With March being Food Month here at TechRound, we wanted to feature some up-and-coming businesses and startups within the food industry, including those which offer fantastic subscription services meaning customers can have their favourite products delivered to their door on a weekly or monthly basis.
From cheeses to wines, from meats to plant-based meals, sweet treats and power shakes, the team at TechRound have featured a real variety of companies that offer the option to have their products delivered on a rolling basis, so there really is something for everyone!
Companies featured include:
- Cheesegeek, founder(s) Edward Hancock
- MYXD, founder(s) Grant Murray
- Ding Dong Dim Sum, founder(s) Tom Greenwood-Mears & Maya Rodricks
- DIRTEA, founder(s) Simon & Andrew Salter
- Stilton Butchers, founder(s) James Morgan
- Mandira’s Kitchen, founder(s) Mandira Sarkar
- PROPER SNACKS, founder(s) Cassandra Stavrou
- Independent Wine, founder(s) Elvira & Oleg Dmitrieva
- 44 Foods, founder(s) Hannah Andersen
- Mad Potato, founder(s) Ramona Obafemi
- Plant Sumo, founder(s) Deepak Shukla
- BOL, founder(s) Paul Brown
- Parson’s Nose, founder(s) Tony Hindhaugh
- Presto Coffee, founder(s) James Hagerty
- The Online Wine Tasting Club, founder(s) Jamie Smith & Alex Taylor
- Baked In, founder(s) Joe Munns
- The Sweetie Jar, founder(s) Denise Brolly
- Wise Bartender, founder(s) Tom Ward
- The Brook, founder(s) Thea Brook
- buymie, founder(s) Devan Hughes
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Cheesegeek
Website: https://www.thecheesegeek.com/
Founder(s): Edward Hancock
Cheesegeek is the UK’s first specialist, tech-led online cheesemonger which delivers British artisan cheeses directly to customers’ doors through a monthly subscription or via one-off boxes.
The company was founded in 2017 by Edward Hancock, a 39-year-old self-confessed ‘turophile’, who left his job in finance after spotting a gap in the £3.2bn British cheese market for a brand-new company harnessing the power of digital technology to connect artisan cheese makers across Britain directly with consumers.
Hancock was uninspired by scant offerings in supermarkets but also knew a vast array of cheese on offer at traditional high street cheesemongers can be intimidating if a customer isn’t sure what they are looking for. He wanted to recreate that expertise online.
From its early days — when Hancock set up a makeshift base in his mother’s house processing just three or four orders a week — Cheesegeek has now dispatched over 80,000 boxes of artisan cheeses to customers throughout the UK, and grown to a staff of twenty based at its 7,500sq ft. headquarters in southwest London.
Last year it recorded sales of £1.5m — up from £280,000 in 2020 — and in January 2022, Cheesegeek became the first investment for new Dragons’ Den entrepreneur Steven Bartlett. Whilst much of this growth was attributable to the pandemic — which saw sales explode ten-fold overnight — pioneering new technology has seen sales consolidated since lockdown.
A new app launched in early 2022 enables subscribers who receive a selection of different cheeses every month to rate each cheese after they’ve tried it. Using this data, Cheesegeek harnesses machine learning to select and curate cheese selections that the customer is most likely to enjoy in their next order, based on a huge array of algorithms. Customers can then look forward to a personalised box of cheeses every month knowing these have been directly influenced by their individual tastes.
New AI technology also enables the company to allocate, hand-cut, wrap and despatch up to 5,000 individually curated boxes of cheese every day — more than any other cheesemonger in the world.
MYXD
Website: www.myxd.co.uk
Founder(s): Grant Murray
MYXD is one of the UK’s premier home delivery cocktail companies. Customers can choose a pre-made collection suited to a range of occasions or make their own selection from a core range of 20 cocktails plus seasonal specials.
Grant Murray, MYXD co-founder, said: “I had wanted to start a home-delivery drinks company for a while but, when the pandemic hit in 2020, it provided the motivation I needed to
get started. As the pubs and bars had to close during lockdown, people were really missing the experience of going out.
“Things have come a long way since then. At first, we were out in our cars, hand-delivering cocktails to the local area, but as word began to spread we started getting orders in from all over. Now we’ve sent almost 100,000 cocktails across the country with next day dispatch. It’s been a wild ride!
“There’s nothing more indulgent than a good cocktail… perhaps other than one you can enjoy in your pyjamas! People have started to realise that you don’t always need to get dressed up to the nines to have a good time – you can have just as much fun at home with your friends and family. So it’s great to see our customers still passionate about enjoying incredible cocktails from the comfort of their living rooms.”
Currently offering home delivery services, MYXD is looking to begin its subscription service in the coming year, with customers being able to have the kits delivered to their door on a regular basis.
Ding Dong Dim Sum
Website: www.dingdongdimsum.com
Founder(s): Tom Greenwood-Mears & Maya Rodricks
Ding Dong Dim Sum delivers a prepared, ready-to-cook dim sum meal to your door. Available nationwide with next day dispatch, the meal kits each come with a biodegradable steamer, taking all the hard work out but leaving all the fun in.
Ding Dong wants to make it easy for Dim Sum lovers to enjoy their favourite food every week. Not everyone has a lovely bamboo steamer in their kitchen, and so the team has developed their very own biodegradable steamer to send out with each order.
With an average 4.8 stars out of 5 on customer reviews, the meal kits are split into Ding Dong Favourites; Surf & Turf; Veggie Patch; Meat & Few Veg; Just Meat; and A Bit of Everything. As well as the steamer, each box contains a feast of dumplings, gyoza, siu mai, bao buns, sticky rice, salad and dips.
Dishes include classics such as Char Siu bun (the classic salty and sweet pork sat inside a beautifully fluffy bun); Prawn & pork siu mai (a classic, minced pork and prawns sitting in little golden parcels); Prawn Har Kau (prawn filled, silky white dumplings) or vegetarian options of Mixed vegetable and potato Japanese gyoza; Spicy tofu and vegetable dumplings; and Mushroom and veg bun – to name a few. Each box comes with a carrot slaw kit for a make-your-own accompaniment made up of carrots, spring onion, chilli and a slaw tang alongside sticky rice.
The dim sum arrives frozen to lock in flavour and the structure of the dumplings. Each box is then wrapped up in an eco-friendly natural insulator of wool. Polystyrene-free, all packaging is either recyclable or biodegradable with a full list on how to dispose of each item on their website.
DIRTEA
Website: www.dirteaworld.com
Founder(s): Simon & Andrew Salter
Founded by brothers and serial entrepreneurs Simon and Andrew Salter, who in 2020 made The Forbes “30 Under 30” list, after spending 12 years building successful brands and businesses, the DIRTEA range harnesses the healing and transformative power of mushrooms to offer optimum health and wellness benefits.
Playing an instrumental role in the conception and growth of brands as diverse as global social movement Feeling Nuts, heavy weight champion David Haye, lifestyle concierge app Velocity Black, venture firm, The Venture Collective, live events Indaba X and Letters Live and clean meat start-up Mosa Meat, the Salter brother have an extensive history of innovating and inspiring.
Their non-stop work lives had led to chronic burnout and DIRTEA was conceived thanks to their desire to naturally combat stress, anxiety and fatigue, boost creativity and increase an overall sense of wellbeing and connectivity with nature.
The brothers travelled the world immersing themselves in the ritual of tea ceremonies, learning how transformative drinking functional mushrooms can be. It was the long-term benefits of mushrooms that continued to make the difference to them and feeling more energised and healthier than ever, DIRTEA was born.
Enhance your health and vitalise your wellbeing with DIRTEA, a new range of powders and super blends which accentuate the healing and transformative powers of mushrooms to offer the future of natural, functional nutrition for tangible health and wellbeing benefits.
Offering the purest and most potent mushroom-based blends and powders on the market, the DIRTEA range can help to naturally improve immunity, enhance focus, boost brain power and progress performance, as well as restore a sense of calm, with delicious daily drinks which optimise your health and wellbeing.
To offer a more affordable and convenient way to order and ensure you never run out of DIRTEA products, DIRTEA offer a no-commitment monthly subscription which also offers an added benefit of a 20% discount across the full range.
Stilton Butchers
Website: www.stiltonbutchers.co.uk
Founder(s): James Morgan
With the price of beef increasing to 20% due to the pandemic, this hasn’t stopped celebrities flocking to order crème de le crème meat from the family the run business, Stilton Butchers. Due to their huge success from transitioning from a catering butchers to a huge online butchers delivering nationwide, all during the pandemic, they are on the hunt to attract young trainee butchers offering apprenticeships to help them get into work post-Covid and help the UK economy back on its feet.
Now with a multi-million-pound turnover a year delivering 500 parcels a day to homes nationwide, Stilton Butchers want to welcome the next generation of quality Butchers and continue to provide quality mean to all UK homes. Lockdown had a huge effect on the company where they had to think fast due to the catering business collapsing during Covid, and they are ready to take on new apprentices and offer high-end training in the butchering industry.
From beef and lamb to chicken and pork, they provide Grade A and the highest quality of meat and offer meat packages including the Stilton Starter Pack, Stilton Care Pack, Stilton Lean Meat Pack, Money Saving Meat Box, Fridge Filler Pack and more.
Owner James Morgan says: “As stats show, butchery is an ageing trade and it’s essential that we bring through a new generation of butchers. As well as recruiting trained butchers who are moving back to the trade due to Covid, we are taking on trainees, and we will be offering apprenticeships soon too.”
James continues: “We’ve had to react fast and adapt to the times, but we’ve got a fantastic team here at Stilton Butchers who are making it work. My father (Peter Morgan) built this family business from a small shop in Stilton (near Peterborough), and now we are operating from a big unit in Peterborough, offering the same quality and service as the local butcher that we essentially still are, but on a national scale.”
Stilton Butchers offers local and nationwide delivery across the UK. They cut and prepare the meat and send it out fresh that day in environmentally friendly, thermal -insulated packaging. Orders are delivered locally by Stilton’s own refrigerated vans or countrywide by courier in a Techni-ice box that keeps the meat below 5˚c.
You would have likely eaten the delicious award-winning meat at some point. Stilton Butchers also supply local cafe’s, bars and pubs, as well as fine dining restaurants and establishments nationwide. But now there’s no need to leave your home to dine in style! Stilton Butchers will deliver your gourmet meat to your door.
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Mandira’s Kitchen
Website: https://www.mandiraskitchen.com/monthly-boxes-of-happiness
Founder(s): Mandira Sarkar
Mandira’s Kitchen is an award-winning producer of authentic Indian food. Their all woman team, based out of a 400 year old cowshed , overlooking the magical Silent Pool in the Surrey Hills create delicious freezer meals, and accompaniments such as chutneys and ice creams and also provide bespoke catering and food experiences such as cookery lessons and spice tours.
All the food is made using fresh produce, containing no gluten or unpronounceable bits with vegan and dairy free options. Delivered to any address, the food can be heated in 4 minutes to give you a wholesome homemade meal.
The monthly subscription offers you a simple, fuss-free way to enjoy real homemade Indian food every month. Fresh produce, family recipes containing no additives, preservatives or gluten – made just the way a million Indian mums make it.
Each month you will also be able to have first ‘dibs’ on the monthly specials – a limited amount of family favourites – specially created for that month only. You can even pause your subscription or have your box delivered to a different address or gift it to another person. You choose which dishes go in the box and you can change each month.
The boxes come in 6 dishes, 8 dishes or 10 dishes to easy to cater for large families, and each dish is in a separate 2 portion pack within the sleeve so there is no waste as you can leave some in the freezer, and the food arrives frozen and can be stored in the fridge for up to 48 hours or in the freezer for 6 months and heated in 4 minutes.
PROPER SNACKS
Website: https://proper.co.uk
Founder(s): Cassandra Stavrou
Founded in 2011 by Cassandra Stavrou, PROPER has quickly emerged as the UK’s number one independent snack brand. Prior to launching PROPERCHIPS and PROPER Popcorn Bars, the colourful snack maker was best known for its award-winning collection of popcorn, PROPERCORN. Starting out by tumbling popcorn in a refashioned cement mixer, its passionate London-based team have grown from kitchen start-up to global snack favourite in less than ten years.
At PROPER, taste is everything. And its new Popcorn Bars are no exception. Combining popcorn, nuts and rice crispies on a smooth chocolate base – PROPER’s team of flavour makers have sourced nothing but the best tasting, real ingredients to hand craft their crispy bars. Made using Fairtrade chocolate, the all-vegan collection offers a moment of pure indulgence for under 116 calories per bar. As well as being palm oil free, PROPER’s Popcorn Bars are high in fibre, gluten free and wrapped in 30% recycled plastic.
PROPER’s Salted Caramel (26g) and Hazelnut Praline (25g) Popcorn Bars are available nationwide, RRP £1.59 for a single-serve bar. PROPER Snacks has a subscription service, ‘Snack & Save’, which means customers can get delicious healthy snacks straight to their door, with a 15% discount on full price, too. Consumers can choose types of chips or popcorn (or mixed), the size of the bag (S or L) and the frequency of delivery (every 14, 30, 60 and 90 days) .
Independent Wine
Website: https://independent.wine
Founder(s): Elvira & Oleg Dmitrieva
Get a hand-picked selection of award-winning Italian wine delivered to your door every month.
It takes a lot of dedication and mastery to produce top-quality wine. That’s why the company only work with Italy’s best small, boutique wineries. Many of their wines win multiple medals at prestigious international and Italian competitions. With their wine club cases, you can try a selection of such award-winning wines, personally chosen by their Wine Portfolio Director to fit a specific theme.
Each case includes a selection of wines, each one providing an excellent example of a unique winemaking style and flavour. Each wine has a story that stems from the specific plot of land, and the traditions of the family that has been toiling it for generations.
In each month’s Italian Red Wine Discovery Set, you’ll receive three bottles of award-winning Italian wine from the main catalogue. There are no B-list wines. These are all headliner bottles, and that’s a guarantee. An example box may contain:
- Francone “I Patriarchi” Barbera d’Alba Superiore DOC, 2018
- Siddùra “Erèma” Cannonau di Sardegna DOC, 2018
- Rubinelli Vajol, Valpolicella Classico DOC, 2018
Each Italian Red Wine Discovery Set will include wines from famous areas like Langhe and Valpolicella. We’ll also include some from lesser-known appellations to help you try something new, and increase your Italian wine knowledge.
Each Italian White Wine Discovery Set will include wines from famous areas like Castelli di Jesi and Langhe. We’ll also include some from lesser-known appellations to help you try something new.
Each Italian Wine Discovery Set will include wines from famous areas like Chianti Classico and Vermentino di Gallura. We want to help you broaden your horizons, too, so we’ll also include some interesting bottles from lesser-known appellations.
44 Foods
Website: www.44foods.com
MD: Hannah Andersen
Ethical online food retailer 44 Foods is the UK’s fairest food delivery service, founded by food industry experts and launched to change the way consumers think about their food. Believing that good food shouldn’t be seen as a quick, cheap, throwaway commodity, founder Lasse Hansen wants to re-educate customers to see that the food we buy is often the product of months of hard work, with real people in the background.
The company works like a local farm shop but on a national scale, bringing together the very best products from farmers and producers up and down the UK, letting customers choose from a range of high quality produce which is delivered straight to their door. So whether it’s organic seasonal veg grown in the Midlands, ethically sourced meats from family farms across Britain and Scotland all the way through to small batch gin distilled in Dorset, 44 Foods has you covered.
Plus, if you’re struggling for recipe inspiration, the company even sells a selection of recipe boxes and bundles, giving you everything you need to whip up everything from a midweek meal for two to a full Sunday roast with all the trimmings.
Working directly with producers and farmers, 44 Foods lets partners set their own prices, meaning that prices accurately reflect the true costs of production. And, thanks to its policy of only ordering from them when a new order comes in, it’s successfully reducing food waste and providing customers with the freshest food available.
Mad Potato
Website: www.madpotato.co.uk
Founder(s): Ramona Obafemi
Mad Potato operate a fruits & veg subscription scheme in UK. They create ecosystems around areas and work primarily with farmers in that ecosystem. Their first ecosystem was build in North-East of Scotland. If the product can’t be found locally, Mad Potato outsource it as close as possible to home. This model is done with the planet and climate change at heart.
As the name says, they are ‘mad’ and don’t do things the traditional way. Mad Potato build their own supply and distribution channels and continue to improve it every day. They care about the planet and doing things in a responsible way providing full provenance.
They have launched their tech platform for a better customer experience powered by blockchain. Their customers can scan a QR code and can see provenance info on their products, together with food miles. They are planning to build a platform to make a very personalised experience for each person buying our veggie boxes.
They are the only fruits and veg retailer to use such a technology for a platform used by the end customer, putting the decentralised power back in the hands of the consumers.
The idea is to provide full transparency and promote the products grown in the ecosystem first brining benefits to the communities where they operate. One of their projects is the ‘Plant an orchard initiative’ where they plan to plant fruit trees in publicly accessible places and have a fruit straight from the branch. Mad Potato believe no child should lack access to fruits and they hope families that can’t afford to buy fruits for their kids, can just go to the orchards and get them free of charge.
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Plant Sumo
Website: https://plantsumo.com/
Founder(s): Deepak Shukla
In London, Plant Sumo delivers plant-based meals to your door. It is made up of nutritionally and delicious plant-based foods. The founders noticed a gap in the market for healthy, simple, and accessible plant-based food and decided to fill it.
They are a subscription-based delivery business that allows you to customise boxes, build boxes, cater boxes, and sample boxes before committing to a subscription. You can choose from three different meal sizes: three, five, or seven.
The majority of individuals want to start eating a plant-based diet but are unsure where to begin. With the subscription meal, everything is completely prepped and ready to go. Some people may be afraid of a plant-based meal diet because they’ve heard a lot of myths about it.
With a plant-based, whole-foods meal plan, customers can wave goodbye to food stress. Nutritionist-approved, pre-cooked, and pre-portioned plant-based weekly meal plans are available from Plant Sumo. It’s a complete meal plan that requires no effort on your part; they’re all about making your life easier.
Plant-based products contain organic whole food plants loaded with vitamins and minerals, which is one of the benefits of Plant Sumo’s meal plan subscriptions. Wholefoods are foods that have been minimally processed, or have not been processed at all.
Plant food isn’t only for people who eat healthily. Whether you’re vegan, flexitarian, or a meat eater, their plant-based meal prep service is made to be simple and delicious. All of their dishes just happen to contain plant-based ingredients.
BOL
Website: https://bolfoods.com/collections/power-shakes
Founder(s): Paul Brown
BOL’s innovative Power Shakes range which is available on a subscription – a box of 6 (you can choose your recipes) costs £18.90.
With recipes including Chocolate Orange, Vanilla, Almond & Oats, and Chocolate Peanut Butter, BOL Power Shakes are a delicious, 100% plant powered option for breakfast and lunch, bottled and ready to go. The perfect meal replacement solution for busy people who don’t want to compromise on taste or nutrition.
BOL’s Power Shakes are so special because they are the first of their kind: made exclusively from nutrient rich whole foods that contain 26 of the essential vitamins and minerals your body needs for a nutritionally complete, deliciously healthy meal.
Combining whole foods such as sunflower seeds, nuts, beans and gluten free oats with fresh fruit and vegetables along with creamy coconut yoghurt, almond milk and an array of herbs and spices, each Power Shake is under 400 calories, contains up to 20g protein and is low in sugar and salt.
Designed to grab on the go, whether you’ve missed breakfast, don’t have time for lunch or just want something to tide you over until dinner time, with six delicious sweet and savoury recipes to choose from, BOL’s new Power Shakes are the delicious, healthy solution to help you fill your body with everything you need for a nutritionally complete meal.
Parson’s Nose
Website: https://parsonsnose.co.uk/
Founder(s): Tony Hindhaugh
Gone are the days of being told what you can have in your subscription box. Award-winning butcher and grocer Parsons Nose has launched a new subscription service that gives you the flexibility to order whatever you like, whenever you like.
Parsons Nose source only the highest quality meat, fish, cheese, vegetables and condiments and prepare their own range of healthy ready meals which you can order online and have delivered anywhere in the UK. The new subscription enables customers to create their own unique regular order and have it delivered to their doorstep while saving 5% on a one-off order.
So whether you want a monthly supply of top quality, ethically produced steak, a free-range chicken for your Sunday lunch or extra special extras like truffle salt, delicious aioli or weekly supplies of the chef-created meals like fish stew or beef cannelloni you can set up your regular order and save money.
It’s easy to build your own subscription just by selecting the option in the product page. And you have complete and instant control and management of your subscription and can add, remove or just change any part of your subscription at any time from your online account. So you have the freedom to pause or even cancel your subscription if you need.
Parsons Nose, one of the UK’s leading butchers and fine food retailers with three bricks & mortar stores in Fulham, South Kensington and Putney and a packed online shop. It was winner of the Best Butcher in the South and the Innovation Award in the National Butchery Awards 2021 and is shortlisted for the same awards this year.
They source finest free-range meat that is fully traceable and have worked with some of of the same farms since they opened including Sutton Hoo Chicken, grass-fed beef from the Scottish lowlands and Plantation Pigs from Sussex.
Presto Coffee
Website: www.presto-coffee.com
Founder(s): James Hagerty
Presto is all about offering a simple collection of delicious gourmet coffee – for every kind of coffee drinker, that’s both people and planet friendly. Founder James Hagerty (aged 26), is on a mission to shake up the coffee industry and bring it into the 21st Century.
Did you know that coffee is sourced, shipped and delivered in the same way that existed 50 years ago? The London-based start-up works with respected organisations like the Rainforest Alliance to sustainably source its coffee and is one of only 1% of producers globally to air roast its beans to minimise waste heat and carbon emissions. It also partners with 1% For the Planet, contributing at least one percent of its annual profits to environmental causes and has implemented 100% kerbside recyclable packaging across its entire range.
Testament to the brand’s sustainable ethos, Presto has also just secured its B Corp accreditation – one of only a handful of British coffee producers – achieving a high 92.3 B Impact Score. The brand was recognised for meeting the highest standards of social and environmental performance, accountability and transparency.
From whole bean to instant, ground to coffee bags, Presto’s tailored coffee subscriptions suit the needs of each and every type of coffee consumer. Choose from the brand’s bestselling House Espresso, through to a Great Taste award-winning Brazilian Blend and there’s even a gourmet Colombian Instant, so customers can enjoy a barista quality brew on-the-go.
The entire Presto range is available via subscription with flexible weekly, fortnightly or monthly deliveries that are dispatched immediately after roasting so every cup of coffee can be enjoyed at peak freshness. And whether keeping an office fully stocked, the caffeine flowing at home or gifting a subscription to a fellow coffee lover, every single Presto subscriber receives 10% off – the perfect caffeinated perk to thank loyal customers.
The Online Wine Tasting Club
Website: www.onlinewinetasting.club
Founder(s): Jamie Smith & Alex Taylor
Borne out of the pandemic, The Online Wine Tasting Club was founded by Jamie Smith (certified sommelier and winner of the IWSC’s Emerging Talent in Wine Award for 2021) and Alex Taylor (winemaker and engineer). The wine enthusiasts found themselves having to pivot their Hertfordshire-based winery business after only just a month of opening.
Inspired by other subscription models, they developed a unique, award-winning monthly wine subscription service that introduces consumers to six incredible wines, expertly selected, with an accompanying jargon-free tasting show, available to view live or via catch up. Taylor and Smith explore a different region every month, from a Californian Masterclass through to Wines of Bordeaux. The wines chosen every month retail at between £10 and £35 per bottle with an entry-level ‘Discoverer’ series, or the more advanced ‘Adventurer’ series, with a monthly subscription costing from as little as £23.99/month.
To provide the freshest decanted wine, the entrepreneurs developed globally-unique, sustainable letterbox-friendly tasting packs weighing in at under 750g. Decanting into small glass bottles not only spoiled the wine, but made delivery costs expensive, carbon-intensive and susceptible to breakages.
The brand’s innovative tasting packs are 100% recyclable and ultra-lightweight, made up of four layers that provide outstanding wine protection from oxygen, light, heat, pathogens and physical damage. Months in the making, a custom-built machine purges air from an aluminium pouch, filling with inert gas before the wine is carefully poured in to the exact measurement and sealed – all in a matter of seconds.
Since launching, the team has distributed more than 45,000 tasting packs, saving more than 60 tonnes of waste and 456 tonnes of CO2 compared to using glass sample bottles.
The brand has caught the attention of many in the wine industry, recently scooping the Judge’s Choice Award in the Decanter Retailer Awards 2021 and a special award for Innovation in the Harpers Design Awards 2021.
For any questions, comments or features, please contact us directly.
Baked In
Website: https://bakedin.co.uk/
Founder(s): Joe Munns
Baked In is Britain’s leading baking subscription company, with three monthly subscription box options:
- Baking Club – a 20,000 strong community of home bakers
- Bread Baking Club
- Junior Baking Club – launched last year and aimed at mini bakers aged from 5 to 11 years
Baked In was founded on an ethos of happiness being homemade and vitally, a zero food waste policy. Today it’s an energetic team of 40 baking lovers creating baking kits with all the ingredients in the right quantities so customers enjoy a baking from scratch experience with a little less fuss and no food waste.
The brand uses only the best ingredients in its kits, including award-winning local flour, Belgian chocolate and ground Madagascan vanilla. It’s growing community of home-bakers has created an event around the monthly bake, with Baked In bringing a modern twist to classics such as Black Forest Gateau, Lemon Drizzle Loaf, Toffee Apple Cake and Mocha Swiss Roll.
The Sweetie Jar
Website: www.thesweetiejarargyll.co.uk
Founder(s): Denise Brolly
The Sweetie Jar is a traditional sweet shop based on the West Coast of Scotland, loved within the local area and also online – from the little kids making memories and spending their pocket money to adults looking for a perfect confectionery gift, meaning this brand has ensured there’s something for everyone.
Last month, due to the ever increasing popularity of their Pic ‘n’ Mix Box, the company decided to launch the subscription model which means our customers can now have a box of sweeties delivered to their door on the 1st of every month.
Every month the box selection will be different and The Sweetie Jar will always include at least two brand new sweeties that they’ve never sold on their website before. A real must have for all those sweet lovers!
Wise Bartender
Website: wisebartender.co.uk
Founder(s): Tom Ward
wisebartender.co.uk is the UK’s leading online retailer of alcohol-free drinks, offering over 450 products ranging from beer, cider, wine, spirit and cocktail alternatives through to sodas, kombuchas and mead.
Over the last 18 months, Wise Bartender has responded to changes in the way that consumers shop for alcohol-free beverages, with demand now established across the whole year, rather than just Dry January. With their extensive network securing the best new launches, and expertise in identifying trends and customer preferences, Wise Bartender has created a series of subscription services to deliver fresh alcohol-free discovery boxes every month:
Beer –eight alcohol-free regular or vegan craft beers curated in association with the Alcohol Free Beer Club, with some beers so exclusive they aren’t widely available to purchase in the UK
Cider – each subscription box includes six of the best alcohol-free ciders, selected in the heart of cider country, Wise Bartender’s Somerset home
Spirit miniatures – a minimum of three perfect serves every month, all easy to create and a pleasure to drink, curated by AF spirit guru @emma_sobersonic
Kombucha – whether you’re a new or experienced boocher, three varieties of Kombucha are included and delivered direct to your door
Wine – for anyone who wants to enjoy alcohol-free wine with meals, the Club Soda box is built by wine expert Christine Parkinson and Club Soda founder Laura Willoughby with helpful tips on wine selection
From Club Soda, the mindful drinking movement, an AF mixed case discovery box includes seasonal specials, new releases, and some traditional favourites. For both Club Soda subscriptions, drinks are brought to life with live tastings hosted on YouTube and Facebook in the week following receipt
Prices for Wise Bartender subscription boxes range from just £12.99 (spirit miniatures) to £29.99 (wine) including delivery and are available to order from https://wisebartender.co.uk/monthly.
The Brook
Website: https://the-brook.co.uk/
Founder(s): Thea Brook
The Brook first began life as a restaurant, with 2 sites in Surrey and London. After winning the Time Out award for Best Restaurant in 2018 they decided it was time to reach more people with their innovative approach to plant-based dining.
They now make a range of incredibly delicious, award-winning products for an environmentally-conscious, flexitarian generation.
The range is available nationwide with home delivery service and also via a growing selection of high street retailers that stock the beautiful, branded chest freezers.
Knowing the impact a plant-based diet can make for the environment, they wanted to show as many people as possible that cutting out meat and dairy doesn’t mean sacrificing serious enjoyment of food.
The foods developed are designed for a traditional palette, meaning their customer base is a mix of non-vegan / meat reducing foodies as much as committed vegans and vegetarians.
The range is constantly growing and already includes starters, mains, desserts and cooking sauces. They also put together special themed dining menus, such Mumbai Nights; our Indian feasting box.
They know people are incredibly busy but still want to eat well and do right by their bodies and the planet. That’s where they come in – they handle the cooking so you can focus on everything else that’s important to you!
Buymie
Website: https://buymie.co.uk/
Founder(s): Devan Hughes
buymie is Ireland’s leading same-day grocery delivery company, having been used by over 1 in 8 households across Dublin since its 2016 launch. As well as a more traditional pay-per-delivery option, buymie also offers a unique subscription service, “buymie Plus”. For £7.99/month (or £79.99/year), buymie Plus customers have access to free deliveries on orders of £40 or more, which means big savings for a family with a large weekly shop.
Through buymie’s innovative real-time order bundling algorithm, in 2021, the company passed the 100,000 trips saved milestone by reducing the number of individual consumer car trips for groceries.
buymie customers have no limitation on basket size and have access to over 45,000 products across major retailers in the UK and Ireland. A personal shopper is appointed, allowing for seamless communication during the shopping process, and ensuring the best substitutions and highest quality fresh produce are selected.
buymie is now available to service over 2 million people in Ireland and the UK and a total number of personal shoppers to c.500.
In early 2022, buymie opened 2 new offices, one in Dublin and one in London and now has a team of over 70 including a team of developers and engineers based in Armenia, headed up by CTO and co-founder Art Sokhikyan.
buymie CEO & Co-Founder Devan Hughes: “Buymie works with, and champions, existing enterprise grocery retailers, handling the entire fulfilment process end to end from order placement, right through to in-store picking and delivery. The adaptability of our platform is an exciting prospect for our retail partners, many of whom operate a blended store estate, including smaller local format stores that are often under-utilised in the eCommerce offering and delivery space. Buymie can bring your full weekly shop from your local store to your door, in as little as an hour.”
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