Ella’s Kitchen has developed a range of organic food for babies and toddlers. With the help of Innovate UK the company has transformed the market in the UK and globally.
Company founder Paul Lindley describes the inspiration behind Ella’s Kitchen: “I was doing my weekly shop and I just couldn’t find anything that didn’t have loads of additives. I set up Ella’s Kitchen because I passionately believe that Ella, my daughter, along with her generation, should have the opportunity to eat better food and also to discover that healthy food can be fun, tasty and cool.”
Video credit: Innovate UK.
On-screen captions and an autogenerated transcript are available on YouTube.
About the project
Ella’s Kitchen has taken part in three Knowledge Transfer Partnerships (KTPs) with the University of Reading. This has helped them to bring new skills and knowledge to the business.
The first KTP in 2010 involved academics at Henley Business School and the School of Psychology and Clinical Language Sciences, both part of the University of Reading. This project helped the company develop a multisensory marketing approach and improve children’s enjoyment of healthy food.
For the second KTP, the focus was to transform the company’s approach to sourcing raw materials. As well as helping maintain consistent high quality products, this also reduced costs.
With its third KTP, the company is aiming to improve food packaging to gain competitive advantage. Both the second and third KTPs involved the University of Reading’s Department of Food and Nutritional Sciences.
Impacts of the project
Ella’s Kitchen now sells its organic baby and toddler food globally. This includes Norway, Sweden and the US. The company has a global turnover of $120 million.
Ella’s Kitchen is the number one baby food brand in the UK. £1 in every £3 that’s spent on wet baby food in the UK is spent on Ella’s Kitchen. The company has a 31% share of the UK baby food sector.
Company founder Paul Lindley said: “We’ve done research with parents, little ones, psychologists and supermarkets to understand the very important role that all five of the senses play in developing healthy eating habits that last a lifetime.”
Find out more
Read the latest news from Ella’s Kitchen.
Find out how a KTP can help your business and how to apply.
Top image: Baby being fed. Credit: Getty Images.