29 Aug Getting onto the shelves of major supermarkets
Righteous managing director Gem Misa left her job as brand manager for Unilever to follow her dream of starting her own food business.
Righteous sells natural salad dressings and their products can be found on the shelves of supermarkets such as Tesco and Waitrose and hundreds of independent food retailers in the UK.
Inspiration for setting up the business largely came from the belief that her home-made recipes tasted great and she wanted to share them with other people. Misa also wanted to keep her recipes as natural and free from flavour enhancers as possible.
She adds: “I was lucky to meet some great food technologists and producers along the way who have worked tirelessly to preserve my original flavours, without adding artificial flavourings and preservatives; and also managed to keep saturated fats and trans fats to an absolute minimum.”
When it comes to winning new business, Misa believes persistence is key. In her field of retail, she had to be persistent to secure that crucial first meeting with the supermarket buyers – after a number of rejections, she sent picnic hampers to the board of one supermarket, which eventually won them over. She admits that getting a hearing for your company is difficult for new entrants to the industry but stresses: “Don’t give up until you secure that first meeting”.
Misa’s persistence has paid off for Righteous. In their current third year of trading Righteous salad dressings can be found in over 800 major supermarkets in the UK and overseas.
Other advice to win new business in her field is to prepare a compelling pitch. Questions to bear in mind while making the pitch can include: Why is your product different? What is the gap in the market you are filling? Also, Misa recommends studying the profile of the company (or in this case the supermarket) you are approaching to understand why your product is attractive to their customers, and how it will increase the value of the category.
“Finally, let your product speak for itself. You need to be absolutely convinced that you have a winning product in your hands. If they are convinced by your rationale on why they should buy your product for themselves, and realise that it is indeed a great product – this is the best chance you have for securing new business,” she says.
In the food and drink industry, Misa was also inspired by Howard Schultz, chairman and CEO of Starbucks: “He was able to make Starbucks a global brand through his single-minded and consistent focus on product quality.”
Misa’s mission to get people to eat more salads and find it enjoyable to eat them. “I want to make our products as affordable as possible so that more people can have access to them. I believe that health and flavour should not be charged at a premium – so we are constantly working to keep our prices reasonable by simplifying our business operations and passing on savings to our customers.”
Website: http://www.loverighteous.com/