Latest / Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast / Mel Walmesley - Cunswick Fell - Walking intuition, food and family

Transcript

Mel Walmesley - Cunswick Fell - Walking intuition, food and family · Sukany4: The Walk and Talk Podcast

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome back to Sakania the Podcast.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Sakania, and if you're new here, welcome to the show where we walk, we talk, and we delve into the stories that shape the people around us.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're heading out into the Cumbrian sunshine, and I mean proper sunshine, 24 degrees, blue skies, and the perfect excuse to throw on those sunglasses.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: Now, before we lace up and set off on our walk, I need to take a moment to say something pretty special.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: This is a milestone episode for the podcast.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's our very first sponsored episode, and I couldn't be more thrilled about who's backing this conversation.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say a huge thank you to the sponsor of this episode, Queen Accountancy.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you run a business, if you're self-employed, or if you're in that messy in-between stage of figuring it all out, having the right accountant is essential.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: I know this first hand because Helen and Queen Accountancy is my accountant and I trust her completely.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: Queen Accountancy supports individuals and grown businesses with a clear, practical and accessible accountancy service.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: No jargon, no judgment, just solid advice and support that helps you make decisions with confidence.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: That peace of mind is priceless.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you not only for the incredible work you do, but for supporting this growing podcast community.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: Having businesses back, independent conversations like these makes a huge difference.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: It means we can keep doing what we do, bring you the grassroots stories, the stunning walks, and the journeys that draw us in.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: If you're looking for an accountant who feels like part of your team rather than someone you only hear from once a year at tax time, please do go and check out Queen Accountancy.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'll pop their details in the show notes and on my website.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks, Queen Accountancy.
• 2:14
  SPEAKER_00: Right then, let's get back to the walk.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So who am I walking with today?
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Mead?
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_00: Mel Wormsley, born and bred in Cumbria, in Kendall to be exact.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: And before you think you know where the story is going to go, let me tell you.
• 2:35
  SPEAKER_00: Mel studied performing arts in Liverpool.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yep, you heard that right.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: Performing arts, which means she's got stage presence, she's got energy, and as you'll hear in this conversation, those skills have shown up in the most unexpected places.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: These days, Mel is part of a family business.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: No, let's say that again.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Mel is part of a multi-award-winning family business which has survived a year of unimaginable challenge, created prize-winning sandwich, yes, that's a fact, and has kept growing despite everything life has thrown at them.
• 3:17
  SPEAKER_00: This conversation is about resilience, about loss and grief and showing up anyway, about how the things you did in your past, even the ones that seemed completely unrelated to where you are now, have a way of connecting when you least expect it.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: It's about awards that you don't win but still matter.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's about family businesses where everyone rows in the same direction.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: We're about to head off to Scouts Gar near Kendall.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: The sun is shining.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: I've got my strappy summer top on instead of the usual sportswear just for a change.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: And we're both rocking the shorts.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you, Summer.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: Mel and I are ready to walk and talk about the forming arts, family business, grief growth, and yes, of course, languages.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: So grab your headphones, lace up to your trainers if you're walking with us, and let's go.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: Hi Mel! Hi! How are you?
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm really good.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'm good.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_00: We brought here sunshine! It's lovely! I'm so excited.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is take two, isn't it?
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, it is.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: We have tried before, but what did you say it was?
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Storm Florida.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Storm Floris, yeah.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: Floris, what a name.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: I know she got in our way.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: She got in our way, but thank you, Storm Floris, because we got a blinder.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we've we've made it lucky with this one.
• 4:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, my car said it was like 24.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, well, yeah, it feels warmer than that actually today, but 24 is good.
• 4:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I thought I would ditch the sportswear, wear something a bit strappy, yeah.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: Summery.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, hang on.
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: I actually can't see through my sunglasses.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: It's hot but not sunny right now.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: So, how's your day been?
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh yeah, it's been good, yeah.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, full on day, but yeah, always good, always productive, yeah, always things going on.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, been working today, um, mostly from home, so the joy of yeah, being able to work remotely.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's nice.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so Mel.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: Born and bred in Cumbria?
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, yeah.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah in Kendall.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: In Kendall.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: In Kendall.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: Cool.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's lovely.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: Where did you go to school?
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh Kirby Kendall.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, did you?
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, cool.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_00: That's awesome.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And have you ever been away from Cumbria?
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Did you ever live away?
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: I I did a small period where I went to college in Liverpool.
• 5:51
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: Community college.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I studied performing arts there.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: You did not?
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I did.
• 5:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely, yeah.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: But is that why you're always seeing sparkle?
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Probably.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_00: You channeling your I think so, yeah.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, channel channeling my uh my my thespian side, I should say.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, amazing.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, lived away for a bit.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't I didn't complete the full course.
• 6:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um I ended up coming back, but um, oh that's ace.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: And how long were you away for then?
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um so it was only 12 months.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um so yeah, I haven't really obviously travelled various places on holiday and things but never never lived anywhere other than beautiful Cumbria.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it is stunning.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, look at where we are now.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Where are we?
• 6:39
  SPEAKER_00: Where are we?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: Where have you brought me?
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Well, we the walk that I thought would be most fitting is Scout Scar.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and this the reason I picked this really is because I mean, one, we can see it's just stunning.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: We can see um it just takes you out to look at the landscape.
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um I think it's one of there is many on there, but one of the best representations of our beautiful countryside.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And also, um two, it ha it has probably over the years significant meaning.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: Like my my grandparents and my parents used to bring us up here as kids doing walks, um, just further over, as you can walk through to Helsington and the church there.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um, my grandma and granddad attended that church.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: My granddad's got a bench there in memory of him.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: But my grandma, my grandma finally finally got it put there last year, um, and it's made by um the National Trust out of um surplus wood.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it was like a an oak tree that had fallen down, and you can pay for them to commission a bench.
• 7:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it got sighted there because that was one of his favourite views looking over the Lyde Valley.
• 7:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, and he always said it reminded me he thought that area was where heaven met earth.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: That was how he described it.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_00: He used to just sit sit there, look out, and all of his woes would would go off into the landscape.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, it just does have a good beautiful meaning.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: And we we come with our daughter up here, we walk the dog, it's just it's a nice walk, yeah.
• 8:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and what's your dog called?
• 8:09
  SPEAKER_00: Luther.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: Luther, yeah, and your daughter, Maya, Maya, yeah.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_00: I was gonna say Doris.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, little Doris nickname, yeah.
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: We were talking about that before.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so Doris is a nickname.
• 8:23
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's lovely, and then um, so you came back from Liverpool, yeah, back to this beautiful, beautiful county, and what happened there?
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, so yeah, what happened?
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: Well, from when I finished school as a school leaver, I did go to college in Lancaster, okay, and I studied graphic design and multimedia.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and then when I finished college there, that was when I took the take to go instead of university um to Liverpool Community College, okay, studied performing arts.
• 8:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, sort of I've always had that as a passion, but I I I've always said and I always still say, still I'm not sure what I want to do yet.
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: I I just I have so many passions and I love exploring different things, and I love how life meeting people and different opportunities can lead you in a different area, yeah.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: And I just always think you should do what what you love.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I've always been a believer in when people say, you know, um not living, not working to live, living to work, that kind of thing.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, and I do believe in that, and I think that if you find something that you're passionate about and you enjoy doing, then it doesn't really feel like work.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: I agree.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and you should, because life's short and absolutely need to enjoy your life to chore, shouldn't it?
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: So so I knew that the opportunity in Liverpool it wasn't quite right at the time.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_00: Came back, and then I got into the world of work.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd had lots of various jobs when I was younger, mainly in hospitality.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 9:47
  SPEAKER_00: Because that was the easiest, easiest jobs to get at that age.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: And around yeah, exactly.
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I'd worked in cleaning, I'd worked in bars, restaurants, um, hotels, and then so when I came back from Liverpool, um That was just a pause there.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_00: That was quite a brave decision actually to cut the call short.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because some people would just see it through and then think, now what, I've had a good time.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_00: So what was it that made you think I just can't carry on?
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: I just if I was honest, I I did miss home.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: I missed the area, I love the experience, um, but I don't know, I just I just didn't feel a connection.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_00: Um I didn't feel although I enjoyed what I was doing, um, I just didn't feel it was it was me.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I and I really really did miss home.
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: So I spent most weekends driving back home to see friends and family.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um so you didn't make so many bonds then.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, I didn't really.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_00: That makes such a difference, doesn't it?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: Massively, yeah.
• 10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, okay.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Back to you.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so um so yeah, so when I came back, my my first job after then um was my mum and dad had actually um had their own business that they started um doing at the time, it was quite new for the time, it was on online uh like printer consumables, so ink cartridges and toners, um and they did it online rather than in a high street shop.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, when online was taken off pioneering, yeah.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: So they my dad was a retired paramedic.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: He'd he'd retired early because of an injury to his back, okay wear and tear over the 20 odd years that he'd done it and various operations.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: So he he needed something to do because he'd been his stepdad had been working all of his life and yeah, couldn't couldn't sit still.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: So he started the business just from the spare room.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and then by the time I came back from Liverpool, yeah, they'd actually opened a shop in Kendall.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: It was called Casey Inc.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: And and they were running it from there.
• 11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And where was that then?
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it was in uh originally they had it on um Blackhole Road Trading Estate, okay, yeah.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then they moved to another retail shop in Blackhole Yard in Kendall, just on the corner, yeah.
• 11:58
  SPEAKER_00: Where across from where the cafe is now.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um so they need they needed somebody when we were in the the unit, they needed somebody to come and help because it was it had expanded quite quickly.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: So they were looking for a manager then.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I was like, oh I'm here and there's someone who might be available.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: So so that started that journey at the time.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, one of the other reasons I've left Liverpool was um as well, a boy was involved.
• 12:25
  SPEAKER_00: Oh and so um these bore these boys.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_00: Um we ended up getting married when I was 19.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um but it didn't it didn't turn out it didn't turn out.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so we're only married 18 months and unfortunately then got went through a divorce.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um it does say a lot about your strength of character because all these things have happened quite early.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: Quite big, bold decisions, yeah, yeah, yeah, definitely.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um so uh this happened at the time whilst I was working with my mum and dad.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that would that was quite a tough period of time.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: Traumatic probably then a couple of years down the line, I met my now husband, okay, uh Scott, and my mum and dad decided that they wanted to sell the business and they they sold it and I decided to move on from that rather than stay.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so I had a few jobs doing various things.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: I worked for Halifax estate agents.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, did you?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_00: Um yeah, yeah, and that was over in Morecambe because at the time to be able to get on the property ladder on my wage, I had to go and put a purchase a house in Morecambe.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_00: Oh that's such a good idea because the thing is you don't I think this is a misconception, isn't it?
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: That I can't afford where I live, so I can't buy anything.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but actually, of course you can, yeah, just go out exactly first.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: The main thing is get your money into property somewhere.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that was it.
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: It was just getting that first step on the ladder.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: So so yeah, so I was I was living over it really weirdly.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: I was I'd got my house in Morecambe and I was working in Kendall, yeah, so I was commuting.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah, and then when I managed to eventually obviously get the equity out of my house and move back to Kendall, I then got a job in Morecombe.
• 14:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I was I'd just gone the opposite way.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: I was still commuting, so yeah, I worked there and then I got a job back in Kendall working for um a company called Hightech, okay.
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um, which was they provide training courses for people that work at Height, but um and I started with them in their accounts department um because I've had a lot of experience with running accounts from managing my mum and dad's business.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, I started to find quite a passion actually with working with numbers and and what I call making money, yeah, business.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_00: I really I really found the mechanics of how businesses run quite exciting.
• 14:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: So I I went into this accounting job and because I'd say because I'm quite a versatile person, um I like to get stuck into everything, I would never say no to an opportunity.
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: So there they have me, um, there's an opportunity to help their sales, one of their sales directors, uh-huh with some sales bits and going out on visits with him.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um so I got a little bit involved with that, but it was working, this is sort of where where my journey evolved really was it was going back in 2007, 2008, and me and my now husband were planning on getting married.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh and so we in 2008 we went out to Mexico to get married.
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh and I love Mexico, yeah, it's gorgeous, isn't it?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_00: And we went to uh Riviera Maya, okay, Maya, some people pronounce it, which is where our daughter's name comes from.
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um just connected the dots, yeah, yeah, all pieces together.
• 15:44
  SPEAKER_00: So when we were out there, 14 of our friends and family came out with us.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we were originally meant to go to Kenya, and we were gonna go to Kenya and have time with the family and spend time on our ourselves and have honeymoon in Zanzibar, yeah.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: But that was the year when the tribal wars were um and the the uh holiday company said you're gonna have to cancel and go somewhere else.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: So we sort of went for the brochure and went Mexico looks good.
• 16:10
  SPEAKER_00: And had you been to Mexico before?
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: No, never been.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: Another bold decision, yes, yeah.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um oh and it was it was gorgeous.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Like I always think things happen for a reason, so that was where we were meant to be, and more of the family could come.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: So we had two weeks all together, yeah, all honeymoon, everything combined in one.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and but that was where family moon, it was, yeah, it was a family moon.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: That was where the conception of where our our current business was was devised.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that was me and my mum lying on a beach in Mexico talking about food.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, and because I'd worked for this company that did training, yeah, they used to provide meals for their their trainees.
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: And because I was processing a lot of transactions through their accounts, yeah, um, I used to see how much they were spending on it and the quality of the food and where it came from.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_01: There was a disconnect, wasn't it?
• 17:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and there was at the time back then, I think people around the county, you know, like talking about local produce, yeah, it was there, but it wasn't as thought about as it is now.
• 17:16
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember thinking, you know, there's I'm surely there there's better options.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and when I looked out around for the company that I work for, it wasn't.
• 17:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I remember discussing it with my mum while we're away.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: And my mum has always been a keen baker, she's she's quite into what IT herself, that's um my mum's background.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so more computer techie stuff, but she's always been into food and always been a really, really good baker and a cook.
• 17:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you know, always homemade everything from when we were children.
• 17:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I remember speaking with her about it, and we just had this big conversation, and then the you know the free notepads that you get in your room when you were away.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: So we got these notepads, and we sat there on the second day working through sporting and going, Well, I'm going to a well, how much how much would it cost to make a quiche?
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: How much would it cost to do this?
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_00: And we sort of started because you have to break down all the ingredients, yeah, just devising it a bit and thinking, well, if there's nothing out there, yeah, could we do it ourselves?
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and create an opportunity for for some better options.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: So that's how it really works.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: Just from an idea, and then we kind of kind of parked it a bit when we got back because various things going on, and then picked it up again.
• 18:28
  SPEAKER_00: And my mum was like, Well, why why don't you give it a go?
• 18:31
  SPEAKER_00: So we sort of investigated what you would need to do, which was register with the the local authority, get a premises that was food safe, and it's like, Well, where are we gonna do that?
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: And my mum and dad at the time were having a uh bungalow renovated, okay, and they had all like uh stone marble worktops, they had the separate handwash basin and all the tick things that you needed.
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it's like, oh, we could start it from here.
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that that was where it was born because I decided to take the bull by the horns, register the business, and just see if it would work.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: And did you have a name straight away?
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: Was that the first thing?
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: My mum and dad lived on a the bungalows on a road called Riverbank Road, yeah, and so they the the name was taken from there.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: We we just called Riverbank catering.
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay, and that's what we're known for.
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: That was Mark One, quite yeah, quite some time because we started just doing outside catering and I still had my full-time job because I was seeing how it went.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, um I with with my graphic design and multi-reader background created some leaflets and took them out to businesses similar that I thought were probably so you went door to door, yeah, yeah, just door to door, needing the same options.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, like I said, my dad, once they'd sold the business, my dad was again retired, just doing odd jobs here and there for people.
• 19:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, so I thought there's somebody that can help.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: So he used to do all the deliveries for me, and eventually he was roped into every aspect of the business, helping with bake cakes and everything.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so nice he would.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: If we got some, I just did some free samples for people to see what they thought and got feedback, and it took off quite quickly.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we just had uptake on everything because they were interested in the quality, the local provenance of ingredients, of course, um supporting new new startup local business.
• 20:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and it just went really well.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: So eventually, having taken over my mum and dad's bungalow, various various bridges and pieces in the carriage, and um I had to buy we had to buy them new element for their oven various times, and yeah, we we ended up venturing into um more events, weddings, castings, all those kind of things.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we were we were there seven days a week basically.
• 20:43
  SPEAKER_00: This is and we is this are you still working full-time?
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh no, so yeah, so probably I would say within quite quickly, within like six months, we knew it was gonna fly.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: So um I I left the the full-time job and and just went solo.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: That feel scary because like I say it was 2008, which was what everybody will remember is like a financial crisis.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but the position we were in at the time was my husband Scott, he was in the building trade with his granddad, they used to work together, and their their work was really impacted.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so he was quite worried about his job, which seems crazy to think.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you've gone from a full a full-time job to both of you to possibly neither of you, but yeah, it's it just seemed like the the right thing because we could see that what we thought was gonna happen was happening, you know, and the income was there, yeah, there was a security, and then there was the option for him to to come in and help, you know, if if he wanted to, yeah, be part of the business.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: This is kind of more than gut instinct, because your gut instinct was right, yeah.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: And there is something really powerful about trusting your gut and addressing whatever comes up, but also you have the facts and figures to back it up exactly to know that it was working yeah and that there was something sustainable and yeah so that was cat that was its inception and so that was in uh launched the business in uh 2008 yeah and then when we got to 2011 which was the beginning of that year was when we had our daughter and she used to just come come to work with me oh um in a little basket yeah yeah just put on the side while we're there doing all the catering and she's just been with us the whole she's not knowing any other life no she hasn't she's just been there yeah um really good and um and that was the year when obviously we've been at my mum and dad's for a few years absolutely like I say absolutely taking over the lives yeah and my dad came and mentioned to me that there's a unit down at on Dockray Hall where I normally have my car valeted that's coming up for let what do you think so I'd said to my husband Scott what he means is please take it leave my house and and move into a commercial premises so we went and met with the landlord talked over the finances and thought yeah yeah let's do it and that was actually a scary jump because that yeah that was a jump from going from you know a domestic premises to commercial premises a little big learning curve lots of things I found out that and also just thinking you know like we have to make this work because you know we've we've got a lease we've got commitments now and yeah so what we decided to do was on the premises and there was there used to be down there a lot of years ago lovely lovely lady who I know called Jude who used to have a cafe and then she she hadn't been there for a long time so there was nothing on the estate so we were like why don't we put on a takeaway yeah and that'll help a bit of ink in uh you know income stream coming in help make sure we can cover these new new big overheads that we've got and get more people knowing who we are and what we're doing so we so we had that we had the takeaway my husband Scott decided to come into the business with me once we took the unit on and we employed our first already uh no he hadn't been up until that point he had been helping out in charge yeah as it were for the you know for the love full and told yeah but no but before that he'd uh he'd been doing um his own business which was pressure washing and fashions and soffits um which have been going okay yeah we thought right we'll take the bull by the horns take off his premises and go into it together so this whole time so you've gone into a business that you don't really know anything about it started with an idea you decided you're gonna take you know take a slice of the catering market yeah addressing a need that you found in your in your accounting work yeah so how did you go about getting all the certificates and things to enable you to sell to the public um it it was just a learning curve it was it was research finding out what we needed what you find as well that I found and you know most people find this in whatever industry you're in is once you make those first connections like we found our local authority the environmental health office yeah we had some connections there and a lovely lady that was still in in contact with Diane that was our uh rep at the time we got her to come and look at the commercial premises before we even took it on to see what we would need to do and making connections like asking for help you know sometimes a lot of people don't do it because they think that these kind of departments and things and authorities are there to sort of tell you you can or they've had really bad experiences but my own experience is that they've been vital in in us being able to do what we've done because they've been so helpful and making sure that before we took something on we knew what we were doing so that we didn't do something and then be told afterwards oh you can't do that.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah exactly yeah it was to save the expense of doing anything twice or um make sure we had everything right so you know we had to put like a partition ceiling in over the kitchen area because it it was just an open unit and different things like that and where where we had to have access and all those kind of things so because my husband was in the building trade obviously we had a bit of a unique yes of course exactly what a blend of skills coming together it really was in the four adults here no it really was um so so yeah he he kit he's kitted the whole building out that we have now piece by piece we have evolved over the years um adapted but yeah um from it just being a a really open unit and he's made it into what we needed to run a food business from.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Are you still there?
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yes we're still in the same unit and what mainly because um Scott's been put blood sweat and tears into it he's been like we haven't we haven't but at the moment we are still able to function from there.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: I would say we're reaching maximum capacity so the more we grow you know eventually we might either need to take on another unit yeah or expand somewhere else but at the moment yes we're still we're still there sort of 14 years later yeah oh that's so nice yeah and so just to pause take a break from that a second this walk melt yes isn't it beautiful it's just so gentle it is I love that it's gentle yeah it's gentle so you can I like it because you can make as much or as little as you want of it so you can have you know it it's it's quite you know sort of accessible to most you know it's not like you said you've been able to come in your training exactly not working shoes today.
• 27:30
  SPEAKER_00: No exactly you can take it leisurely but you can extend it as far as you want as well so if you are really wanting to go out for a big big long glass you can walk to Windermere from here can't you have you done it no no we have done we have walked right through to Helsington Church and right back around which was it's a it's a significant walk that in itself especially when you well you have to when you've got a family bench there now yeah yeah exactly that has to be an annual pilgrimage you've got to go got to go visit visit granddad definitely but yeah it's and it's so peaceful and I tend to find honestly in days like this you would think it'd be quite busy but it's always quiet and the busiest times we've ever found it is in winter which is quite strange but a lot of people do bring their kids up especially if you've ever got snow it's a good place to come for for that snowball fight sledging yeah I think it's been a good 15 years since I've done this walk wow I say yeah yeah and to the point that I forgot how to drive to the car park yeah but I knew it was through Kendall so I was like it's gonna be fine or just leave early and for a change I was early yeah that was good I know I know I always I always think that it's a lot further out than it is because when you get to this you do think oh it's a a long drive but yeah once you just you're heading up that road yeah you sort of oh yeah it's just here it's just here it just suddenly appears yeah and it's just wonderful to see that the hills and like the path is so well worn as well yeah it just can't really get lost to the point.
• 29:05
  SPEAKER_00: No that is that's an advantage of this kind of walk yeah you you can just keep following the path and you're not gonna you're not gonna go far wrong.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: And I think I can see the mushroom part is that the one up there on the front yeah that's what everyone knows is the mushroom I have this great picture of me and a few of my friends in each of the quarters of the mushroom and I was wearing an Edinburgh jumper which I still have and at the time this is a complete tangent but at the time 15 years ago I remember looking at this jumper thinking oh 30 pounds is a bit much for a hoodie do I really want a hoodie that says Edinburgh that much that I pay 30 pounds and I tell you what I wear it all the time that is my winter uniform you've had value for money out I really have I really have to think I was worried so much about that 30 pounds is hilarious.
• 30:04
  SPEAKER_00: I like that you that's that you've remembered that yeah that's a core memory because it was brand new when I was in the mushroom yeah I suppose actually it probably was quite expensive at the time thinking oh you know I think I was just stingy yeah maybe I always prioritise travel and food over anything else yeah over necessities like clothing yeah and I have a recent obsession with vintage I don't know if I should admit this I feel you there yeah yeah it's just it's super easy as well is and a lot less complicated than other online platforms it is design platform but I think I have a sickness mouth yeah yeah I do because is it becoming a bit of a problem well what I've started doing is targeting things that are less than five pounds asking for a discount just anything are things that you actually want no yeah things are what well things that I've decided I have to have because of the price okay and then because I'm trying really hard not to buy brand new and so um I haggled down a denim jacket from two pounds to one pound fifteen and they accepted my offer so yeah there we go so you're obsession with haggling it is I love it so you're getting a a bargain at a more bargain price you know that must be I think that must be like a general generational cultural link to my heritage maybe yeah because when you go to South Asian cultures it's all about haggling and bartering yeah that and that's part of normal everyday life isn't it we do find that quite normally quite awkward like going I'll just pay it I'll just buy it yeah I like that really well done when I got my£150 jacket a friend of mine was like I think you've gone too far yeah I think I think you've just actually you know stolen some money off there it just makes me so happy when I wear it because I'm like why would you pay 500 quid like I just blows my mind I could fly somewhere for that no but I I do I do love the whole ethos behind it of it's you you know you're not wasting yeah clothing that would just you know and I know some people would take it to clothes banks and it might cost somewhere but it's that whole thing of you know if you don't want something and then and somebody else does yeah it's great you don't always need to be buying new no you don't um and you can get you know like you say that h high quality clothes that would normally be a lot of money for not very much for not much yeah and actually it's quite nice to just keep passing it round because you're gonna wear it for what six to twelve months and then you'll be bored of yeah bored of it for next year so I'm gonna sell it back and then for a five hour and then do some more hacking next season I might try that I might try and sell it for a five yeah dude I'm gonna keep an eye out that one of you one pound fifty for it one pound one pound last year's I know I know now you spill your secret yeah no it's so bad it's so bad anyway back to you so we've got the commercial unit so once you upgraded to a commercial unit were there more certificates and qualifications you needed no not not from the ones we already have so I had to obviously have the food premises registered with the council have to have food safety training yeah which I had anyway had to had to have all that anyway so there wasn't any extra bits there's only extra bits from having commercial premises which is once we started growing a bit so once we started doing more like breakfasts and things from the premises and we had like a griddle and we had a deep fat fryer we then had to you know get think about things like have them covered in our insurance and make sure we our risk assessments were up to date including all of this new new equipment and new risks so it was it was only things like policies and procedures that we hadn't needed to think about that much before that yeah we we're now like every change that we make is like oh we considered this and and then obviously as we grew and expanded and started employing staff for me this was in my whole career this was the biggest learning curve that I had ever ever had to do from going from being responsible for yourself yeah what you're doing or you know previously as an employee yeah to employing people and also not your family yeah yeah exactly so how many years are we in before you've got the stuff so we got to I mean relatively soon was we took on the unit um obviously there was um myself and husband Scott and and my dad who was still helping us with deliveries and working part time with us and sort of ad hoc as as as he in his words as it was needed.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: We we did employ it was somebody that we knew um a lady that we knew um who wanted some work and she came and and helped us sort of help in serving the takeaway that we had.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah and so it was relative within the first 12 months of opening the the unit we took on our first employer she was with us for a little while and then it will have been the the second year where we started to grow quite rapidly and need more staff so then we got an extra couple of people one of them being one of our friends okay um and then another girl that that we we knew through friends and family kind of thing.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah so they were all people that we knew there was a connection somehow yeah and then latterly uh up until sort of 200 and would say 14 so in the first three years um it 2014 was probably our our biggest change two years in so 2013 we opened a cafe area yeah because the the takeaway was great full capacity people have been asking if they could come and sit in and have sit-down meals so we did all that still with all of the events that we were doing and then in uh 2014 we were asked to start producing pre-packed sandwiches oh you were asked to yeah that was for somebody we knew who had a a shop on um Walburne Street in Kendall okay their supplier was stopping supplying them oh wow and they said do you fancy are you able to make pre-packed sandwiches yeah and at the time the um that landscape at the time there obviously were still labelling requirements but they were oh yeah a lot easier to get into than they are now so we bought this really small piece of software you know on a CD on a C D and a little label printer yeah um and we're able to design our own labels with all the ingredients and everything and it was a fairly easy thing to to start and we're like well yeah we can do it why not so we just initially started doing it for for him as a little bit extra because yeah we we were making sandwiches we had the bread we had the fillings it's just a slight extension it's not a massive it wasn't a big deal and organically that grew legs of its own massively where we hadn't advertised it at all but we had people that had been obviously into the shop to see that we were doing them and they've gone you know just organically got calls from people saying can you supply me I have a shop and that just started quality speaks for itself as well doesn't it it does it does and if people are on the lookout for something yeah they find it yeah exactly yeah so that's where that started to grow so uh the end of 2014 going into 2015 was probably our biggest recruitment drive that we had because the sandwiches had taken over that much that it was sort of effectively its own little business in its own right but we didn't have the capacity to do everything yeah in the day so you can imagine from opening up in the morning we had all of our catering orders to do which consisted of corporate lunches for people at lunchtime around the area we had events that that we catered for for so sometimes we were there catering for you know what could have been a wedding celebration that some of the team had to not only make but go out and serve and deliver at then we had the takeaway in the cafe that was open from we opened around about 9 30 till 2 30 yeah so people always thought oh gosh I remember somebody saying to us once oh what do you do for the rest of the day when you can't close at 2 30 you've got a lot to have done yeah we're like wow if you could see behind the scenes what was going on so then we had an evening shift yeah that will come in and make for the night as well yeah well it was it was yeah they used to do that at the end so gosh the first part was a night shift from yeah farny's we did yeah because we just couldn't fit it in any other day gosh that's amazing these views are stunning as well I know look at that I love that so is that like 10 years now of lake sandwiches did you name it lake sandwiches then yeah so that's where the um when we sort of started the the brand when we initially started labelling it it was under riverbank catering and then we got the brand name lake sandwiches uh huh and initially it was lake sandwiches by riverbank catering oh okay and then as time has evolved we have actually just formed into sandwiches yeah which the main in turning point for that was when covet hit yeah and that was the big shake up for our business yeah we of course because like everybody you're kind of dependent on events and people coming to a shop to buy sandwich absolutely so overnight that that finished like everything called um we were at the point where like everybody nobody knew what to do so at the time we had I think we were around 14 employees wow um when it in 2020 and we we had just furloughed everybody yeah because we thought that well we can't trade yeah um and really bizarrely because we had the food to go side the pre-pack side which you know obviously we hadn't contemplated at the time because we didn't know nobody knew what was uh opening what anyone was allowed to do yeah but all of the convenience shops and the garages and things that we were supplying they were still allowed to be open for you know essentials so they they still could stop and sell the pre-packed sandwiches.
• 40:12
  SPEAKER_00: That makes sense we only found this out within a few days of the furlough and you had to keep everybody on furlough for two weeks.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: Oh so me and my husband to the old days yeah yeah we did we used to just go in and they were really really long days like I would never want to go back to those times.
• 40:31
  SPEAKER_00: Everybody just had to do what you had to do.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah grit and determination yes eating and sleeping was at the bottom of the list oh gosh it was just so make these orders.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: Isn't it interesting that everyone's COVID experience is so very easy isn't it yeah gosh but it's great that you were able to keep the business going on and we grew because the phone would not stop ringing.
• 40:55
  SPEAKER_00: So places that we tried to get into before like we've always strived to get um independent garages because there aren't many of them left now around the area.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: So stocking local products yeah it's a real shame to see because most garages that have been taken over by national companies they want a supplier that can supply their whole range of garages yeah which might now be nationwide yeah so it's unfortunately only the big nationwide producers that can fulfill it fulfill that gap so we were really it is such a shame and it's just it's actually like suffocating entrepreneurship.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah yeah exactly yeah and and as those diminish all of the retail outlets where you know you you used to be able to see independent food producers you know they they they're really limited now so we we were so keen to try and get into these national garages um well not sorry independent garages and what we're finding is a lot of them were saying you know we're in a contract with this company and blah blah blah so we never really got anywhere and then when we're in the midst of COVID the phone would not stop ringing because lo and behold um the the big nationals shut down yeah um and a lot of them were saying that they either had restricted delivery days or they couldn't get to them to a certain time or some places they were saying we're not even going to bother coming to your area because it's not worth our while right or the other one was um the uh predominantly uh food to go suppliers have a a sale and return service which is which is what we do as well yeah and the big nationals have gone during this period there will be no sale of return service so right it's just firm sale and that's it take it on of it and so they were naturally panicking and and reaching out and because we'd made those inquiries years before yeah they had you on the yeah they had on the roller deck yeah to go you know that local company that has been inching away at us that that we've said we'd like to work with but we were just in a bit of a hole yeah when these nationals were sort of in effect in breach of contract not through their own fault but you know obviously they had an opportunity to move if they wanted to yeah so we had a big influx of local businesses which was amazing and it was what kept our company going because without that I have I have no question that like many other businesses we would have folded it was too it it was was too difficult to keep everything going and it took a long time for the hospitality sector to get back up and running and for businesses to try and get you like you know the bounce back loans and the other bits it took too long so if if we didn't have that side of the business with the the pre packs and the food to go I don't think we'd have come back out the other side of COVID.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_00: But we are one of the success stories where we found that because of how we'd diversified with the business yeah organically as it were that just it didn't only just save us but it meant we flourished like we came out the other side of it strong Than before, yeah, with lots more opportunities.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, over the years, have you seen a lot more competition in your space?
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, no.
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there is a lot more competition with the big nationals because you know they they grow bigger and stronger because the the business that we're in and the food to go market, you know, it's it's worth about eight billion pounds to the economy in a year.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's it's not expecting that it's a big thing, and so you know, they're on it, they're trying to take every opportunity, they're trying to take every piece of the of the market.
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think we're probably in the right place at the right time because me and my husband will always talk about if we were in our position now, we wanting to start what we have now from the beginning, it would be so difficult to do.
• 44:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you would have to invest so much money.
• 44:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so for somebody to try and build what we've built, built with um you know our ethos is using locally sourced produce, handmade methods, you know, all of our team handcraft our products.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: So there's no like belt situation with a machine plopping the mayo down.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, no, exactly.
• 45:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's but it's all handmade.
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: So inevitably, you know, the pro our processes are a lot more laborious than yeah, but but the ultimate underlying thing there, the quality, the provenance of the ingredients, yeah, and the nutritional properties of the ingredients are a lot better.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_00: But I think for anybody to try and come into that same space would be really difficult because there is just a lot more legislation now, there's a lot more things that you have to have to do.
• 45:41
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of food businesses struggled when Natasha's law came into place.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, of course.
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_00: Because if you didn't, if you weren't already set up for that, which we were because we had always been a step ahead, yes, and we were already doing that, so yeah, but we can understand it so hard.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_00: In case anyone doesn't know what Natasha's law is, it's about allergies, isn't it?
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah.
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously people can can look it up and find out the history and the story behind it.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: That you know, there are a few other stories, yeah, a lot of other stories that are very similar with different laws that have been passed because of accidents that have happened, but um, yeah, it was um highlighting allergies and labels, exactly highlighting allergies, labelling, and the and the processes that go on within food companies and their staff and how they are trained and hand handle food.
• 46:27
  SPEAKER_00: Let's just get a picture with the Ken because we made it to that and it's so still and calm.
• 46:35
  SPEAKER_00: It is, it's it's gorgeous.
• 46:37
  SPEAKER_00: This is gorgeous, it's always great when you get to the top.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh look at this, you've got that 360 view.
• 46:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, oh thanks for recommending this one.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
• 46:46
  SPEAKER_00: I'm glad we've we've rescheduled for today as well.
• 46:49
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, if we walk back, then we're not um gonna end up in Wintermore.
• 46:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, that's it, you could just keep walking forever.
• 46:55
  SPEAKER_00: You've got plotties.
• 46:56
  SPEAKER_00: I have, yes.
• 46:57
  SPEAKER_00: Where are you doing that?
• 46:58
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I go to Tracy Dixon's classes in Kendall at the Kirkland Centre.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 47:03
  SPEAKER_00: Mind and body fit.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:04
  SPEAKER_00: Little plug there for you, Tracy.
• 47:06
  SPEAKER_00: I absolutely love, love, love, love going there.
• 47:10
  SPEAKER_00: Um, Tracy's been, I've been going to her classes for years.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:13
  SPEAKER_00: Before she even had the centre, she used to just run out of the schools and things, hide in the halls.
• 47:18
  SPEAKER_00: She she cares deeply about everyone that goes there, she understands what they're trying to achieve, and what she's called mind and body fit, I think, is totally right.
• 47:26
  SPEAKER_00: Like, I find exercise really good for my mind.
• 47:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:33
  SPEAKER_00: More so than the physical side.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_00: I love it for that.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's just so it's so good.
• 47:38
  SPEAKER_00: And group exercise.
• 47:40
  SPEAKER_00: I know some people can be quite disciplined and take themselves to the gym and want to do it.
• 47:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I have to welcome.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:46
  SPEAKER_00: I have to go.
• 47:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 47:48
  SPEAKER_00: And group exercise is great.
• 47:50
  SPEAKER_00: I see I see the benefit.
• 47:51
  SPEAKER_00: Being around people, yeah, and pushing yourself.
• 47:54
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly, and and helping each other push yourself, aren't you?
• 47:57
  SPEAKER_00: Definitely, I totally get it.
• 47:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm just so easily distracted.
• 48:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I have to be in a zone.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 48:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_00: Me too.
• 48:03
  SPEAKER_00: Headphones on.
• 48:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, I'm like um brain man.
• 48:06
  SPEAKER_00: Like, don't talk to me.
• 48:07
  SPEAKER_00: I'll smile at you.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:08
  SPEAKER_00: If you're lucky.
• 48:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, but don't, but don't.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_00: Always very pleasant.
• 48:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm in my zone.
• 48:12
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:13
  SPEAKER_00: No, that's great.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:14
  SPEAKER_00: So and it's a community, isn't it?
• 48:16
  SPEAKER_00: It is, it is.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_00: It is a community of people.
• 48:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it's yeah, it's just supportive.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_00: And so yeah, I I go, I do three classes a week there.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 48:24
  SPEAKER_00: Do spinning, which I got into uh during lockdown.
• 48:27
  SPEAKER_00: Never thought that would be my cup of tea.
• 48:30
  SPEAKER_00: Because I thought, oh, that's just for bikers.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 48:32
  SPEAKER_00: It is very addictive.
• 48:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I can't ride a bike.
• 48:35
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 48:36
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the closest I'm gonna get.
• 48:37
  SPEAKER_00: But oh the benefits you get from it, fantastic.
• 48:40
  SPEAKER_00: It just boosts your mood.
• 48:41
  SPEAKER_00: It does.
• 48:42
  SPEAKER_00: As soon as you leave, you think, Wow, I've just I've just done that.
• 48:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, your endorph beans are like ready for anything now.
• 48:49
  SPEAKER_00: So they spin in, I do body pump, uh-huh, um, which is weights, uh-huh, um, which is just really sustaining for the future, making sure bones are good and especially for women.
• 49:00
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 49:01
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, keep making sure that we're stronger for the future, and then I do Pilates, which I think helps overall combine everything because sometimes I'll spend a day, like today, we've been sat down for most of the day, yeah, and then you know, your posture, some of your muscles, switch off like I'm terrible, my glutes just go lazy with sitting down.
• 49:21
  SPEAKER_00: So then when you come to do other activities in the day, like turning, yeah, you know, all of a sudden, oh there you go, you've you've done your backing.
• 49:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 49:29
  SPEAKER_00: So it's trying to just make sure that and actually it's a really nice feeling when you feel the burn.
• 49:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's I never thought I'd be one of those people, but I really am.
• 49:37
  SPEAKER_00: It's nice, isn't it?
• 49:38
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I quite like the way when you feel the tricep burn like that.
• 49:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and you think, oh yeah, I can feel then you go home and you're like, has it happened yet?
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, am I tone and defined yet?
• 49:50
  SPEAKER_00: Oh no, have I got lines everywhere?
• 49:52
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe tomorrow.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, maybe tomorrow.
• 49:54
  SPEAKER_00: Still waiting for the apps to show, but it's coming.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, on the one pack at the moment.
• 50:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
• 50:01
  SPEAKER_00: I have been for 15 years, I think.
• 50:03
  SPEAKER_00: But we as long as they go, that's the main thing.
• 50:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because it is the health benefit, um mental health benefit benefits really.
• 50:09
  SPEAKER_00: It is, and that's massive, it is massive, especially you know, in this day and age, we all we all have quite stressful lives and everything's so busy, so you have to expect it, isn't it?
• 50:20
  SPEAKER_00: It is, it is it's become a norm, yeah, which is quite sad.
• 50:24
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, to have just have that time to give yourself some mental space.
• 50:28
  SPEAKER_00: I always find, especially with spinning, um I know Tracy's said this before, but when you get on that bike, you know, whatever class you're doing, it's either 45 minutes or an hour, she'll always say, you know, like the next hour's yours.
• 50:40
  SPEAKER_00: And and that's how it feels because when I go to an exercise class, it's the place where say, like today we're out on this walk.
• 50:47
  SPEAKER_00: If I was off on this walk, most of my time will be taken up with if I was on you know my own, yeah, um, or had time to think, it would be thinking about work, about what shop can I have to get, you know, what but you can't do that when you're doing weights, but you can't because you literally all you're concentrating on is what you're doing, yeah, and you're doing it to music and you know, and time and you're focusing on your stats, say when you're on the bike, or and so that time really is yours because everything else goes, and so I that's why I really like going because I value that mental space time of just focusing on the optimizing yourself, yeah, yeah, exactly.
• 51:26
  SPEAKER_00: And also, you know, we are so distracted these days, like just watching a movie seems hard to us because you've got your phone, you've got your too many notifications, too many, yeah.
• 51:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's too much stimulation.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_00: It is, yeah, and it's so hard to quiet your mind.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_00: So it's great that you're carving that time out.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_00: I think you've got two, yeah, it's important.
• 51:48
  SPEAKER_00: So with the um sandwiches then, yeah.
• 51:51
  SPEAKER_00: So we are now past COVID.
• 51:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so yeah, we made it through COVID, and that is where in coming out of the other side of COVID in 2022, that's where we decided to officially rebrand as Lake Sandwiches.
• 52:05
  SPEAKER_00: So we incorporated the company, it became a limited company, um, and me and Scott um are the directors of the company, yeah, and sort of just made it official and you know, rebranded and re-pointed our direction as to this is what we do now.
• 52:22
  SPEAKER_00: Because previously, you know, we we had the vans, they said riverback catering, they were all about outside catering, and it it didn't really didn't really portray who we now were having evolved so much.
• 52:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so we've got a lovely local designer, Michelle Smythe from iDesign and Kendall.
• 52:39
  SPEAKER_00: Um, she she did our rebranding for Lake Sandwiches, it's branding its own right now.
• 52:44
  SPEAKER_00: And since we've done that over the last three years, yeah, the business has just accelerated.
• 52:49
  SPEAKER_00: Has it?
• 52:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we've had the growth opportunities, have been amazing.
• 52:52
  SPEAKER_00: The the So when you say growth opportunities, what does that mean?
• 52:56
  SPEAKER_00: So it basically means lot more people want to stock our products, you know, bottom line.
• 53:01
  SPEAKER_00: But mainly the opportunity is there because we we are a bigger business, yeah.
• 53:05
  SPEAKER_00: Bigger businesses want us, yeah.
• 53:08
  SPEAKER_00: So we do there's still more work to be done, don't get me wrong.
• 53:10
  SPEAKER_00: We are looking at our go our goals and objectives for the the next 12 months, is we're working towards getting a salsa accreditation, okay.
• 53:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that will again open up more opportunities for bigger.
• 53:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so it it's it's an accreditation basically.
• 53:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's the I'll have to sp I'll normally have it written down to know that it's safe.
• 53:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh uh oh I can't remember now.
• 53:33
  SPEAKER_00: Um but it's it's an accreditation that you get.
• 53:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like the supermarkets and things, they are they have BRC accreditation.
• 53:40
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 53:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it's the first rung on the ladder of accreditation through uh an awarding body who makes sure that all of our practices and processes are are what we are.
• 53:50
  SPEAKER_00: And the reason why a lot of companies need to have these accreditations is so that they can get new new contracts or bigger contracts with bigger businesses.
• 53:58
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot more um opportunities for us to be able to supply even locally into some more tourist attractions that are run by larger organisations that they have to have that as a minimum requirement.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 54:12
  SPEAKER_00: So they they won't trade with you know sole traders or smaller businesses who don't have these accreditations, yeah.
• 54:18
  SPEAKER_00: And normally it is only businesses of a certain size that it is it's not that it's just worth it, but that you are actually able to fulfil the requirements of these awarded bodies because you know they they're quite meticulous, and there's quite a lot of sort of tick boxes that you you have to show that you're doing, yeah.
• 54:36
  SPEAKER_00: And for smaller businesses, it's it's really hard to try and cover everything, yeah, because you're working within your parameters, but we're there now, you know.
• 54:45
  SPEAKER_00: We we sort of have all of our process and things.
• 54:48
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what we we've been working towards that since before COVID, yeah.
• 54:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and so now it's quite exciting because we feel like we're we're there now, we're we're just about there.
• 54:58
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, that's one of our work goals for the next 12 months, 20, 25, 26.
• 55:03
  SPEAKER_00: And that will hopefully just begin to really accelerate our brand a bit more.
• 55:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and what I love that you said goals.
• 55:12
  SPEAKER_00: So, do you have any personal goals or just the business?
• 55:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I have yeah, got quite a few personal goals.
• 55:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, one of you want to share.
• 55:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, one of personal goals, probably top of the list, is trying to find more work-life balance.
• 55:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, um, I'm one of those people that because I would describe myself as a workaholic, yeah, sometimes I don't know if it's through choice or just because it that's you know I'm conditioned to work like that now.
• 55:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I don't really know.
• 55:38
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm one of those people that even when I'm on any kind of leave, yeah, I never am.
• 55:44
  SPEAKER_00: And it takes me a long time to wind down because I'm still in that I need to be doing something.
• 55:49
  SPEAKER_00: I can't relax, I can't sit still.
• 55:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I I'm trying to make that as one of my goals is to have a better work-life balance because we do have such an amazing team at work.
• 55:59
  SPEAKER_00: They shout out to my team, they are fantastic, and you know, they they can do everything, they can with the day-to-day operations, and they have over the last 12 months.
• 56:09
  SPEAKER_00: My husband's been out of the business because he um he got diagnosed with throat cancer.
• 56:15
  SPEAKER_00: And so, as a family, we've had all that to navigate as well as trying to keep the business not only going but growing, and the team have just been amazing.
• 56:25
  SPEAKER_00: They've they've taken the slack, they've made sure that we have been able to attend appointments, yeah, cope with this time off.
• 56:32
  SPEAKER_00: They've tried, you know, they've taken a lot of pressure off me by just being able to run things and saying, I'll take over that, you know, don't worry about it.
• 56:40
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, they they're an amazing team.
• 56:43
  SPEAKER_00: We don't need to, you know, nobody needs to micromanage anybody, and so I know that we we can have work more work like that.
• 56:50
  SPEAKER_00: And how is your husband now?
• 56:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's yeah, he's really good.
• 56:53
  SPEAKER_00: Um about a couple of months ago, he he got the all clear.
• 56:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's great.
• 56:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he just has to have the the follow-up appointments now.
• 57:00
  SPEAKER_00: So he goes every two months to Preston just to keep an eye on things for recurring.
• 57:05
  SPEAKER_00: It was a hell of a journey.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 57:07
  SPEAKER_00: Um wouldn't want to go through that again, but he's um he's doing well, he's got a few side effects that are obviously still causing him.
• 57:14
  SPEAKER_00: He's not back at work yet.
• 57:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh yeah.
• 57:16
  SPEAKER_00: Um still causing him a bits of issues.
• 57:18
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, but they you know they're quite confident that these are all very, very normal.
• 57:22
  SPEAKER_00: Some might stay, some probably will go, but they're all you know, they're all very livable, and he will he'll be able to come, you know, come back and do oh that's great.
• 57:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, it's a lot, isn't it?
• 57:35
  SPEAKER_00: When you're also constantly thinking about your business because that is your thing.
• 57:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and how when did you say you started from your parents' bungalow?
• 57:46
  SPEAKER_00: What year was that?
• 57:48
  SPEAKER_00: That was in 2008.
• 57:50
  SPEAKER_00: Having up to 20 years, yeah.
• 57:52
  SPEAKER_00: It'll be um so this this year will be our 17th year.
• 57:58
  SPEAKER_00: My goodness, yeah.
• 58:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, congratulations! Thank you.
• 58:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, it's quite when you look back, it is quite an achievement.
• 58:05
  SPEAKER_00: So if you were on like this is your life or you know, through the keyhole, yeah.
• 58:12
  SPEAKER_00: How old are we?
• 58:14
  SPEAKER_00: Hoping that was the right theme to you.
• 58:16
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know who lives in a house, like if you're on one of those programs, what would you tell yourself, your younger self now?
• 58:25
  SPEAKER_00: I would oh, that's a really tricky one.
• 58:27
  SPEAKER_00: Looking back and saying, What would I say to myself?
• 58:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I'll probably say to myself, you're stronger than you think, and go with your gut instinct because what I've found over the years is whatever my initial thought is, it normally is how it ends up panning out.
• 58:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that is with most things, and in all the time in hindsight, me and my husband will say to each other, We said, didn't we?
• 58:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we said our gut, but we went with the mind takes over, and then you overthink everything, so they think that would be one thing.
• 58:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, exactly.
• 58:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I think intuition is so underrated, yeah, and and it's massive in everything in life.
• 59:04
  SPEAKER_00: I think you you know yourself, yeah.
• 59:06
  SPEAKER_00: You get that feeling, um, and if you follow that feeling, more times than not, it it leads you where you need to be going.
• 59:13
  SPEAKER_00: So I believe in that.
• 59:15
  SPEAKER_00: And also, I I think I think I might have read this off something Stephen Bartlett said.
• 59:20
  SPEAKER_00: Do you know it's all hard to know?
• 59:21
  SPEAKER_00: I quote stuff like it's mine, but I see so many meetings.
• 59:24
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna I'm gonna say it was him, it might not be him, somebody might have just said it was him.
• 59:27
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I read it and it said something about looking basically like you know, when you when you you're thinking about, you know, you're not achieving what you wanted to be achieving, or you know, you sort of some people come to a point where you're stuck and it'll either be because you can't get momentum either through finances or underresourced or all those kind of things.
• 59:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you feel like you're missing goals.
• 59:50
  SPEAKER_00: It's to look back and actually see how far you've come, and like what we were just saying there about being 17 years into a business that has gone through you know COVID and an energy crisis, yeah, you know, and all the the staffing issues that people suffer and things, yeah, and and you know, recessions and yeah, to try and think that we're 17 years into business and it's still growing, yeah.
• 1:00:15
  SPEAKER_00: That that's a big achievement.
• 1:00:17
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's sometimes good to look back and you give yourself that bit of a pat on the back for credit that you that you need to go, yeah.
• 1:00:25
  SPEAKER_00: Come on, just because we're not taking the leaps that we want to be, yeah, we are still we are still making waves.
• 1:00:31
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 1:00:33
  SPEAKER_00: So, in terms of growth, then there is another arm to your business.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_00: There is.
• 1:00:38
  SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, last year in 2024, we officially launched another brand that had been in the work since um just before COVID, actually.
• 1:00:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, it's uh a business that we uh called Brandroth Foods.
• 1:00:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 1:00:53
  SPEAKER_00: And where did the name come from?
• 1:00:54
  SPEAKER_00: So the name came from.
• 1:00:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we really struggled with a name.
• 1:00:57
  SPEAKER_00: We wanted a name that encapsulated a similar story to Lake Sandwiches, where the business came from and our values, which is using locally sourced produce, yeah, but also encapsulating the food element and and that food is there to nurture and support, and you know, really getting the values back to food that it's not just something that's processed in a factory and put in a packet.
• 1:01:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and then bringing it back.
• 1:01:22
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly, yeah, yeah.
• 1:01:23
  SPEAKER_00: Tasteless and full of rubbish.
• 1:01:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, pull it back the cellophane.
• 1:01:27
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:01:28
  SPEAKER_00: So we we it took us ages, and it was a family friend that suggested the name, and the reason he suggests it was because he's an avid walker and he's done the Wainwrights about a hundred times.
• 1:01:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and he said, What about Brandra?
• 1:01:41
  SPEAKER_00: Because that's uh it's a a Wainwright fell.
• 1:01:44
  SPEAKER_00: Oh and it's uh not one of the the big ones that everyone tries to pick on.
• 1:01:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's there.
• 1:01:49
  SPEAKER_00: If anyone wants to look it up, it's there.
• 1:01:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um so we're like, hmm, okay.
• 1:01:52
  SPEAKER_00: So once I started investigating it, uh-huh, there was quite a few connections that were made because I had borrowed from the library to try and think of a name.
• 1:01:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:02:00
  SPEAKER_00: Like uh it was a book of old Cumbrian dialects.
• 1:02:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, cool.
• 1:02:03
  SPEAKER_00: And I loved looking through it at all the shout out to the library, by the way.
• 1:02:06
  SPEAKER_00: Shout out to the library, yeah.
• 1:02:08
  SPEAKER_00: Um and there was some great things, and in there, I can't remember if it was the word brandrith or it was something a bit like the dictionary does, you know, something a bit similar.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:02:16
  SPEAKER_00: That it described a brandrith.
• 1:02:18
  SPEAKER_00: No, it was in there, it was um it was a description, it was a I think they said it was an old furnace term for a cooking pot that that hung.
• 1:02:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it was not the cooking pot, the the frame that you um like a tripod that you hang with a a chain that you hang a cooking pot over a fire for cooking.
• 1:02:38
  SPEAKER_00: So that was what a Brandrith was.
• 1:02:40
  SPEAKER_00: Oh right.
• 1:02:41
  SPEAKER_00: Um and so when I googled it, yeah, and then I saw a picture of like a Brandrith frame, yeah, and I looked at Brandreth Fell, yeah, I thought, oh my god, like the the tripod element of the the Brandrith and the Brandreth Fell.
• 1:02:54
  SPEAKER_00: So Brandra Fell has three uh ridges, meeting points from other areas that meets at that point, and it just it encapsulated sort of everything that we wanted to try and put into the brand.
• 1:03:08
  SPEAKER_00: So it had a food connection, it had a local connection, and also it had that like meet meeting point, yeah.
• 1:03:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that's how we like to think of food.
• 1:03:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, is um, and the reason why we created Brand of Foods was because my grandma, um who's now past um at the time was um elderly in her 90s, uh living on her own at home, wanted to stay at home, didn't want to go into any care.
• 1:03:31
  SPEAKER_00: And my auntie and me and husband were going to see her, and my auntie worked, and obviously we worked, and struggling to um you know care for ourselves, yeah, as everyone does with busy lives.
• 1:03:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and she had carers coming in.
• 1:03:45
  SPEAKER_00: The carers sometimes you know they were 30-minute visits, so the other things that they had to do, they couldn't make any food, so it all had to be prepared.
• 1:03:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I know a lot of the time my auntie had been getting meals from MS, like you say, PS film lid and all the rest of it.
• 1:04:00
  SPEAKER_00: And but it's just the grayness, isn't it?
• 1:04:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is, and we're always serving some of them, even the food that you can buy from you know big national brands that we won't we won't name in shame, but we probably all know who they are, yeah.
• 1:04:11
  SPEAKER_00: Is that you know door-to-door meals on wheels type thing, yeah.
• 1:04:14
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you can get these companies that provide food, and we've tried them all, and actually the the quality isn't great, but the the thing that I was hearing massively, the thing that I was hearing from a lot of people was we don't like it, but we buy it because it's convenient.
• 1:04:30
  SPEAKER_00: Nothing else, yeah.
• 1:04:31
  SPEAKER_00: Like, what yeah, and what we found was my grandma had um dementia, okay, and through sort of being malnourished in a sense, um that deteriorates quite quick.
• 1:04:44
  SPEAKER_00: And what I found was obviously we we were able to batch cook food from work and things, and I'd freeze it and we'd keep it.
• 1:04:51
  SPEAKER_00: And if we were going and it was our evening to you know go and help prepare a meal, we'd sit down and give her a hot meal because sometimes for easiness she would have a pat lunch, yeah, and it reminded me of like what children should have at lunchtime, not what an elder lady should be having on a winter evening.
• 1:05:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I felt quite sad and really hot.
• 1:05:10
  SPEAKER_00: It was nice when we were giving her a meal because she would start to have nostalgic memories about food, you know, from childhood.
• 1:05:18
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god, Mel, you're gonna make me cry.
• 1:05:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that is that is where we wanted to go with the business is provide nourishing meals for for people who need that nutrition because it impacts the health.
• 1:05:33
  SPEAKER_00: You know, she used to sit there smiling while she was eating food rather than picking and going, No, I don't want it.
• 1:05:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then you know, she would be perky the next day, and you just see that that energy level had gone up, and to have that those memories of you know, either childhood family meals or school dinners, yeah, it was that sort of in not inspired us, but it solidified what what we try have tried to achieve with our business, which is Myself and my husband, now my daughter, we love food, yeah, and we love everything to do with food.
• 1:06:06
  SPEAKER_00: And we love going out with friends and family and sharing food and cooking for people, and yeah, we think the joy that food brings does bring people together brings people together, um, and also it it it what of our strapline is for Brandra Foods, we satisfy appetites and lift spirits, yeah.
• 1:06:25
  SPEAKER_00: And that's the the whole thing of it is sometimes say like my grandma, yeah.
• 1:06:31
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes in some people's day, the only thing that they might be looking forward to that day is having a nice meal, yeah.
• 1:06:38
  SPEAKER_00: And so to be able to provide that bit of joy and the nutrition and the things that they need, yeah, that was really important to us.
• 1:06:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um and the reason why we wanted to launch it as well was um through passion, predominantly, because of our personal um experiences, but also because with the business that we sort of rebranded with in 2022, yeah, the some the sandwich uh industry and the food to go industry, you know, it has quite a peaks and troughs in our season.
• 1:07:09
  SPEAKER_00: So at the moment, lovely, lovely season.
• 1:07:12
  SPEAKER_00: This is our busiest time of year.
• 1:07:14
  SPEAKER_00: We have tourists, we have the weather, yeah.
• 1:07:16
  SPEAKER_00: It is sandwich season, but you know, come November time, and we have a little uptake at Christmas because of a seasonal range, but come November until March, it's it's quite low season, yeah, and sales drop off quite rapidly.
• 1:07:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um we do have other you know streams where we still do sandwich platters and things for um outside catering for meetings and things, but predominantly, you know, the the peak seasons for us, and we do have peaks and troughs.
• 1:07:43
  SPEAKER_00: So with the the intro, yeah, with the introduction of the handmade meals, yeah.
• 1:07:48
  SPEAKER_00: We we are hoping that that will predominantly be the peaks of that business.
• 1:07:52
  SPEAKER_00: We'll be in more in cold weather, yeah.
• 1:07:54
  SPEAKER_00: And when people are wanting you know more than food your products then should cover your whole year.
• 1:08:00
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah, yeah, it should it should balance out our um that's great workload, um and it just helps with staffing levels and things as well because it is hard to manage when you've got such peaks and troughs, yeah.
• 1:08:12
  SPEAKER_00: Especially you know, recruiting a lot of our team are permanent.
• 1:08:15
  SPEAKER_00: We do have temporary staff that come in during to flex our school holidays and things, which works quite well with uni students and things, yeah, but it it always is a challenge to manage, so evening it out will help us manage that better and grow better.
• 1:08:29
  SPEAKER_00: So we did launch that last year, and unfortunately, because of the circumstances with a husband, yes, very shortly after being diagnosed with root cancer, we um we have in effect had the rains on everything.
• 1:08:43
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, we were planning last year to do and this year to do a real big marketing portion and grow that side of the business.
• 1:08:50
  SPEAKER_00: So we are set up ready, but we've just sort of said towards the end of this year, once once winter hits, yeah, this will be the time now that we'll now Scott's on on the road to recovery, yeah.
• 1:09:00
  SPEAKER_00: Um, is we'll start to ramp that up and let everybody know who we are and what we're doing.
• 1:09:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's great.
• 1:09:07
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, um I think it's also great that you're you did put the brakes on and you did prioritize life and rearrange things and say, well, actually, yeah, you know, why pile on more more and more and more pressure?
• 1:09:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, because you're both part of the journey.
• 1:09:23
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly, yeah.
• 1:09:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think that's great.
• 1:09:26
  SPEAKER_00: Wow, yeah.
• 1:09:28
  SPEAKER_00: So how do you sleep at night?
• 1:09:29
  SPEAKER_00: You sleep really well.
• 1:09:31
  SPEAKER_00: Um I normally do, my husband has always laughed at me saying that one, I could sleep wherever, yeah, you know, like just give me a floor and that's me, I'm fine.
• 1:09:41
  SPEAKER_00: And two, as soon as my head hits that pillow, yeah, um, I'm gone, you know, be talking to me and I'll be I'll be away.
• 1:09:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I haven't over the last 12 months my sleep has been affected quite dramatically.
• 1:09:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so I have found it difficult to get to sleep because of everything on my mind, yeah.
• 1:09:58
  SPEAKER_00: But um, no, normally not too bad.
• 1:10:00
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, and you know, I'm finding ways of winding down for sleep.
• 1:10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Have you found that that's changing as you're getting older and as you're growing?
• 1:10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, massively.
• 1:10:11
  SPEAKER_00: I do think that we, you know, as much as we adapt in our working lives, yeah, you you sort of evolving in your personal life because of the age that you get into.
• 1:10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:10:22
  SPEAKER_00: And we're just talking about it with my husband last night, saying, you know, isn't it weird how I find that I've just uh reached out to a lot of my friends recently to catch up because we've all been busy and arranging meetups and everyone's sort of in in the same boat.
• 1:10:35
  SPEAKER_00: You get to a certain age and you know, all your ailments seem to be the same.
• 1:10:40
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of us have got teenage kids, so we're all having a moan about that and the different things that's going on, and and then you know, you're sort of talking about our parents getting older, yeah.
• 1:10:49
  SPEAKER_00: Again, they're all at the same age, and yeah, it's just funny how life adapts and yeah evolves, and you get to those stages where you end up saying things that your parents just say to you, and you're like, oh, that's so nice.
• 1:11:05
  SPEAKER_00: And what's really nice is you're you're just your energy is really infectious.
• 1:11:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's really nice to be around.
• 1:11:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a kind of a warm hug with a bit of step aerobics.
• 1:11:17
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 1:11:18
  SPEAKER_00: I'll take that, yeah.
• 1:11:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, you're the same though.
• 1:11:22
  SPEAKER_00: I find your energy really infectious, and it's like I know from the first time that I met you, yeah, when we're at a pink link event, yeah.
• 1:11:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um I just I just we had an instant connection.
• 1:11:33
  SPEAKER_00: We did our love of pink, yes, we found that as a mutual connection.
• 1:11:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um just I just yeah, there's certain people isn't there that that you connect with, yeah.
• 1:11:43
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, it's a good chemistry, yeah, yeah.
• 1:11:45
  SPEAKER_00: And and you just yeah, you every meeting with you feel uplifted afterwards.
• 1:11:50
  SPEAKER_00: Oh thank you, what a lovely thing to say.
• 1:11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Nice, not no commission paid as well.
• 1:11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oh thank you, I really appreciate that.
• 1:11:58
  SPEAKER_00: That's lovely.
• 1:11:59
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:11:59
  SPEAKER_00: No, I do, I do, um I do enjoy your company, and we had loads of fun at the Uvis, didn't we?
• 1:12:07
  SPEAKER_00: We did, I did have to leave early because my feet were on fire.
• 1:12:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's like it was too painful.
• 1:12:14
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it was good, it was so good.
• 1:12:16
  SPEAKER_00: Notable things.
• 1:12:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um Scania's earrings.
• 1:12:19
  SPEAKER_00: Can I just give a shout out to the earrings?
• 1:12:21
  SPEAKER_00: They were amazing because my friend Katia that attended with me, um, because Scott couldn't, that was when he was having his operation.
• 1:12:29
  SPEAKER_00: He'd had his operation the day before.
• 1:12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Oh god.
• 1:12:31
  SPEAKER_00: He was so um so Katy came with me, yeah, and she'll still talk about it now if I mention it.
• 1:12:37
  SPEAKER_00: She goes, Oh, that was the lady with the beautiful earrings.
• 1:12:40
  SPEAKER_00: I think she would have tried to steal them off you if you'd have been lying around.
• 1:12:44
  SPEAKER_00: There's no drama in the earrings, there's no point.
• 1:12:47
  SPEAKER_00: They were exact, they were gorgeous.
• 1:12:49
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:12:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um and yeah, and yeah, the other notable thing was just that we had uh an amazing evening.
• 1:12:57
  SPEAKER_00: Um was that your first that was easy?
• 1:13:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was mine as well.
• 1:13:01
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, was it?
• 1:13:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll be there you then.
• 1:13:03
  SPEAKER_00: Are you a finalist this year?
• 1:13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Do you like the way it's worked that in?
• 1:13:07
  SPEAKER_00: That is have you done this before?
• 1:13:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I am, I'm a finalist.
• 1:13:13
  SPEAKER_00: I do so excited.
• 1:13:14
  SPEAKER_00: I do need to keep, I think I just touched my microphone.
• 1:13:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um I do I do need to keep reminding myself because it's a pinch me moment of so great.
• 1:13:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the the second germ, a finalist.
• 1:13:25
  SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
• 1:13:26
  SPEAKER_00: I feel really honoured.
• 1:13:27
  SPEAKER_00: Were you a finalist last year as well?
• 1:13:29
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's amazing compared to it.
• 1:13:30
  SPEAKER_00: In the same category, so the family business category.
• 1:13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um amazing, how wonderful! Yeah, yeah, like the big question is what are we gonna wear?
• 1:13:39
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, well, that is how you got your your speech ready for when you're like, wasn't it colour?
• 1:13:44
  SPEAKER_00: Um no, but I should I really should because I did last year, I was quite prepared, yeah, just in case and just in case.
• 1:13:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to be like, yeah, that person going, oh no, yeah, oh no, what do I say?
• 1:13:54
  SPEAKER_00: But even if you have one preferred, you might forget in the moment from like oh my god, it's not the news, I picked my winners.
• 1:14:05
  SPEAKER_00: Probably will be to be fair.
• 1:14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, it's really exciting.
• 1:14:08
  SPEAKER_00: I was so excited I'll be there.
• 1:14:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that was just talking about vintage.
• 1:14:12
  SPEAKER_00: I got my outfit for last year was off vintage, was it?
• 1:14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And I was gonna do the same again this year, but I have um just won through um the Pink Link Networking group at our last meeting.
• 1:14:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um, I did win a style edit with um the lovely Lee Dancy.
• 1:14:29
  SPEAKER_00: And she so she's going to I want to try and meet with her before the EBAs because I want her to tell me what I should wear.
• 1:14:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, amazing.
• 1:14:37
  SPEAKER_00: You might have something already that just needs a exact or everything in my wardrobe might be the total wrong colour for me, and she'll just throw it all out.
• 1:14:47
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I'm gonna take your advice and try and haggle her all new wardrobe off Vinted.
• 1:14:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just knock off a 50p.
• 1:14:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, come on, this is for the Evas.
• 1:14:59
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, I'm very excited to see what you wear there.
• 1:15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so yeah, I'll have my meeting with Lee and then hopefully we'll be able to pick an outfit.
• 1:15:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and that'll be good, and it'll be good to see you there.
• 1:15:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it'd be really, really fun.
• 1:15:10
  SPEAKER_00: So when we talk about awards, yeah, why are they why are they important?
• 1:15:15
  SPEAKER_00: Why is it important to put yourself forward?
• 1:15:17
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I think it's really important this year actually for our business has been we've all called it like the year of awards.
• 1:15:23
  SPEAKER_00: So we've we've been nominated for quite a lot of finals this year.
• 1:15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, cool.
• 1:15:27
  SPEAKER_00: So we were a finalist at the Sammy's.
• 1:15:30
  SPEAKER_00: I was just gonna say they won with a cool name.
• 1:15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:15:33
  SPEAKER_00: Sammy's.
• 1:15:34
  SPEAKER_00: So that's um industry award, it's organised by the British Sandwich Association and it's uh an industry award for organised by the British Sandwich Association, and it's it's really big.
• 1:15:45
  SPEAKER_00: What do they call the Sammys and not the Sarmies?
• 1:15:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think they try to do it to sound like the Grammys.
• 1:15:49
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I see.
• 1:15:51
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yes.
• 1:15:52
  SPEAKER_00: They don't think that's where it comes from.
• 1:15:53
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they'll have to correct us if we want, if we won't.
• 1:15:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, that's where they they do it for the whole industry.
• 1:15:59
  SPEAKER_00: So a lot of the the leaders in the industry, like Greg's, the um the Sainsbury's in there, MS, they all go for a lot of the big awards that they have, yeah.
• 1:16:09
  SPEAKER_00: And then there is an award that small independent businesses like ourselves can go for, yeah, and which is called the British Sandwich Designer of the Year competition.
• 1:16:17
  SPEAKER_00: Sandwich Designer, amazing.
• 1:16:19
  SPEAKER_00: And we we have been entering that since 2015.
• 1:16:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I got to the final um in 2015, yeah.
• 1:16:26
  SPEAKER_00: So it's like 10 years apart, yeah.
• 1:16:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then we got to the final again this year in 2025.
• 1:16:32
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's quite intense.
• 1:16:34
  SPEAKER_00: We we all have to submit recipes so all the team has a go.
• 1:16:38
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I love that! Yeah, yeah, oh cool.
• 1:16:40
  SPEAKER_00: We all develop using sponsors' ingredients, yeah.
• 1:16:43
  SPEAKER_00: We all have to develop some innovative innovative designs, yeah.
• 1:16:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and and obviously showcase why we've chosen them, um their suitability for resale, all those kind of things.
• 1:16:57
  SPEAKER_00: So, just on that, yeah, what do we think about strawberries and cream?
• 1:17:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think well I think it's ridiculous.
• 1:17:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um my friends did go to Japan earlier this year, and one of the photographs that she sent me was a strawberries and cream sandwich.
• 1:17:14
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 1:17:14
  SPEAKER_00: I still have it on my phone.
• 1:17:15
  SPEAKER_00: Oh wow.
• 1:17:16
  SPEAKER_00: That was before it became this crazy big thing thing.
• 1:17:19
  SPEAKER_00: So she said it was lovely, did she?
• 1:17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:17:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, what kind of bread was it?
• 1:17:23
  SPEAKER_00: Brioche.
• 1:17:24
  SPEAKER_00: It was yeah, it was like a sweet brioshi bread.
• 1:17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, no, that would be very nice.
• 1:17:28
  SPEAKER_00: Granary, yeah.
• 1:17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Um what what kind of invent innovations do we come up with, Ben at these?
• 1:17:35
  SPEAKER_00: What's the craziest thing?
• 1:17:36
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, so uh the craziest one that I thought over the years was one of our team had decided to do it and it was lovely.
• 1:17:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was a take on, I think she got like inspiration almost a Jamaican inspiration, okay.
• 1:17:49
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and she used bacon and banana and there were various other things in there, yeah.
• 1:17:54
  SPEAKER_00: Honey, I think a bit of pineapple.
• 1:17:56
  SPEAKER_00: I get that with the salt and sweet, yeah.
• 1:17:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and actually it was really good, yeah.
• 1:18:00
  SPEAKER_00: It was good, and that didn't get through.
• 1:18:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um but but you know, we've got to keep that's really cool, pushing the boundaries and thinking of new ideas.
• 1:18:08
  SPEAKER_00: You could be like that famous crisp um company that comes up with the the sandwich of the month or whatever it is, yeah.
• 1:18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, the different ones.
• 1:18:16
  SPEAKER_00: How brave are you gonna be?
• 1:18:18
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:18:18
  SPEAKER_00: You've got to be brave to to find new things, yeah.
• 1:18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I meant as in customers.
• 1:18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, okay.
• 1:18:24
  SPEAKER_00: Like, how brave are you gonna try this flavor this month?
• 1:18:27
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:18:28
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, that is a good thing, you know.
• 1:18:29
  SPEAKER_00: And a lot of people do like their favourites though, don't they?
• 1:18:32
  SPEAKER_00: So they do.
• 1:18:34
  SPEAKER_00: Do I want to try it or do I just want to stay with what I know and I like?
• 1:18:37
  SPEAKER_00: You know, when I was a student, I went through a massive ham roll from Greg's face, and now I look on it and think, how stupid, like how expensive was that compared to buying six rolls and making it myself.
• 1:18:48
  SPEAKER_00: True, true, and it was like 90% butter, so that's probably why just that it's just that indulgence moment that you you enjoy.
• 1:18:56
  SPEAKER_00: That crusty roll.
• 1:18:57
  SPEAKER_00: I went through a stage a lot of years ago um when I worked for Mum and I was business.
• 1:19:02
  SPEAKER_00: Greg's was quite handy there.
• 1:19:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, mince Christmas, mince pies.
• 1:19:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'd get a pack of four thinking they'll last me for the week that afternoon.
• 1:19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you realised that I'd eaten them all within an hour.
• 1:19:13
  SPEAKER_00: I just want more.
• 1:19:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'll save two for tomorrow.
• 1:19:15
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly.
• 1:19:16
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe I'll save one for tomorrow.
• 1:19:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then you say, I'll just be in festive, yeah.
• 1:19:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we need to put those down.
• 1:19:24
  SPEAKER_00: We've all got that guidebook.
• 1:19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 1:19:27
  SPEAKER_00: Indulgence.
• 1:19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, so you're in the final this year as well.
• 1:19:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so we me and Scott actually attended uh the finals this year in May.
• 1:19:36
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 1:19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so we had to go and well, it was my design that got through from the semi-finals.
• 1:19:42
  SPEAKER_00: And what was it?
• 1:19:43
  SPEAKER_00: It was what did I call it?
• 1:19:45
  SPEAKER_00: It was uh the rise of ham.
• 1:19:47
  SPEAKER_00: Oh because drama.
• 1:19:50
  SPEAKER_00: So the ingredient was uh ham from uh uh one of the sponsor ingredients.
• 1:19:55
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you say sponsor ingredients, what do you mean?
• 1:19:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so the uh companies who have ingredients they they sponsor the competition, so that obviously so you have to base it around.
• 1:20:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah, you have to use that ingredient to inspire the yeah, otherwise it'll be endless to design exactly yeah to inspire the design.
• 1:20:13
  SPEAKER_00: And also I think they get out of it the fact of coming up with ideas, looking at potential market opportunities they might have missed, yeah.
• 1:20:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, getting their name out there, I suppose, as well, but show showcasing their products to the wider, wider industry and market.
• 1:20:28
  SPEAKER_00: So I I get why they do it, and um a lot of the sponsors are the same every year, but they'll they usually try to use a new ingredient that they've got on ingredient that they're trying to try to boost, yeah, yeah, do something with, give it give it legs again, yeah.
• 1:20:43
  SPEAKER_00: Um but yeah, this one was a gammon ham.
• 1:20:46
  SPEAKER_00: I chose to you work with that one because it it was fitting with what we do.
• 1:20:50
  SPEAKER_00: We we do use a lot of ham, the area that we are, you know, it's a key ingredient people like, and uh and this ingredient was used um you know, handmade methods, yeah, you know, wasn't didn't use preservatives and all those kind of things, it was quite a natural, naturally made product.
• 1:21:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I thought, yeah, I can work with that.
• 1:21:09
  SPEAKER_00: And so I I developed it just with researching what is quite key area at the moment, gut health.
• 1:21:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I you know I researched that for myself personally as well.
• 1:21:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I tried to use I used rye bread because it was lower gluten content.
• 1:21:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um, I used some sauerkraut because that's known to have um good for your gut health.
• 1:21:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, good for your gut health.
• 1:21:30
  SPEAKER_00: And there was um so yeah, and that was that was how the recipe was developed.
• 1:21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:21:35
  SPEAKER_00: Um made up a sauce that went in it, um, some um gherkins, yeah, and um just really tried to play on the flavours and the resale ability of it.
• 1:21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:21:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um that really plays into your sort of circling right back because we're nearly at the start of our walk.
• 1:21:52
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah um back to your performance days.
• 1:21:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's like those creative skills are really coming into their own device.
• 1:21:59
  SPEAKER_00: And also, um, when we got judged, um so you had to make your we travelled to London, yeah, and we went to the Lancaster London Hotel, which is where the competition was held in the day, and then the awards in the evening.
• 1:22:10
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we had to make up our uh sandwiches and we had to present them to the judging panel, which was made up of independents and the um the sponsors, and also Theo Randall was there, the celebrity show.
• 1:22:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um and they all judge it, and you have to stand at the table and you have to tell them about your own.
• 1:22:27
  SPEAKER_00: I can't tell you, yeah, yeah.
• 1:22:28
  SPEAKER_00: And so um the nerves were there, but yeah, I think some of those um those skills that I learned back back in the college days uh really paid off, yeah.
• 1:22:38
  SPEAKER_00: Um there was a reason.
• 1:22:40
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly, and it's it's how everything evolves and comes together.
• 1:22:43
  SPEAKER_00: There's always a plan.
• 1:22:44
  SPEAKER_00: There is, we just don't see it yet.
• 1:22:46
  SPEAKER_00: No, exactly, but it's all mapped out it is um so yeah, we didn't we didn't we didn't win, okay, but the whole experience is is why we do it.
• 1:22:55
  SPEAKER_00: And going back to your question as well, what why the awards?
• 1:22:59
  SPEAKER_00: Um we we also were finalists in the family business, North West Family Business Awards this year.
• 1:23:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh we went to Liverpool, um, and again uh we were nominated in five categories.
• 1:23:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah we're fortunate we didn't win, yeah.
• 1:23:11
  SPEAKER_00: Um and I always think I think because of the year that I've had, yeah, um I did honestly take it quite personally this year.
• 1:23:17
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, just normally I would think it's an amazing achievement to get to it because there's so many applicants.
• 1:23:23
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, um just to be seen at that.
• 1:23:25
  SPEAKER_00: Exactly, you have to be selected so somebody's seen something in us, but I think because of just the year we've been through, I felt like one of my first thoughts was you know, you know, the old saying, always a bridesmaid, never the bride.
• 1:23:38
  SPEAKER_00: And um, and I just thought, oh, like I take it personally for our team as well because I'm like, they work so hard, and we've strived and we've tried, and and then I remember it was at the Northwest Family Business Award.
• 1:23:49
  SPEAKER_00: Again, that was in May, and that was the day after the the summit.
• 1:23:52
  SPEAKER_00: It was uh a lady from the plastic bottle company, okay.
• 1:23:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um, who I think they've they've been um to the Northwest Family Business Awards for several years, and they won an award this year, and she had actually said in her acceptance speech, yeah, um she she used most of it to let everybody who was there know that keep doing what you're doing, it's an amazing achievement to be here, and we have been where you've been, and we've kept coming back, and we've kept growing our business, and we've just what you needed to hear.
• 1:24:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we've just kept doing what we do because you do get notice.
• 1:24:28
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and I think that's the important thing about awards.
• 1:24:30
  SPEAKER_00: Some people say, you know, that people just go for awards because it's another another tick box or another, you know, uh what you call it, uh like a trophy on the mantelpiece kind of thing.
• 1:24:41
  SPEAKER_00: But I think the the important thing about awards is that it's recognition, yeah, and it's recognition from people, you know, people who literally they are scrutinizing your business and they're looking at it in the outside world because when you're working in in a business, you're doing exactly that, you're in it, and it's really hard to look at the bigger picture, look at the outside world, and what we're going back to before, yeah, where looking back where you've come from, what you've achieved, yeah.
• 1:25:08
  SPEAKER_00: Going through an awards process, I think, really affirms for you what you're doing, why you're doing it, because you have to go, like the evas, you have to go through that process of finding those answers.
• 1:25:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:25:20
  SPEAKER_00: Who are you, why you do what you do, yeah.
• 1:25:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, what are your achievements?
• 1:25:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, yeah, and it and it really helps you pull out of take you out of what your day-to-day thing, yeah, and reflect on what you've done, yeah, why you're doing it, and it just reaffirms why you're doing it and what you have achieved.
• 1:25:34
  SPEAKER_00: So I do think they're really important, and I think for anybody who goes through the process, they are amazing because it it's hard and you and you have to be honest and you you judge yourself like everyone does, and and all the rest of it.
• 1:25:48
  SPEAKER_00: But once you've come through the other side of it, I think it just it makes you stronger, and whether you win or you don't win, it does give you that platform to go, do you know what we've we've achieved something here and let's keep doing what we're doing.
• 1:25:59
  SPEAKER_00: And also, I guess when you when you do that journey like for the applications or whatever it is, you have to go back and review everything to where you are, and that whole looking bag, you must sit back and think, Oh my god, yeah, like with everything else going on in the year, you still did all these things, yeah.
• 1:26:18
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's phenomenal.
• 1:26:20
  SPEAKER_00: It is amazing.
• 1:26:21
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, what a lovely point to end our little chat.
• 1:26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you.
• 1:26:24
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for a lovely walk.
• 1:26:26
  SPEAKER_00: It's been amazing.
• 1:26:30
  SPEAKER_00: And there we have it, folks.
• 1:26:32
  SPEAKER_00: What a walk that was.
• 1:26:33
  SPEAKER_00: 24 degrees, the sun was beating down on us, and yet somehow the warmth of that conversation made the heat feel worth it.
• 1:26:42
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much, Mel, for your time and for sharing your story with us.
• 1:26:47
  SPEAKER_00: From that college kid studying performing arts in Liverpool, channelling that energy and creativity into the stage, to standing at a table in the Lancaster London Hotel presenting a sandwich to celebrity judges?
• 1:27:02
  SPEAKER_00: Who would have thought those skills would translate so perfectly into running a family business?
• 1:27:08
  SPEAKER_00: You just don't know where your journey is headed.
• 1:27:11
  SPEAKER_00: As Mel said, there's always a plan, we just don't see it yet.
• 1:27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Let's think about that for a moment.
• 1:27:19
  SPEAKER_00: How many times have we looked back at our life and suddenly seen how those seemingly random experiences or detours, those things you thought were dead ends, were actually somehow all connected.
• 1:27:32
  SPEAKER_00: That year living away, those performance skills, the competence to present, the creativity to develop a prize winning sandwich recipe, none of it was wasted.
• 1:27:47
  SPEAKER_00: Keeping with my newfound love for closing with a couple of reflective questions, here are some for you to consider.
• 1:27:54
  SPEAKER_00: Perhaps get your journal out and know what comes up for you as we go through these.
• 1:28:00
  SPEAKER_00: What skills are you sitting on right now that you're not using?
• 1:28:05
  SPEAKER_00: What experience from your past feels completely disconnected from where you are today?
• 1:28:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'd be happy to place a bet that just like Mel and her performing arts background, there's something there, something that you're not seeing yet.
• 1:28:21
  SPEAKER_00: And here's a more challenging question, the one Mel's year has made me consider.
• 1:28:28
  SPEAKER_00: When life throws everything at you, whether it's loss or grief or business challenges, family pressures, do we keep showing up?
• 1:28:38
  SPEAKER_00: Do we keep entering the room even when we've been seen as always the bridesmaid, never the bride, so to speak?
• 1:28:49
  SPEAKER_00: What struck me wasn't the sandwich recipe or the awards or even the impressive business growth.
• 1:28:56
  SPEAKER_00: It was that woman from the plastic bottle company at the Northwest Family Business Awards, the one who used her acceptance speech to tell everyone else, keep doing what you're doing.
• 1:29:10
  SPEAKER_00: We've been where you've been.
• 1:29:48
  SPEAKER_00: Tell us which part of the conversation hit home, share this episode with someone who needs to hear that their past experience wasn't wasted.
• 1:29:59
  SPEAKER_00: They're just waiting to connect to the right future.
• 1:30:02
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're on social media, tag us, tag Mel, tag Leg Sandwiches, tag Brand of Foods, tell us what skills from your past you're going to start using again.
• 1:30:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because I guarantee you, someone in your network needs to hear your story just like we needed to hear Mel's today.
• 1:30:21
  SPEAKER_00: Please subscribe if you haven't already, hit the notification button so you don't miss our next walk and talk.
• 1:30:27
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, when you're in the thick of it right now, whether you're waiting for your moment, whether you feel like you're always coming close but not quite there, keep showing up, keep doing what you're doing.
• 1:30:40
  SPEAKER_00: You've got this.
• 1:30:43
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you for joining us on our walk over Scout Scarf.
• 1:30:46
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep moving, keep questioning, and keep practicing being present, as that's all we have.
• 1:30:56
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again to Queen Accountancy for sponsoring today's episode and supporting independent podcasts like this one.com.
• 1:31:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's sucanya dot com with a four.
• 1:31:19
  SPEAKER_01: Thank you.