how to spot a gap and scale up

The journey from house kitchen to retail listings is one that the majority meals founders wish to make. In a latest Meals Founders Interview, we realized in regards to the exceptional success of Oatsu with founder Lauren O’Donnell.

Lauren left her company job to make the leap and make her thought for ready-prepared, plant-based in a single day oats a actuality. In a single day oats have soared in reputation globally in recent times, and Lauren has hit the candy spot. The model has smashed its funding goal on Seedrs and has simply launched in Holland & Barrett shops throughout the UK.

From house kitchen to Holland & Barrett

Lauren left her job within the Metropolis in 2020 to show the breakfast she ready day by day for herself right into a enterprise. Since launching Oatsu, Lauren has served nearly 3,000 clients with greater than 20,00 parts of her scrumptious plant-based oats. She’s managed to go from a house kitchen to Oatsu’s first nationwide itemizing with 645 in Holland & Barrett shops and achieved a profitable overfunded crowdfunding with Seedrs in simply a few years. Lauren was named one among Administration Right this moment’s 35 Girls Beneath 35 in 2022.

Recognizing a niche out there

Within the US, the market of in a single day oats – the 4th most Googled recipe globally – has been rising exponentially in recent times with manufacturers like Brekki, Mush and Oats In a single day stocked in main retailers, together with the likes of Walmart and Costco, producing tens of thousands and thousands in income. Lauren launched Oatsu in 2020 to duplicate their success within the UK and turn into the primary devoted in a single day oat model on cabinets right here.

Earlier than launching her profitable plant-based breakfast enterprise, Lauren spent 4 and a half years working within the metropolis, managing the digital and social presences of HSBC and Constancy Worldwide within the UK and Hong Kong. Lauren used to organize her in a single day oats for breakfast each morning. When she didn’t have time to organize them the evening earlier than, she struggled to search out an inexpensive, wholesome various on grocery store cabinets.She discovered in a single day oats recipes on Instagram and cherished that they offered a simple, wholesome breakfast. Lauren finally left her company job to discovered Oatsu, organising her personal kitchen to create and ideal her recipes. She began initially by promoting her breakfasts on-line by means of Instagram and Shopify earlier than launching an internet retailer in April 2020.

The thought behind Oatsu

Oats are referred to as among the best sources of plant-based protein – full of fibre that can assist you keep fuller for longer. In a single day oats supply a handy technique to take pleasure in this nutritious breakfast. Fairly than being cooked within the morning, oats are merely soaked in a single day in milk or water, a course of that helps retain extra wholesome vitamins. Nevertheless, they require time and preparation.

Oatsu, impressed by the interpretation of ‘oats’ in Japanese (ōtsu), was launched to deliver the well being advantages of in a single day oats into the mainstream in a handy, wholesome ‘seize and go’ breakfast format. The merchandise are made utilizing solely plant-based, high quality substances – providing an ideal on-the-go breakfast for right this moment’s health-conscious, busy professionals. Pegged as a handy breakfast, they’re delivered in recyclable packaging, and all merchandise are 100% vegan, dairy-free and refined-sugar-free.

The merchandise are made by soaking oats in oat milk to offer them their signature thick, creamy consistency – a course of that makes them simpler to digest and helps retain their vitamins (which may be misplaced with heating). Made by hand, they comprise solely pure substances with fruit and seeds integrated to create 4 scrumptious: mango passionfruit, blueberry, chocolate peanut (made in collaboration with ManiLife) and the primary best-seller, banana biscuit, a creamy banana and caramelised biscuit unfold infused in a single day oats. The recipes are a results of lots of trial and error and examined by Lauren herself within the preliminary phases of manufacturing in her very personal kitchen!

Discovering the appropriate producer

Since launching, Oatsu has teamed up with a producer – a step Lauren admits was tougher than she initially anticipated. She suggests exploring trade directories and tapping into communities like Bread and Jam and specialists like Froghop. Lauren’s connection to her producer got here by means of one other meals entrepreneur, and since they produce weekly, beginning with a smaller producer made sense as a result of they might accommodate smaller manufacturing runs. Nevertheless, as Lauren emphasises, the important thing when beginning on a smaller scale is selecting a producer with the flexibleness to scale up with your online business.

Scaling up

Since its launch, Oatsu has delivered 23,000+ breakfasts to over 3,000 UK-wide clients. They already provide espresso outlets, gyms and places of work and are in talks with main wholesale distributors to broaden their out-of-home distribution, delivering on to houses and places of work.

The model has shortly turn into speedy grocer Jiffy’s top-selling breakfast forward of Kellogg’s and Weetabix. They’ve secured launch into 645 Holland & Barrett shops since mid-October 2023 and are 1 of 8 manufacturers chosen to be a part of Co-op’s Apiary scheme for mission-driven meals & drink manufacturers. Oatsu’s key focus now, Lauren says, is to safe additional listings with the UK’s largest comfort and grocery store retailers and with distributors that provide places of work, colleges, universities and gymnasiums nationwide.