In this installment of Start-Up Stories we got the low-down on Griddle from founders Ella Harland and Sophie McGregor. Griddle are an awesome start-up who are bringing together health and convenience to give you delicious, healthy and quick pancakes!
What’s Griddle all about?
Griddle makes American-style wholegrain pancakes, ready to simply pop in the toaster and eat! We don’t think eating delicious and convenient food should mean compromising on health, which is why all of our pancakes are high in fibre and they contain 40% less sugar than competitor pancake brands – meaning more room for toppings – right?! 😉
How did you come up with it?
Sophie and I met by complete chance when I ended up moving in to her apartment in London which I had seen advertised on Spareroom. We very quickly realised that we had a lot in common; both big foodies and also very in to sports.
We’d often go running or to various different gym classes together and one of our favourite pre/post workout meals was pancakes. Due to the versatility of them and also customisable nature (you can basically add any topping you like to a pancake) we found them to be a pretty well rounded as well as delicious meal!
The only problem was they were an absolute faff to make, so as if waking up on a Monday at 6am to go running before work wasn’t already hard enough, we definitely weren’t about to wake up an extra 30 minutes earlier just to cook our breakfast! We searched far and wide for a shop bought version of our pancakes, but all we could find was overly processed pancakes which were full of sugar and about 10 different types of preservatives and e-numbers – not exactly what we wanted to fuel ourselves with!
“So Griddle was created in order to change this and innovate this out-dated food category, by bringing ridiculously tasty, yet still healthy and wholesome pancakes to the masses!”
Did you always want to start a business?
Ella: I think so although I would have never guessed it would be a pancake business! I studied Business at university which peaked my interest in businesses and how they operate, and, well, I have always loved food so I suppose it seemed to make sense to combine the two!
Sophie: I definitely didn’t set out with the goal to start a business for the sake of simply running my own company, but I have always played around with ideas and building business models. I’ve always been excited by creating new concepts and testing if they were viable or not – and to do that with a friend and someone who shares the same values as I do, well what more could you ask for, especially in the FMCG world!
If you could have one celeb advocate for the business who and why?
I think Joe Wicks would be a great one – he shares our passion for an active lifestyle and fuelling your body with wholesome ingredients.
What advice would you give to other budding entrepreneurs?
Get out there, speak to as many people as possible and test the market to validate the demand for your product / service. Once you’ve done this (and providing there is demand and a space for it in the market), GO FOR IT! You’ll kick yourself if you don’t try 😉
Where can people find your perfect pancakes?
Currently in As Nature Intended stores in London, certain Budgens stores and farm-shops in London’s surrounding counties. However we have some very exciting stockist news coming soon as well as a whole new look 😊
What’s next for Griddle?
Fundraising! We’re working with Seedrs as part of their new food and beverage programme to kick start our campaign on the platform. We’re targeting a £150k raise, which we hope will be going live in November. Simultaneously, we have been working on rebranding and also tweaking our recipes, including some exciting new flavours, which will also be launching soon!
Can’t get enough of Griddle? Check out their website here and to keep up to date on all things Griddle follow them on Instagram here.
