Mum of two Hillary Graves, 39, of Little Dish (www.littledish.co.uk) tells us how she juggles a multi-million pound brand with motherhood.

What was the motivating factor for staring your own business?
I met John Stapleton, my business partner, who was on the founding team of the New Covent Garden Soup Company in 2004. We were both thinking about the opportunity to make the UK’s first ever fresh, healthy meals for kids. So we decided to join forces and it’s been a fantastic journey ever since. Little Dish was born in April 2006 offering busy mums something that hadn’t been available in supermarkets before – freshly prepared meals made from 100% natural ingredients and no added sugar.

Profit in first year
In 2006 Little Dish achieved brand sales of £450,000, this year we should break £5 million.

What are the best bits about working again?
Knowing that Little Dish is feeding 60,000 children a week and supporting a healthy lifestyle.

Running a business can be a mixed bag sometimes. What have been you highs and lows so far?
As a start-up we have faced many challenges in different aspects of the business, but three of the most significant have been securing appropriate investment, finding the right suppliers and getting listings in the major multiples. My background is in marketing so I’ve focused on sales and marketing.

John used to work at New Covent Garden Soup so he’s been in charge of the operational side of business, drawing on his wide experience of working with fresh food with no additives or preservatives. I think the fact we have such clear roles really helps the rest of the team know exactly who to turn to if they have a question or an idea. Whatever you do or make, your business is all about its people and we’re really luck in having a brilliant team helping us fulfil our vision of feeding fresh, healthy food to as many kids as possible.

What is available to mothers now that you wish you had access to when your family was young?
When we started Little Dish John and I recognised that children were over-fed and under-nourished as traditional food brands were making over processed products with added preservatives and high levels of sugar and sodium. Besides home cooking, options were restricted to ‘junk food’ such as nuggets, burgers, chips or ambient products that had a shelf life of up to two years.

It is clear that parents try to do the best they can but it is often challenging to make a healthy home-cooked meal every night. The internet is a great resource with immediate access to recipes, advice and forums where mums can chat and swap stories and information. You cannot beat mum to mum advice and recommendations, which is why our community marketing programme is so effective (I have talked about this in Q.14).

How have you managed to stay on top of your career with the demands of motherhood?
It’s definitely a challenge. You have to be organised. We have a lovely nanny called Emma who looks after Monty when I’m at work. They often pop by the office to say hello which is always a treat. Now that Ridley has joined the family I have taken some maternity leave and I am trying to spend more time working from home.

What has been the high point along the way?
There have been several business breakthroughs for our company including, achieving distribution in the major multiples including Waitrose, Tesco, Sainsbury’s and online with Ocado and achieving a run rate of £1 million in less than 12 months. The Little Dish brand is now on target to hit £5 million in sales in less than 3 years of trading.

What is your worst experience along the way?
Our biggest challenges have been related to the fact that we’ve opted to make fresh food, cooked at domestic temperatures (just like you would cook at home) with no additives or preservatives. Lots of other people in our sector cook the food at high temperatures, or use preservatives to help extend shelf life, but the end result isn’t as healthy as Little Dish. We’ve dealt with the short shelf life by working really closely with our retailers and the people on the shop floor to ensure that the products get out on shelf quickly. It is quite labour intensive, but we are committed to giving mothers fresh, healthy recipes just like they would cook at home.

Any tips for expectant mums, or mothers who feel that you can't have a successful career and a happy family life at the same time?
At Little Dish, we really support flexible working, as do a lot of companies these days, so there many opportunities for mothers to have successful careers. When we started mums who discovered us immediately offered to help spread the word about us. For a while, we kept this as an informal relationship. But in the last year we’ve created our Community Marketing Leader programme. This means we pay mums in return for 5-10 hours a week (depending on their timetables). They find local nurseries and playgroups to do sampling, talk to store managers to ensure our products are on shelf and well labelled, and generally help spread the Little Dish word. Currently we have five across the UK, the latest being in Manchester. We’re keen to find someone to cover Newcastle, but wherever there is a mother who is thinking about getting back to work we’d love to hear from you.