Let Me Introduce You with Jane Milton

I've known Agnes since the very early days of her business. This family business employs more than 100 people, started in Park Royal they have grown and moved site a few times, they are passionate about what they do and The Polish Bakery supplies a huge number of small independent shops as well as all the major retailers with their distinctive breads, cakes and speciality products and their contemporary Gradz range won the Best Overall Product in the first month of the brand at the World Bread Awards. They keep innovating and listening to their customers, and making delicious products with skill and love. A great story to hear...

This final episode of Season 1 is packed with great insight from Helen Lyons, one of the industry's most connected people and someone who takes delight in making introductions to help others achieve what they want. Helen is a publisher with a passion for food, food producers and retailers in the speciality, convenience and multiple retail sectors . Helen helps publishers build trade brands, builds awards programmes that really add value for everyone involved in them - the entrants, the winners, the judges and the sponsors. She constantly strives to do more for people and to give more to everyone she works with and for, and it is that drive that has made her so successful and popular within trade publishing and the awards industry in the UK.

You will love this episode. Karis has amazing energy and Lickalix has a very strong brand identity which is an integral part of their success today. A great example of a business that has been built by its founders in line with their personal values. Hear how they cope with the ups and downs of a seasonal business, what COVID did to them and how they have worked through the challenges of 2020 and are emerging through 2021 and onwards . Karis talks about sharing out roles in the business, balancing business life and family life and lots more beside..... an inspiring story of a business that has stuck to its values and developed them as the business grows.

When I first met Laura Winningham City Harvest London had just served up its 1 millionth meal, diverting good food from landfill, sending it to charities and centres across London who distribute it or prepare meals for people who need additional support to put food on their own table. A few years on and they have provided over 20 million meals, and are still growing to meet demand. City Harvest has been changed by Covid 19 as so many people and businesses have, there has been unprecedented demand for their support, but also there have been far more opportunities for others to get involved and help them with all sorts of areas from IT, to marketing , to volunteering at the depot to sort food and pack vans, to reaching out to businesses who may have surplus food that they could take and to charities in desperate need of the food. Hear Laura talk about City Harvest, and us talk about how businesses can support charities and why it is important that they share with their customers and the wider community that they do. City Harvest is an incredible charity and one I am very priveliged to have been asked to be an ambassador for.

Pat's journey into owning a food business is far from typical, but his life and experiences have helped him build a truly unique brand. In Spring of 2020 Pat Hinds took a trip to Guyana to do some ingredient buying for his Pat & Pinky's condiment range, then Covid struck and Pat found himself living in Guyana for over a year and running his business from there. Far from being a problem, this extended stay in Guayana has allowed him to build deeper relationships with farmers and producers he buys from, rediscover Guyana's flavours and recipes, rethink his whole business and spend a whole year with his Dad .What has happened in the last year has certainly changed and enriched his plans for Pat & Pinky's and now he is heading back to the UK to put a lot of his plans into action. As is often the case, stepping out of the day to day running of the business has given him clarity, time to rethink and has been very productive. I'm excited to see how that will show itself in the next 18 months and what his experience could teach the rest of us too .

A great conversation with Bruce Langlands about lessons learned in retail, specifically food and drink, and how to win and retain customers in both retail and restaurants within retail businesses. From M&S in UK and overseas, to Irish food retail with its wonderful small producers and artisan products, then on into Harrods and Selfridges, Bruce has met very different customers in each, and yet, what they want and how to keep them happy may not be dis-similar. If your business sells to retailers or wants to, there are some real gems in here that you can't afford to miss.