest. The unfortunate truth: most supermarket spices are already three to five years old before you buy them. And by the time they hit your plate the flavours have already started to fade. Rupert lived in Delhi, where cooking with vibrant, peak-season, single-origin spices changed his relationship with food entirely. When he moved back to the UK, the lack of flavour on supermarket spice aisle drove him mad. So he decided to do something about it. Sourcing directly from pesticide-free farming groups in India and Sri Lanka, Spice Dept gets spices from harvest to kitchen counter in months, not years, and pays farmers up to 40% above market price. Wrapped in beautiful, table-ready tins, courtesy of my branding agency, Roleplay with creative director Hugo Ross at the helm, they're designed to bring back a sense of pride back to home cooking - in more ways than one.  In this episode, we dive into the world of commodity spice blending, the logistics of building a direct-from-farm supply chain, and why your spice rack is the last blind spot in an otherwise carefully considered kitchen. Put down the dusty jar, grab your pestle and mortar, and enjoy.  

Welcome Tarek Moursi, the founder of Better Sundays - the hard kombucha brand proving that you don't have to choose between a good time and a good gut. We've spent the last decade watching the 'low and no' category take off, and while it's great for a Tuesday night, sometimes you still want a drink - you just don't want the beer bloat or the sugar-laden cider crash. Enter the 'healthy hedonist'. Reflecting the cultural shift that's happening where drinkers are moving away from the 'all or nothing' mentality and looking for what Tarek calls 'sessionable' alternatives that fit a more modern lifestyle.    This is a category on fire. While the general UK kombucha market is growing at a healthy clip, the hard kombucha segment is projected to rocket at a staggering CAGR of 18.7% through to 2033. People are waking up to the fact that you can have your live cultures and your 3% ABV too.   Tarek didn't come from a drinks background. He spent his 20s in the high-pressure worlds of fintech and asset management, making 200 calls a day and leaving jobs just before he was asked to go. Better Sundays was born out of a personal need - traditional booze was making him feel gross, and the alternatives weren't hitting the mark. From brewing in his kitchen to a 50-store Waitrose launch this November, Tarek has built Better Sundays with a 'brutal speed' that most founders only dream of. In this episode, we delve into the 'bloody awful' reality of bootstrapping, why being an industry outsider is actually a superpower, and the 3 a.m. cash-flow worries that come with an opportunity that's outstripping your balance sheet. Pop a can, enjoy the cultures, and enjoy.

Say hello Claudia Boyer, co-founder of JENKI - the UK's favourite matcha brand, coming to a high street near you. Swapping the coffee jitters for a 'calm focus'. As a coffee lover, I've always been curious (yet skeptical) of matcha. Isn't it just 'green tea' rebranded for a new generation? For those who want to feel focused, not wired - swapping bean origin and moka pots for function and status - antioxidants and L-theanine, with an aesthetic that says 'we're on top of a chaotic life, not part of it'.  This culture shift is a massive business opportunity. The UK matcha market is exploding, currently valued at around £175 million and projected to rocket to a staggering £300 million by 2033, at a CAGR of 8.6%. Claudia and her husband Otto saw this opportunity early and went straight to the source - the hills of Uji, Japan - to find a ceremonial grade powder that actually tasted good. They started with a £15 market stall at Brick Lane and have since built a new world of matcha with bars in Spitalfields, Selfridges, and Battersea Power Station, delivery for those who need it on demand, DTC channels those who need it at home, as well as wholesale for those who need it in store.  In this episode, we delve into the confidence it took to remove coffee from their menu, the reality of building a business while raising twins, and why matcha is the drink of a new generation.  Grab your whisk and enjoy.

Say hello to Lou and Sofia, co-founders of SPILL - the tea brand on a mission to 'spill the tea' on a broken global industry. We've all been there: standing in the supermarket aisle, reaching for a box of bags for a couple of quid. It's convenient, it's 'British', but as Lou and Sofia realised, it's dull and ethically murky. That's because most 'everyday' tea is a blend of hundreds of cheap leaves, processed to the point where the flavour (and the farmer's pay) - is stripped away. Lou is a tea heavy weight by trade. A former buyer at Tetley who went on to co-found Teapigs and spark the UK's first tea renaissance. And Sofia ran it by her side with a focus on brand.  But there was unfinished business. Whilst a lot had changed in speciality tea, not a lot had changed in the tea we drink everyday. They've launched SPILL to upgrade the humble cuppa - championing taste, fair pay and transparency. Grown in volcanic soil and sourced from smallholder farmers who are paid 50% above the Fairtrade minimum, SPILL is a 'challenger' that is serious about tea, yet playful about everything else.   In this episode, we delve into why 'tea is too cheap,' the agony of choosing a name, and why the most radical thing you can do for your morning brew is to stop blending and start 'spilling.' So pop on the kettle, pull out the biscuit tin and have a brew.  

Say hello to Joseph De Klee, the founder and publisher of The Pass - the tabloid publication staging a coup against the shallow scroll of the hype-led algorithm. Since the rise of fast-form, video-based social content, we've been 'robbed' of honest restaurant reviews. We've traded hard graft for hype, and the beauty of the written word for the 'like' button. It's a landscape where the algorithm dictates our appetite, leaving us with a digital dining scene that's lost its soul. Joseph saw this digital decay and decided to go analog. He's created a nostalgic enclave for those who love restaurants and the written word - a space to retreat to without the distraction of the internet. It is a quarterly magazine that acts as a 'heat lamp' on the city's most delicious corners. Written by those at the hospitality coal face - the chefs, the makers, and the late-night diners - The Pass is not just a newspaper; it's a quiet celebration of the grit-and-all restaurant scene. In an era where print is supposedly 'dying,' Joseph is paying homage to newsprint, rescuing our tastebuds from the scroll. In this episode, we'll delve into the 'heat lamp' philosophy, the brutal honesty needed to review your peers, and why the most radical thing you can do in 2026 is put down your phone and pick up a paper. Tuck in.

Introducing Mark Selby, the co-founder and CEO of Wahaca - the brand that sparked the UK's Mexican food revolution. The big, bland problem: Back in 2007, the UK was stuck in a Tex-Mex time warp. Think heavy cheese, stodgy nachos, and sombreros. It was a caricature of a culture that deserved better.  Mark and his co-founder Thomasina Miers saw this gap and turned it into a movement, bringing the vibrant, fresh, and zesty "market-style" food of Oaxaca to the streets of London. Today, Wahaca is much more than a restaurant; it's a blueprint for regenerative hospitality.  But as the brand has grown to 14 sites with a £40m turnover, it has run into a new kind of modern hurdle: the "chain" stigma. Mark has been vocal about the "noose" around his neck - the struggle of being a high-street innovator in a world where "chain" has become a dirty word to the younger generations. In this episode, we'll dig into the vision for Wahaca 2.0 with their killer new flagship restaurant in Paddington Square, the brutal resilience needed to survive the ups & downs of the hospitality world, and how chance encounters can change your life.  Tuck in.  

Say hello to Christian Samuel, one of the great minds behind Roots Allotments, the brand that is completely reimagining local allotments for the 21st century. The big muddy problem: gargantuan waiting lists up and down the country. With the average waiting time being 2 years and some taking as long as 17 years - making it almost impossible for most people to grow their own food in the UK, made worse by the steep learning curve that often discourages beginners.  Roots Allotments saw this problem and turned it into an exciting movement - the no dig revolution. Founded by a team of friends from Bath, the brand provides a full-service, subscription-based plot complete with tools, seeds, unlimited compost, and expert support from an on-site Patch Manager. Today they have over 21 sites from Bath to Sheffield, Telford to Nottingham and a growing community of roughly 5,000 with a bold pledge to create a thousand growing communities in the next decade. But, as we all know, disrupting a traditional industry comes with challenges.  Roots has attracted significant protest from the left and right of the political spectrum. NIMBY locals who don't want to see 'their' grassland turned into community allotments. And those who believe capitalism, in any form, can be a force for good.   In this episode, we'll dig into the mission to democratise growth, how their VC-backed, full-service model works, the controversial relationship between social impact and scaling a profitable business. Ready to get your hands dirty?