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In our week of celebrations around International Women’s Day we held two events on International Women’s Day itself to share the stories of a variety of Urban Female Food Founders and run a mini food fair from female led food producers. Here’s a recap of the day which we ran with our friends Todelli a curated online farm-to-table marketplace for chefs & restaurateurs.

On International Women’s Day 8th March 2020 discover how women with a love of hospitality have worked in London to bring their food and drink visions into a delicious reality. On a day when the world focuses on the achievements of women, you can hear from a number of women chefs, producers, writers, supper club hosts, drinks innovators and more.

Continuing our series of Female Food Founders interviews we’re about to approach a number of exhibitions and trade shows which support food businesses, so we chatted to Karen Green who is speaking at some of these shows. As well as being the author of Recipe for Success, about how to run a successful food business, Karen is the founder of Food Mentor which she set up to help growing food companies overcome commercial challenges.  Our co-founder, Mecca Ibrahim, spoke to Karen for her thoughts on common challenges facing the budding food industries today & how the industry is changing.

In the tenth of our series of Female Food Founders interviews we look at a producer in the growing area of “free from” and allergy foods.  We first met Sonia Mason Founder of Slightly Different Foods  who have the largest range of FODMAP Friendly accredited sauces developed and manufactured in the UK at the huge Allergy and Free From Show at Olympia in London. Our co-founder, Mecca Ibrahim, chatted with Sonia to discover what FODMAP is, how Small Business Sunday helped her business and how to scale up from home kitchen to wider distribution.

In the ninth of our series of Female Food Founders interviews we turn again to  education and training.  We met Catherine Farhina Founder of The Chefs’ Forum – an organisation that brings together leading chefs, colleges and food trade suppliers in the UK and beyond.  She also set up The Chefs’ Forum Educational Foundation to raise funds for young people in the hospitality industry. Our co-founder, Mecca Ibrahim, chatted with Catherine  about how she got into the hospitality business, the importance of developing young chefs and her food inspirations in the industry.

In the eighth of our series of Female Food Founders interviews we turn to the growing demand for cannabis infused drinks and the world of CBD – the non-psychoactive component of the cannabis plant.  We met Gemma Colao Managing Director of OTO CBD a wellness company whose mission is to help people discover the power of CBD through thoughtful and effective products which can easily fit into their daily lives. Our co-founder, Mecca Ibrahim, chatted with Gemma about the regulations of marketing a product associated with cannabis, what the health benefits are and whether the market is really growing in the UK.

In the seventh of our series of Female Food Founders interviews we look the world of tea. Although tea is one of the world’s most popular beverages, it tends not to be treated with the same reverence we see given to coffee.  We met Kim Havelaar founder of Roqberry Tea who is on a mission to blend the rules when it comes to tea.  Our tea loving co-founder, Mecca Ibrahim, chatted with Kim about about the world of tea, how to become a tea sommelier and how to make a product stand out in a crowded market.

In the sixth of our series of Female Food Founders interviews we turn once again to ice cream. But here is a very adult ice cream made in partnership with award winning spirit and liqueur producers.  We met Jane Woodhead co-founder of Speakeasy Ice Cream. Each flavour is made with no artificial additives and features a single alcohol as its centrepiece.  Our co-founder, Mecca Ibrahim, chatted with Jane about about the luxury ice cream market, developing a product for both chefs and consumers and why her logo is a blindfolded tiger.

In the fifth of our series of Female Food Founders interviews we were delighted to interview Renée Elliott who had a mission to push organic and natural food out of the niche it was in back in 1995.  Planet Organic is now the UK’s largest fully certified organic supermarket and sells over 8,000 product lines in eight stores within the M25.  Our co-founder, Mecca Ibrahim, chatted with Renée  about changes in the organic market since the mid nineties, her inspirations and that tricky definition of sustainability.

In the fourth of our series of Female Food Founders interviews we turn to ice cream, as summer is finally here. Also with the Allergy and Free From Show taking place in London, we met Cecily Mills founder of Coconuts Organic, dairy free ice cream.  Cecily’s ice cream secured two investment offers from Dragon’s Den. Our co-founder, Mecca Ibrahim, chatted with Cecily about about dairy-free, Dragons and driving sales in Tesco.

In the second our series of Female Food Founders we meet the co-founder of Grenade. The company’s products, including their famous Carb Killa bars, are sold to over 80 countries. Grenade was sold for £72m to Lion Capital in 2017 and is growing strongly.  Our co-founder, Mecca Ibrahim, chatted with Juliet Barratt co-founder of Grenade about trends, tanks and taking a stand.

Women in the Food Industry brought you an insightful panel event, with a showcase of snacks, & soft drinks from black female food founders. Attendees met an inspirational panel of women who are leveraging their food businesses to celebrate the heritage of black people & also discovered some of the challenges they faced as black women in the food industry and how they overcame them.