Camilla Lywood – Entrepreneur – Organic Growth And Mistakes Have Led To Success

What A Pickle started about 15 years ago. 

Camilla’s children were young and she very much wanted them to grow up with an adventurous palate!  So she made a mild Tomato Chilli Jam, to introduce them to the delights of spicy and interesting flavours.  It grew from there, with friends and family suggesting approaching local shops to see if they would be interested in selling it.

They were…and so the pans of Tomato Chilli Jam started to boil away in Camilla’s kitchen!

It soon became very clear that this was not the ideal thing in a family home 24/7. So Camilla had to make a decision of either setting up a commercial kitchen or to outsource her production…luckily she had a wonderful local company based close by. They had all the expertise of scaling up and the regulatory knowledge that was necessary to take the business to the next level.

More flavours were added to the range and What a Pickle started to supply a National Supermarket. Camilla feels this taught her her first big lesson. Whilst it was great to be in supermarkets, her margins were small with the supply price giving little room to put prices up when the cost of production rose…Camilla took the decision to retreat, licked her wounds and set on a new path.  What a Pickle now supplies over 350 independent shops throughout the UK, making an honest margin, with much potential customer growth still available.

To have a healthy business Camilla believes in covering as many routes to market as possible, and not putting all your eggs in one basket.  What a Pickle now works with distributors, independent stockists, Amazon, direct sales made via their 2 websites (currently being merged into one) and also through 6 big retail shows each year. This has enabled them to be present in a variety of differing situations, reaching as wide an audience as possible.

In 2018 Camilla’s friend Emma Hallett came on board to help grow the company. This has been highly successful and Emma is now a partner.

Emma took control of the sales side, allowing Camilla time to develop further products in their portfolio.  Camilla’s knowledge has taught her not to over develop products in any one area, as you end up selling less of the different flavours. Rather to develop complimentary products for your current audience to increase your overall sales. This has led to What a Pickle now having 5 main sections of the business:  Chutney, Egg-free Mayos, Sauces for Meat, Dressings and entry into the gift and hamper market – Chutney Gift Boxes. Plus ‘white labelling’ for a handful of customers. i.e. putting their own label/branding on her products.

In October 2023, the opportunity arose to purchase another Shropshire food business.  Cheese Nibbles and What A Pickle! have many synergies, sharing a number of the same customers and the potential for increasing sales on both sides of the businesses was very exciting and an opportunity that made much commercial sense.

What A Pickle! has grown organically through its own success, without huge amounts of money invested.  It might have taken slightly longer but it is a route that Camilla has felt comfortable doing, giving her a lot of satisfaction to see the positive results.  Also, having the right team working with her and supporting each route to market to ensure their success with  What a Pickle products has been crucial in the company’s growth.

Camilla’s advice to fellow entrepreneurs is to make sure that you make time to talk to your aspirational competitors!  “Much can be learnt, though you do have to be brave.  People are generally only too delighted to share their successes and to talk about their journeys  –  there is a reason why they are doing well and to understand this is fascinating and it is always clear the bits that are relevant to you and what you can implement in your business.

It is hard starting up from scratch, but as they say, Rome was not built in a day.  I have made mistakes along the way, but when I do, I have learnt from the experience, you could say that in order to get it right you do have to occasionally get it wrong!”

Social media links:

Instagram: whatapicklecompany/ and cheese.nibbles/

Facebook: whatapicklecompany and CheeseNibbles/

Website: www.what-a-pickle.com/ and www.cheesenibbles.co.uk/

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