Eat-Smart needs a head-start...

Aim

Small Allergen free food company looking to raise £35k to build a new commercial kitchen so we can expand our range and take on more staff.

Who is Eat-Smart foods?

We are a newly created, small business making allergen free ready meals. Before you think “Oh another Gluten or Dairy Free company” and skip to the next funding page… you may be pleasantly surprised…. :)

All our meals are free from:

• Wheat

• Gluten

• Corn

• Dairy

• Lactose

• Casein

• Egg

• Soya

• Nuts

• Mustard

• Celery

• Genetically modified foods

• And nooooooo cardboard flavoured ingredients!

We also do not add sugar or salt, aspartame (sweetener) or monosodium glutamate (flavour enhancer)... EVER!

This type of meal concept can be of benefit to anyone with an autoimmune condition, such as Coeliac Disease (a gluten free diet is available on prescription from your GP).

There is a currently a very limited choice of allergen free meals in the market and a lot of people feel disappointed and overlooked by retailers. So we have made it our mission to provide tasty, nutrient-packed, allergen free meals which will give even more people a wider variation. Because at the end of the day... why should somebody miss out on what some people take for granted just because they may have a food intolerance?

Where we came from: 

In 2012, our founder Sue began making gluten and casein free meals for a family member living with Autistic Spectrum Disorder in her kitchen at home.  She never had any intention of starting a company.

However, word started to get around via the local support group and people began asking for recipes which quickly led onto meals. As Sue herself became more and more interested in the negative effects that some foods can have on various health related conditions, she decided to re-educate herself and became a qualified nutritionist. She quit her job as a Contract Lawyer and embarked on this new journey in 2013, initially raising money doing car boot sales.

In March 2013, Sue was provided with a mentor by the Mid Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce to help guide her through all the processes in relation to building a business. In April 2013 Eat-Smart Foods became a limited company and Sue was awarded a NEA (National Enterprise Allowance) and was living on £56 per week and taking no money from the company.

During conversations with the Coeliac UK Leeds group, she was invited to a meeting where her meals were tried by their members. Unbeknownst to Sue, the free from buyer from Asda was at the meeting and Sue was invited to talk about her meal concept. In August 2013, Eat-Smart Foods was contracted as a supplier and the rush was on to move to a bigger kitchen. Family members stepped in to help out because our first order was due into Asda May 2014.

A commercial, decommissioned kitchen was found in Halifax. It belonged to the NHS, but sadly they were preparing to downsize and vacate in September 2014. However, she was offered the kitchen free of charge until that date. The only stipulation was that if they vacated early, she would have to move out too.

In April 2014 an agreement was struck with an investment company, based on our business plan and financial requirements. A 2-part loan was secured and the first payment was received in May 2014. This first payment was for initial production and delivery costs for our first set of orders and enabled the company to get off the ground... and The Eat-Smart team began to grow!

The first order for 3500 meals came in and was delivered successfully. Followed by additional replenishment orders. Eat-Smart was off to a good start and plans were put into place to look at creating new jobs.

The team grew...

Sue met Kerrie through her mentor in late 2013 and they hit it off straight away and both felt it was an ideal working relationship. Kerrie began to work free of charge, in addition to having a full time job elsewhere. In May 2014 (once we had secured our initial funding), Kerrie quit her job and moved from Bedfordshire to West Yorkshire to be employed by ESF full time. 

Holly, the chef we hoped would join ESF already had a full time position at a local restaurant in West Yorkshire, and once it was confirmed that we had funding, she also quit her job and came on board, creating new recipe ideas.

Where we are now...

We currently have 4 Smart-GF Kids meals (GF stands for gluten free) available - 2 of which are through a major retailer... and they are proving to be popular.

These meals are aimed at kids aged 3-7 and each have their own unique animal character, which were chosen by our Facebook followers:

We have a very good relationship with the Coeliac UK Leeds support group, discussing and advising on allergens and conditions that would benefit from our meal concept. We are regularly invited to exhibit at their food fairs and they also try all our new meals.

We aspire to be a company that carries out its day to day activities in an ethical manner:

• All our packaging is and always will be recyclable or reusable.

• We care about and are taking steps to minimise our impact on the environment. We are an eco-friendly    company.

• We thrive to keep a happy, motivated team that work in a fair and safe working environment and will  encourage training towards extra qualifications.

• We will always meet or exceed all current Health & Safety legislation

• We will always meet or exceed all current Equalities and Diversity legislation

So why do we need your help?

Unfortunately, although things were going well, the NHS decided to vacate in early August 2014 which left Sue with the problem of finding another building… as we were technically “homeless”. It seemed like a good time to plan how and when we could grow the company.

We are gaining more interest in our meal concept and have received many requests to expand our range, particularly into Teenage & Adult meals.

So with an investor on board, we made the decision to move to a bigger home (premises) and to give us time to do this we built up reserve stock to cover the period where we could not cook our delicious meals.

We recently found the perfect building in Bradford with huge potential. Excitedly we began the planning, which included a brilliant company designing our new commercial kitchen.

We also had our signage designed.... and were even granted permission by Bradford Council to rename the building to Eat Smart House!

Whilst waiting for quotes etc., we started having fun by painting walls and sanding wood. This not only saved us money but gave us a great sense of self-satisfaction; updating our Facebook followers as we went along.

With a new commercial kitchen, not only would we be able to grow our range, but we would also be able create additional jobs which will support our local community.

Then last week... our world was turned upside down within the space of a few hours.... the 2nd part of our investment fell through... leaving us with agreements in place, installation plans and building control / planning consents going through... but no funding for the commercial production kitchen that was due to be installed from the 10th November enabling us to be fully functional by 1st December.

As if our luck couldn't get any worse!...

Our meals have become more popular than we anticipated, which, is a good thing on one hand…. But.... our reserve stock is now running low and we do not have the facility to produce any more until the kitchen has been installed.

This has meant that we have had to cancel an order last week (29th October).

We have looked at other options to raise the money required, but this will take too long and a lot of investors want equity, but as we are a new company, with only 3 employees, our equity has no value.

Ideally we would like to raise the full amount that it would cost us to complete this build (£110k), however we are realistic and are hoping to raise £35k on here and the rest through other means.

Without this funding our kitchen build cannot go ahead and eventually our cash will run out as we cannot make meals. 3 people who had worked tirelessly without any salary before July of this year will be without employment.

Where do we see ourselves in the future...

We are passionate about our products and believe fully in what we are trying to achieve. Our ultimate long term goal is to be a FTSE 100 company, allowing us to put money into setting up a foundation, supporting 3 charities.

We would also like to fund research into the negative effect food can have on certain health related conditions.

To shape this ethos, we have already done various charitable work during 2014, helping with funding and raising awareness of specific conditions.

It helps that we have staff that are game for a laugh.... ICE BUCKET CHALLENGE... - donating to Motor Neurone Disease charities in the UK and USA and the Little Heroes Children's Cancer Trust

Also in August 2014 we sponsored an event for 'Claudia's Cause' at Market Rasen Race Course - the "Smart-GF Kids Beacon of Hope Handicap Hurdle" helping to raise awareness for this worthy cause.

On a final note...

As a company this is a massive opportunity for us... going from a kitchen at home... to a limited company within 12 months... we are determined to succeed... but now we need your help to do so.

More information about us can be found at:

Our website: www.eat-smart-foods.co.uk

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/eatsmartfoodsltd

Twitter: @EatSmartFoods

This project closed unsuccessfully on 15th December 2014