Businesses don’t always start in the boardroom, as these founders prove
WORDS: ASHLEIGH PAGE. PHOTO: INSTAGRAM @BRIDGETDAVEY_PHOTOGRAPHY
‘I WANTED TO HELP OTHER BUSY MUMS’
Hanna Dilley, 40, runs toddler food company Benji’s Bites, and lives in Harrogate with her husband, Mark, 51, and their children, Benji, seven, and Reuben, five.
Rocking my newborn, Reuben, in my arms, I tried to quieten his cries. It was 2017, and while on maternity leave from my accountancy job, I was finding it difficult to balance being a mum to a newborn as well as my toddler, Benji, then two. I had little time and energy for cooking, but I didn’t want to turn to ready meals or junk food to keep Benji fed.
Instead, I began batch cooking whenever my husband, Mark, then 45, was home and able to entertain the kids. I’d creep into the kitchen and whip up toddler-friendly curries and spag bol, with veggies and rice on the side. Dividing them into little portions, I kept my freezer well stocked.
After a while, I realised there was a gap in the market for my little frozen dinners. Shop shelves were overloaded with baby foods and weaning purées, but toddler ranges seemed limited. So I started working with dieticians, tested my products with other mums, and got my kitchen approved by the council – a legal requirement for any business handling, cooking and distributing food. By the beginning of 2020, I was ready to launch Benji’s Bites. I advertised my meals on Instagram, and gradually orders started coming in. At first I hand-delivered to York, Harrogate and Leeds, batch cooking orders at 5am when the rest of the house was fast asleep. By autumn 2020, I was ready to launch the products nationwide.
After lots of online research, I found packaging that was wool lined for insulation and packed with ice to keep the product frozen. I found an overnight courier and got busy in the kitchen to fulfil my orders.
Now, three years on, Benji’s Bites has been named by the Evening Standard as the ‘Top Pick’ of all baby and kids’ meal deliveries, which is amazing. I love the flexibility of running my own business – even if the industrial freezers I have in the kitchen and garage are starting to take over the house. I’ve never looked back, though – launching my business is the best decision I ever made.
‘INSPIRED BY MY PUP’
Dee Stringer, 53, runs dog accessories shop slumberinghound.com and lives in north London with her husband, Caine, 47, and her daughter, Eve, 16.
Rummaging through piles of fabric, I smiled when I found a b
