Former Apprentice contestant swaps Silicon Valley for Turkish superfood start-up

Alex Epstein's entrepreneurial journey has taken him from the boardroom of The Apprentice to Silicon Valley technology firms.

But his latest venture began in the most unlikely of places: a Turkish grocery shop in Utrecht, Netherlands.

In 2023, while living abroad and working remotely for a UK tech company, Alex bought a jar of dark, delicious treacle-like substance in a multicultural neighbourhood store called Bereket.

The label, written entirely in Turkish, intrigued him. Using Google Translate on his phone, he discovered it was grape molasses blended with tahini – a traditional Ottoman spread consumed daily across Turkey and the Mediterranean for thousands of years.

Alex says:

"I took one spoon and I was like, 'Oh my goodness, this is incredible'.

"For thousands of years, the Ottomans have been blending grape molasses with tahini. It's packed with grape antioxidants and vitamins, but it tastes like natural caramel."

Leaving the tech world

The experience would eventually lead Manchester-based Alex to walk away from his technology career and invest £40,000 of his own savings into Messy Face, a joyful, health-conscious food brand launching into Britain's increasingly crowded spreads market.

Viewers may remember Alex's rather unconventional style from series 6 of The Apprentice in 2010, when he was 26.

Alan Sugar unceremoniously "fired" him in episode seven for leading a team designing a new cleaning product.

But that hasn't curbed his entrepreneurial ambition. Far from it. Alex's shampoo brand Concoction reached 850 stores across 52 US states within a year, only to be pulled when it failed to meet ambitious retail targets.

Between entrepreneurial ventures, Alex spent years working as head of marketing for Martin Port, the entrepreneur behind management software firm Bigchange, a UK tech business that eventually sold for £300 million.

Alex admits:

"I got very bored just being behind a laptop. I think I was always on the lookout for my next business idea."

Entering British food culture

Messy Face, Alex believes, has actually arrived at a fortuitous moment in British food culture, when the ultra-processed food debate has exploded into mainstream consciousness.

He says:

"M&S has recently launched a nutrient-dense range specifically targeting the growing number of people taking GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy.

"There's going to be this new segment of people who will only eat really small meals. And when they do, they want that little meal to be packed with as much goodness as it can be.

"Messy Face is an indulgent, nutrient-dense treat with just a handful of natural ingredients – a stark contrast to the refined sugars, palm oil and stabilisers found in mainstream chocolate spreads."

The brand's playful positioning, "Messy times lie ahead", deliberately avoids the preachy tone of many health food brands. Alex adds:

"We're not here to preach to people about what they should and shouldn't eat. This is about having fun with food, naturally."

Measured brand-building

Rather than rush into major retailers – a mistake he's determined not to repeat after his Concoction experience – Alex is taking a measured approach.

He manufactures Messy Face at Now Food, an affordable food incubator at Chester University, where he rents commercial kitchen space and produces batches himself with help from hairnet-wearing friends and family.

His current focus is building awareness through artisan markets across Cheshire and the North West. He explains:

"Food experts have looked at what I'm doing and they love it, but they've said this is new and novel. Most people don't know what a sesame and fruit spread is.

"So, their advice is do as many events as you can and let people taste it and try it. Because it's the trial and the tasting that will drive adoption.

"I want to make sure we build this sustainably rather than crash and burn, so we're prioritising independent health food stores, Whole Foods and Planet Organic before approaching major supermarkets."

But his ambitions are nonetheless substantial.

Within five years, he sees Messy Face expanding from a single product into "a healthy, joyful brand universe" with distribution throughout Europe and a presence in the United States.

And it isn't tech-related and it doesn't involve sitting behind a laptop, Alex says.

"This is something that just feels right. I feel like I'm doing something really interesting and worthwhile, something I didn't feel when I was working in technology. It's a chance to stretch your mind in a different way."

The right moment

As Britain's appetite for transparent, minimally processed foods continues to grow, Alex's Turkish-inspired spread may have arrived at precisely the right moment.

Whether Messy Face becomes the next Pip & Nut success story remains to be seen, but one thing is certain: Alex is an entrepreneur who has learned from his mistakes and is determined to do things differently this time around.

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