The Hebridean Food Company, a UK-based fresh soup distributor, has recently launched a Crowdcube initiative with a mission to raise £60,000. The company has its soups and sauces in various stores, including Selfridges, Whole Foods Markets, and Aldi.
The company revealed its products are created to be never over processed and uses plenty of meat and packed with lots of veggies. It has worked with world class chef, Colin Bussey to create a range of both meat and seafood soups. The Hebridean Food team shared since their soup range was launched ONLY seven months, their Mussel Chowder soup has been listed in Aldi Supermarket, with two new soups to be introduced in September.
“Wholefoods has committed to working with us and we have also secured a contract to supply Southbank Fresh Fish who distributes to among others Selfridges and Co. We have the capacity in our premises to produce 900,000 tubs of 400g soups (£1.62m turnover) and with this investment we will expand our production capacity to produce £3m worth of products annually.”
During a recent interview, founder and managing director of The Hebridean Food Company, Douglas Stewart, revealed the real reason why the company decided to turn to Crowdcube for funds:
“We took this route out of sheer frustration with traditional funding mechanisms. We were rejected by the banks, but we thought we had a good idea, so we turned to a public platform to try to get the funding.”
He also explained what the funds would be used for:
“We will use the funding mainly for new equipment and also some of it for marketing. We employ two people at Hamilton at the moment and with extra capacity that would increase to four or five. We chose the South Lanarkshire for the manufacturing unit for logistics purposes when we were setting out, but ultimately I would like to be able to make the produce in the Hebrides, where the ingredients come from.”
The campaign is set to close mid-August.
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