An innovative new take on the ready food market, enjoying considerable success with more than 1,000 customers onboard and over 20,000 meals sold.
Where did the idea for STOCKED come from and how long did it take to turn into a fledgling business?
Sam: "I had always batch cooked my food into ziplock bags but thought there must be a better way to do it. I then learnt that my mum used to freeze my food into ice cube trays when I was a baby and that's where the idea for STOCKED Blocks came from. Putting the wheels into motion, I tracked down the best chef I knew, which was Charlie, and we joined forces to work on STOCKED.
From then, there was a year of product development and 6 months of MVP trials during the pandemic before we felt confident enough to give it a proper go and raise a friends and family round in April 2021. We then launched in August 2021 as the business you see today!"
How does it work?
Charlie: "We think the ready meal market is way too "one-size-fits-all". We make high quality, chef-cooked, award-winning meals with a difference - you can choose your own portions. All of our nutritious, sauce-based meals are packed with protein and frozen into handy little Blocks that can be transformed back into delicious dishes in as little as 3 minutes. Have them simply on rice, use them as the base for a lovely pasta sauce, or grab a spoon and tuck into them on their own. We're on a mission to make the most useful food for your freezer, so you can make sure you never get caught out by rubbish, rushed lunches or scraped together dinners ever again. With STOCKED Blocks in your freezer, you can eat food you love for any meal."
When did you think "this is working"?
Sam: "We've had a few big milestones that were awesome - selling 20,000 meals, receiving 98% 5* reviews on Trustpilot and winning 3 Great Taste Awards to name a few. Now, ahead of our Crowdfunding round towards the end of the year, we've also raised a Bridge round from many of our original investors so it's great to have their support too."
Is the business still the two of you?
Sam: "We've worked with some great people on both Branding & Design, as well as on the PR side of things with our agency Hexe Digital, but the core team is still just the two of us. In 2022, we plan to raise seed investment through a Crowdfunding round which will allow us to scale, grow the team, and accelerate our growth."
How do you see the business evolving over the next two or three years?
Charlie: "We plan to keep growing the Blockparty, our community of subscribers, to over 6,000 strong throughout the next couple of years. You can now find us on the quick commerce platform Zapp in all their stores, and we want to grow this channel to introduce more people to the future of frozen. We also plan on releasing a few more products but we won't say too much about that just yet..."