Giles Brook, renowned CEO, Entrepreneur and Investor has built up probably the most superb CV in the food and beverage industry, not to mention a supurbe portfolio of investments. Giles has been behind the growth of numerous insurgent brands – Innocent, Bear, Vita Coco, Pip and nut to name but a few. He is currently CEO of Vita Coco (for Europe Middle East and Africa) - which he launched over 10 years ago - and which is now turning over £40m in sales. Although he is the highest-ranked individual in The Grocer’s ‘Food & Drink Power List outside of global and multi-national CEOs, he is also nice, as he takes time out of the office to mentor and guide entrepreneurs. Here’s our interview earlier this month where we talk about what Giles looks for when investing in a company, whether looking for investment upfront or driving organic growth should be the thing, and how it can be really hard for founders working in the food industry 

UGLY DRINKS was founded by best friends Hugh Thomas and Joe Benn in 2017. Coming from Vita Coco, they were concerned at the lack of healthy or unsweetened- options in the soda category for the average family. UGLY is a range of sparkling water that is flavoured but unsweetened, in brightly coloured, potentially iconic CAN, and is setting out to challenge the Ugly Truth behind Big Soda.   Ugly’s website positions it as “just a drink, no unobtainable lifestyles, no ridiculous promises”…and somewhat bravely (given the enormous competitors in this space) asks us to “Can the Other Cans”.  Listen to Hugh Thomas discuss the brave decisions he and his co-founder have made around brand and category positioning, naming & flavouring, setting up in the USA and funding/invesment and its role in driving growth!

L'entretien originale avec Nicolas Chabanne (episode 9) en francais.  C'est Qui Le Patron est une marque alimenaire multi-catégorielle qui était créée et est gérée par des consommateurs francais, afin de garantir des prix équitables aux agriculteurs et aux producteurs. Elle a été lancée il y a 3 ans sur l'un des marchés d'épiceries les plus traditionnels, les plus inflexibles, les plus difficiles à négocier et les plus coûteux d'Europe - d'après ma modeste expérience. Et pourtant, en seulement 2,5 ans, elle a révolutionné de nombreuses catégories d’épiceries en France, a généré un chiffre d’affaires de plus de 120 millions d’euros, dispose d’un portefeuille de plus de 30 produits et sont déjà achetés par 11 millions de ménages français. Et voici la chose: tout cela a été fait sans investissement dans la publicité traditionelle, sans force de vente et avec très peu de négociations traditionnelles avec les acheteurs de la Grande Distribution. Cet entretien souhaite explorer les facteurs à l'origine de cette croissance incroyable. L'interview est également disponible en anglais, voir episode 9 de Brand Growth Heroes

How do you grow a brand to €120M in sales in only 2.5 years, launching 30 products, and revolutionising more than a few grocery categories along the way? And how do you achieve household penetration of 11 million French households, with NO advertising, NO field sales, and very little traditional negotiation with grocery buyers? When you consider that this is happening in France - one of the most inflexible, difficult to negotiate and costly European retail grocery markets - and is coming to the UK, USA, Germany, Italy and more markets imminently, every company supplying a food & bev product into retail grocery better be ready with a response!

How do you grow a Chocolate brand to €70m in Sales without ever spending a penny on advertising? How do you get into EVERY SINGLE Sainsbury's store in the UK at launch...and account for over 35% of Chocolate sales at Wholefoods UK within 16 weeks?  Listen to Ben Greensmith of Tony's Chocolonely tell us about THE most authentic and meaningful brand promise in Food and Bev - the serious attempt by Tony’s Chocolonely to change the Cocoa industry from the inside out, in order to eradicate childhood slavery and child labour in Cocoa producing countries.

Who manages to create and build not 1 but 2 insurgent food brands that transform categories and what shoppers expect from their supermarket aisle? That's right, James Averdieck of The Coconut Collaberative and GU Chocolate Puds! Listen to James describe the drivers of the transformational growth he has experienced with both his businesses, from the importance of having people with Food Industry experience on his teams to being obsessed with product quality and great, quirky brands that resonate with consumers.

Did you know that it's NOT a Coke or a Pepsi-owned brand that holds the title of the UKs best-selling functional drink, but an Irish brand called VITHIT! I really enjoyed talking to my old buddy and fellow-Irishman Gary Lavin, Founder of this super-charged, low calorie vitamin drinks range https://www.vithit.com. I’ve known Gary and followed VITHIT's progress for over 15 years, and what really intrigues me about this story is that most of this growth has been unlocked over the 5 past years. I’m also really inspired by Gary’s sheer honesty about mistakes he thinks he made and the doggedness that has been necessary to get the business to where it’s at today. Listen to Gary take us though the drivers of this recent transformational growth, how he recognised them, and what he’d do differently if he had to start over.

In this episode we talk to Sam Dennigan, Founder and CEO of the UK’s Fastest Growing Food Brand, Strong Roots. Strong Roots is a super-successful frozen food brand that offers plant-based, tasty, convenient and healthy food for everyone. Founded and launched in Ireland, it has delivered transformational growth in both Ireland and the UK, doubling its turnover each year and recently taking pole position as the UK's Fastest Growing Food & Beverage brand. Listen to Sam desecribe how his experience in his family’s food business has shaped Strong Roots’ success, on how everyone in the company needs to be a Sales person, and the importance of earning the respect of early adopters and being “found” or discovered by consumers.

Fiona Fitz and Professor Dr Jan-Benedict Steenkamp, author, distinguished scholar and one of the world’s leading experts in the Consumer Packaged Goods industry, discuss what's worrying large Consumer Packaged Goods companies about driving organic growth. Professor Steenkamp suggests three things large CPG companies should be doing differently. http://www.brandgrowthheroes.com/2019/02/01/episode-4-interview-with-jan-benedict-steenkamp-leading-expert-consumer-goods-industries/

James McMaster, CEO of insurgent brand Huel, describes his experience of driving transformational growth at 3 well-known global food brands. He talks about how mindset beats skill-set, the importance of choosing the right people, and how transformational brand can radically change both consumer and shopper behaviour. http://www.brandgrowthheroes.com/2019/01/03/episode-3-interview-with-james-mc-master-ceo-of-huel/