Toni Morrison was once quoted as saying; “If there's a book that you want to read,
but it hasn't been written yet, then you must write it.” – and we believe
that this can be applied to all areas of your life and it’s a motto that Katy
Elliot – founder and director of The Nursery Kitchen took on in 1998 when she
started her own business.
Nearly 20 years ago, Katy who at that time was a single
mother with two small children found that the quality of the food in her
children’s day care nursery was not what she thought it should be. After
speaking to the nurseries about this, she says; ‘They implied that if I could do better, then maybe I should.’ – This
sparked an idea in Katy’s mind and The Nursery Kitchen was born – she was on a
one woman mission to create and produce a range of delicious, home-cooked meals
using the freshest local produce for babies and toddlers and to be supplied to
nurseries.
And she’s succeeded! The Nursery Kitchen now feeds over
12,000 mouths a week and delivers to day nurseries throughout the UK. Katy
manages a team of 12, has moved from her kitchen table to own premises, won
awards for her achievements and is thinking of more exciting ways to expand and
grow The Nursery Kitchen.
Katy told us; ’20 years
ago there was not the help out there for single mums wanting to start a
business. And I was really nervous at first! I had two small children and no
childcare so at the beginning I made the decision to work from home so when my
children weren’t in nursery I could care for them.’
Like most start-ups, one of the biggest barriers for Katy
was financial – ‘I struggled to get
finance from the banks as they viewed me as a single mum trying to start up a
cottage industry from home’ and of course, like many of the women starting
their own businesses, juggling different roles was a challenge for Katy; ‘I juggle so many different roles both
within the business; managing staff, cash flow, customers, secretarial work and
cleaning work too! And on the personal side of things, I’m trying to be a good
mother of two, a friend, a daughter and a sister.’
But Katy is clearly fantastic at juggling as the business
has gone from strength to strength over the years. In 2013 she moved the
business from her house to premises. ‘At
that point my house had 30 chest freezers in it and my garden was full of
sheds!’ It was at this point that Katy began to expand her team, starting
with 2 members of staff and growing to the 12 strong team that she has now.
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| Katy at Merseyside Women of the Year Award |
2016 has been one very exciting year for The Nursery Kitchen!
‘At the beginning of the year we won a
contract to start supplying weaning food to COOK who have over 90 retail shops.
Our initial order was 18,000 meals which was so exciting for us and was our first
venture into retail! We were also able to beginning delivering nationwide to
nurseries and this has continued to expand.’
It was this year as well that Katy met our team at The Women’s
Organisation and began working with us on our business growth programme; ‘We have not looked back since we met The
Women’s Organisation. We’ve worked with Janine (Hyland – Business Adviser) and
Ali (McGrath – Enterprise Enable) who have offered us help and advice on every
aspect of the business! This included recommending a bank that would work with us;
we switched banks, consolidated our loans and got a much improved interest rate
which instantly saved us £400 a month! Janine and Ali have been superb and have
always been on the end of the phone when we need them!’
This year has also been the year that Katy has achieved some
fantastic recognition for all the hard work that she has put into her business
since 1998. ‘I was nominated for the Merseyside
Women of the Year Entrepreneur Award and to my amazement I actually won! I was
told by my team that it was what I deserved for all the hard work I had put in
over the years, which was lovely! The award now takes pride of place in our
offices!’ As well as this Katy has also been shortlisted for the Businessperson
of the Year Award at the Wirral Chamber of Commerce which will take place at
the end of September; ‘It’s another great
honour.’
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| The Merseyside Women of the Year Award |
The Nursery Kitchen has some great plans for the future and
Katy told us; ‘In October this year we
will be launching our new range of ready meals which will appeal to all ages. Firstly
we have our Pensioner Pots, which are not quite full adult portion sizes as we
have found that as people get older a normal sized meal is too much – so we
have developed this one pot range which can be put in a microwave or oven with
just enough content.’
‘Then we also have our
single portion and family sized portion ready meals, all these dishes are based
on the same ethos as the children’s nursery food – locally sourced produce with
no additives and cooked with care by our lovely team of chefs.’
And what advice would Katy offer to a woman who might be in
the same position that she was nearly twenty years ago? Wanting to start her
own business but not sure where to begin! ‘DON’T!
Only joking! My advice would be to surround yourself with a good team who care
about the product and are willing to work together. I would also say, take good
financial advice and keep an eye on the numbers!’
‘I have worked hard to
get to this point and have learnt things along the way – I would have done
things differently looking back – but there wasn’t as much support out there
when I started the business. I would say – keep preserving and it will happen –
Don’t give up!’
If you would like to find out more about Katy and The
Nursery Kitchen, you can do by using the contact details below!
Phone: 0151 345 0155
Email: katy@thenurserykitchen.co.uk
Website: www.thenurserykitchen.co.uk
And if you’ve been inspired by Katy’s story and would like
some support and advice to help you start or grow your own business, then get
in touch with us – email us on hello@thewo.org.uk
or ring us on 0151 706 8111
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