Paul Brown, Founder & Chief Executive Officer
BOL Foods

Gama spoke to Paul Brown, Founder & Chief Executive Officer at BOL Foods.

 

What have your experiences at BOL Foods taught you about building a resilient brand?

Starting a brand is demanding, and the perception versus the reality is very different. But having a clear mission has helped us withstand difficult periods. Listening to what people actually want, staying committed to natural ingredients, and being pragmatic have been essential. You have to adapt to the tides. At BOL, everything we make is packed full of whole foods, full of fibre, full of protein — as natural as it gets. During the first few years we were profitable and donated every pound of profit to Action Against Hunger. At that point, I thought running a business was not that difficult. The years that followed proved otherwise. Transitioning the brand to 100% plant-based, halving the size of the business, and navigating the impact of Covid were all extremely challenging. But from the start, our aim was to “sex up veg” — to make plant-based foods easier for meat eaters to enjoy, rather than simply supporting more vegans to eat more vegan food. That has always anchored us. If you genuinely believe a shift is right for your brand, you should pursue it. You cannot over-index on clarity of purpose.