The mum who turned searching for 'free from' baby food into a successful business

Struggling to find baby food for her son, who is allergic to dairy products, was a lightbulb moment for Nessa Keddo.

She is the founder of Munch Free, which provides a range of free from, organic and vegan food for babies and toddlers.

Nessa shares the story behind her brand and how, with the help of a Bootcamp through the Amazon Small Business Accelerator, will soon be selling her products on Amazon's online store.

The free Amazon Small Business Accelerator e-learning programme is advice from more than 30 business experts in 218 bitesize videos. 
 
If you're already an Enterprise Nation member, log-in to your member dashboard to access the e-learning. If you're not an Enterprise Nation member, you can join the Amazon Small Business Accelerator for free here.

How did you come up with the idea for your business?

When I was weaning my son, I was frustrated that every time I went to supermarkets I had to check baby food packaging for allergens. He has a dairy and egg allergy, and nearly every baby food manufacturer handles or includes milk in their products. It was impossible!

During an unsuccessful baby food shop, I thought why hasn't anyone created a 'free from' baby food brand? There's such a huge market for it. And here we are two years later!

It's still so bizarre as the food industry is focusing so much on adult 'free from' food, when it's the infants who are the biggest sufferers of allergies - a potentially multibillion pound industry.

What start-up challenges did you face and how did you overcome them?

Finding a manufacturer was the most difficult. I was always told finding the right match was tricky in the food industry, but for us, it wasn't just about finding the right match or one that understood our products. It was down to the basics of finding an allergy friendly and vegan premises.

We've nearly signed two contracts that claimed to be allergy friendly, then when we've dug further, we found that they actually handled allergens such as dairy and nuts, but in small capacities. This would have been detrimental for us, as we would have had to put a 'may contain' warning on our packaging, which we did not want to do.

So, we had to start from scratch and build our own small premises. It was tricky and time consuming initially finding the right people, regulations and training. But we definitely made the right decision as it has allowed us to be flexible, particularly with new product development.

What is your marketing strategy for engaging with customers and making sales?

Working with micro-influencers. As our main target audience is mums, we regularly send products for them to review on their social media channels and run competitions. We notice an uplift in sales when we work in this way - much more than using high-profile influencers with little engagement. We also do some paid advertising through retargeting.

How has COVID-19 affected your business?

We've had to make some changes to our planned distribution model. One of our main customers was going to be soft play and family friendly cafes across the UK. That's near impossible currently, so we've increased our focus on direct-to-consumer and have set up our Amazon store.

The retailers we've been in talks with are still keen to go ahead with launch, so more of our marketing will focus on that director.

Why did you decide to register for the Amazon Bootcamp?

I wanted to make sure that once we were set up on Amazon, we went about things in the most effective way to ensure we would have minimal delays and optimised our listings. The Bootcamp seemed like a no brainer, particularly with the extra support available for small businesses.

What were the key benefits of the Amazon Bootcamp for your business?

The Bootcamp was useful as it was a step-by-step process of how to set up your Amazon store and how to list products effectively. There was support and office hours along the way and it was just a really straight forward process.

The best tip I picked up was how to use keywords in the listings to make sure it matches what customers will likely search for. I hadn't thought about it before, but Amazon's backend operates like a search engine, so you've got to make sure everything is correctly optimised to be effective.

What are your top tips for business success?

You don't know everything, so you've always got to learn along the way. Either that or you're going to pay someone a lot of money to do it for you. Ultimately, you've got to know your business and its operations inside out. Even if it's an operation that you've got someone else doing (such as your supply chain), make sure that you understand what is happening. This could help you to streamline the overall processes and costs of your business.

What tips have you picked up from the Amazon Small Business Accelerator e-learning programme?

The 'Introduction to selling on Amazon' modules and the video covering 'Building a community and why it matters' are really useful videos. They just make things so clear and straight to the point and are easy to apply to different industries.

The latter video is a stark reminder that your fans are the advocates of your brand. They may not all be consumers, but as supporters, they're the ones who'll speak well of your business and in time, convert others into consumers.

Which other entrepreneurs inspire you and why?

There are so many! In the food and drink industry, Pippa Murray from Pip and Nut. I've listened to so many podcasts and she is who I relate to the most. Starting the business just seemed so natural and a no brainer due to a particular consumer need, then just figuring things out along the way and following your instinct - that's something I picked up from her.

Also, the Brew Dog co-founders. They completely ripped up the rule book and just did things their own way. Sometimes you can get so caught up with worrying about if something works, but unless you try, you'll never know!

The free Amazon Small Business Accelerator e-learning programme is advice from more than 30 business experts in 218 bitesize videos. 
 
If you're already an Enterprise Nation member, log-in to your member dashboard to access the e-learning. If you're not an Enterprise Nation member, you can join the Amazon Small Business Accelerator for free here.