Helen Rich
Sam Laite
IN PROFILE
Helen Rich
Founder of Taste of Bath
Helen Rich is founder of Taste of Bath, a food gifting company specialising in artisan produce sourced within a ten-mile radius of Bath.
Helen creates hampers crammed full of the best local produce including preserves, cheeses, chocolates, biscuits, tea, gin, ales and cider.
Taste of Bath is currently working with 35 producers and has just launched a new bespoke offering for the corporate market.
We met with Helen to find out more about her business journey and her vision for the future of the company.
How did you come up with the Taste of Bath idea?
I left my job as a retail manager and wanted to do something for myself. It was important to do something I was really passionate about, so I took six months out, continuously cooking and gardening at home.
I knew that food was my passion, so I decided to become a producer and for two years I made pâté. I taught myself butchery, gained all of the necessary health and safety qualifications and traded at places like Bath Farmers Market. My business was called Rich Pickings and it gave me a real insight and understanding of the foodie world. Whilst I was doing this, I came up with the idea for Taste of Bath. The original business model was to champion local food, supporting producers by giving them a network to sell their produce, but I soon realised this wouldn’ t work.
I always thought that what people were interested in is producers and their story. To a certain extent they are, but it quickly became identifiable that Taste of Bath was a massive thing as a gift, celebrating Bath. It’ s not so much about the individual producers, but more of an amazing array of things that are made in Bath and people really buy into that.
How did you start making hampers?
It was August 2015 and I thought if I’ m going to do this, I need to get the business underway before Christmas, I’ d be mad not to, so we started off with three types of hamper; small, medium and large, all delivered in crates. I didn’ t want them to be sent out in a traditional wicker hamper, I wanted the brand to have an organic, rustic, country look. We found this guy in Yorkshire who could hand-make the crates for us, something we really felt was in-line with the Taste of Bath branding and ethos.
What did you learn from your first Christmas in business?
We had lots of people get in touch saying they wanted to create their own hampers for various reasons, so we launched create your own. This allows customers to fix their budget and to select our product range in a personalised way. It’ s been extremely popular, especially as a lot of the big hamper companies don’ t offer this service. It now accounts for 75 % of our trade!
How has Taste of Bath developed?
Christmas 2016 was fantastic. We delivered 552 hamper orders and sold £ 14,000 worth of producer’ s products, I’ m so proud of how the business is growing.
Why have you started to cater for the corporate market?
We started getting approached by businesses to create hampers as gifts for clients, for rewarding staff and to give as stand prizes at events and exhibitions. I realised there could be something in this; taking the seasonality out of the company and creating something that was currently not available in the marketplace.
Our new corporate range allows any Bath business to stamp their identity on a Taste of Bath. By doing this, it’ s much more personal than a generic hamper and delivers a memorable slice of Bath.
You can decide what your hamper is delivered in, but we decided to give more choice than just a crate or wicker basket and designed the Bath Box. A high-end black box, beautifully presented and the ideal gifting solution for corporates. It’ s much easier and cheaper to post too.
The boxes we create for clients are wrapped with ribbons in their branded colours and we get logo stamps made for each company working with us. Each hamper contains an A5 scroll too, detailing where the products are made, who’ s made them and their personal story.
Our first corporate deal was with the Bath branch of Savills estate agent. When someone purchases a property from them, on their move in day they find a gorgeous box left in their new home, jam packed with luxury everyday items including tea, coffee, hot chocolate and truffles.
How do you get your business satisfaction?
I’ m entirely motivated by customer satisfaction. Before entering into the world of food, I used to train retail store managers in customer service skills, so this has always been important to me.
It’ s all about the client. If you want a meeting with me to discuss your needs, we can do that and if you contact me saying I need an £ 80 hamper for a client who likes his beer, then I can design the contents for you. Our service is entirely flexible.
We recently designed a hamper for a client to celebrate a 90th birthday. My brief was, she’ s got a place in Scotland and she loves fishing. I got to work and put in a Whiskey liqueur, smoked salmon from the Longs Arms in Wraxall and some ginger fudge from Meg’ s Kitchen. The feedback was that she loved it!
What are the most popular products?
Wyfe of Bath cheese, cider, hot date chutney and vanilla fudge. My personal favourite is the hot sauce, it’ s delicious!
What’ s your ambition for the future of the business?
I would like to take the idea and put it into other areas of the UK. Both Bristol and Oxford are on my radar for future. Watch this space!
Next edition we interview:
Sam Laite
Forward Thinking Recruitment
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THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017 19