After breathing new life into toddlers’ food with fresh, toddler-friendly meals, Little Dish has its sights set on conquering babyfood. All it needs is a chiller. Simon Creasey reports
Launching a new business is never easy. Launching a new business and, at the same time, a new category, even less so. But that's what Little Dish did in April 2006 when it started selling fresh meals aimed at toddlers (12 months plus) via 20 Waitrose stores and online retailer Ocado.
Four years on and the gamble has paid off. Today, Little Dish trades across the entire Waitrose estate, as well as 500 Tesco stores and 200 Sainsbury's stores and £7m sales are predicted for 2010.
Now it's set to embark on a fresh phase of growth with a new range of baby purées in six flavours including butternut squash with carrots & apples; mango & banana; and peas, pears & apples. In May, Tesco listed the products in 300 stores (rsp: £1.19 or two for £2) and Ocado is set to list the range next month.
The launch marks an exciting new direction for founders Hillary Graves (pictured), a former marketing, sales and business development specialist, and John Stapleton, co-founder of New Covent Garden Food Co.
The pair set up Little Dish after meeting as consultants for babyfood companies. Feeling there was nothing on the market for mums who wanted to feed their kids healthy grub but didn't have the time to cook it, they pitched the idea to consumer focus groups and they agreed. So Little Dish was born.
Despite demand for such a range, it hasn't been plain sailing. One of the biggest issues continues to be the location of their products in-store. Where do you put a fresh product when the category it falls into is primarily ambient?
"At the moment, our products sit in the chilled meals aisles with traditional ready meals, but if our range were in chillers in the babyfood aisle we would be selling four times what we're selling right now," says Graves. "It's almost like we're doing well despite the fact so many people don't know there's an offering in the fresh aisle."
If retailers don't make the leap to chillers in the babyfood aisle, the launch of purées could create valuable critical mass in the chilled aisle. The new range currently sits alongside Little Dish's toddler meals in Tesco's chiller aisle and Graves has high hopes. Although the purée phase often only lasts a few months in a child's development, she sees the range as a good entry point to Little Dish and a way of encouraging kids to progress to the toddler meals.
She also believes the purées have potential as a healthy snack for toddlers. And her ambitions don't end there. Talks are under way with another national chain about rolling out the baby range further, a cookbook is due out this month and Graves is eyeing other categories in which the brand could prove successful. Then there's the lure of overseas.
"It's a cross-cultural thing. Mothers want their kids to eat healthy foods," says Graves. "With small nuances it would work well on a global basis."
If it does crack the overseas market, Little Dish could one day be very big.
Launching a new business is never easy. Launching a new business and, at the same time, a new category, even less so. But that's what Little Dish did in April 2006 when it started selling fresh meals aimed at toddlers (12 months plus) via 20 Waitrose stores and online retailer Ocado.
Four years on and the gamble has paid off. Today, Little Dish trades across the entire Waitrose estate, as well as 500 Tesco stores and 200 Sainsbury's stores and £7m sales are predicted for 2010.
Now it's set to embark on a fresh phase of growth with a new range of baby purées in six flavours including butternut squash with carrots & apples; mango & banana; and peas, pears & apples. In May, Tesco listed the products in 300 stores (rsp: £1.19 or two for £2) and Ocado is set to list the range next month.
The launch marks an exciting new direction for founders Hillary Graves (pictured), a former marketing, sales and business development specialist, and John Stapleton, co-founder of New Covent Garden Food Co.
The pair set up Little Dish after meeting as consultants for babyfood companies. Feeling there was nothing on the market for mums who wanted to feed their kids healthy grub but didn't have the time to cook it, they pitched the idea to consumer focus groups and they agreed. So Little Dish was born.
Despite demand for such a range, it hasn't been plain sailing. One of the biggest issues continues to be the location of their products in-store. Where do you put a fresh product when the category it falls into is primarily ambient?
"At the moment, our products sit in the chilled meals aisles with traditional ready meals, but if our range were in chillers in the babyfood aisle we would be selling four times what we're selling right now," says Graves. "It's almost like we're doing well despite the fact so many people don't know there's an offering in the fresh aisle."
If retailers don't make the leap to chillers in the babyfood aisle, the launch of purées could create valuable critical mass in the chilled aisle. The new range currently sits alongside Little Dish's toddler meals in Tesco's chiller aisle and Graves has high hopes. Although the purée phase often only lasts a few months in a child's development, she sees the range as a good entry point to Little Dish and a way of encouraging kids to progress to the toddler meals.
She also believes the purées have potential as a healthy snack for toddlers. And her ambitions don't end there. Talks are under way with another national chain about rolling out the baby range further, a cookbook is due out this month and Graves is eyeing other categories in which the brand could prove successful. Then there's the lure of overseas.
"It's a cross-cultural thing. Mothers want their kids to eat healthy foods," says Graves. "With small nuances it would work well on a global basis."
If it does crack the overseas market, Little Dish could one day be very big.
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