Welcome to Mallowdramatic!
As we settled down at our table to eat some excellent food and receive even better service at the Worsley Arms Hotel in Hovingham after a night at Castle Howard taking in the enchanting ‘The Lion, Witch and the Wardrobe’ exhibition with my little family and parents, little did we know that an offhand courtesy would go on to inspire a bold idea and change the course of our lives forever.
After 3 delicious courses and as the clock approached the ungodly hour of 10pm (as any parents of a 3-year-old daughter would surely agree) we were ready for bed. We started our extended goodbyes, as this would be the last time we saw each other before Christmas, and as had become an annual family tradition, I got ready to hand over plenty of my home-made marshmallows as gifts for the rest of the family with a few spares for my Mam and Dads journey back home.
As the bill arrived and having struck up a conversation with the very friendly man serving us i thought nothing of offering him a piece of my Eton Mess marshmallow. Being a chef of 15 years, who loves trying new things and enjoys sharing them just as much, I had learned the difference between someone being polite and someone displaying a genuine enthusiasm for my creations. In this case, however, as he bit into it the reaction was instant and they had been a revelation. ‘Oh my god! Can my workmate try one?’ he exuberantly exclaimed as he hurriedly ventured back to the kitchen before giving us a chance to reply. He reappeared a moment later dragging a lovely yet somewhat surprised workmate over telling her ‘you need to try one of these!’ They both tried a Lemon Sherbet and relished every chew before enthusiastically starting to ask question after question. ‘How do you make them? What goes in them? How long have you made them?’ ‘What made you try that?’
Having made my marshmallow for 5 years now I had grown used to the enthusiastic energy and curiosity they seem to inspire in a lot of people when trying them (a response I still very much enjoy to this day) however it was a new experience for my parents watching on (who were slightly miffed I was giving away their marshmallow) and it had given them both an idea.
2 weeks later, a discussion over a delicious home-cooked dinner at my Mam and Dad’s house saw a vision explained, a business plan deliberated, before a proposition was made and thus Mallowdramatic was born. 4 people with vastly different skillsets combined with one goal, to sell the freshest, tastiest handcrafted Marshmallow out there with a focus on family favourite recipes with flavours and recipes to leave people feeling wowed. We were on and off we went!
I had never run a business before being guided by my ever-knowledgable parents we started our adventure and although each day brings a different challenge we certainly felt we were heading in the right direction and our progress week to week reflected that and reassured us. In what seemed like no time at all we had registered a business, found a perfect little working space and then fitted it out (Thanks Dad!) before stocking it up. Getting the business insured and completing food safety practices to meet the national standard and legal obligations were not the most glamorous of tasks but absolutely essential and as the excellent folks at Thrive Marketing put the finishing touches on our fantastic-looking website the last piece in the puzzle was finding the appropriate packaging.
This proved to be the most frustratingly arduous task of all and a real test of patience. There were so many variables to consider and although we understood that the packaging of today might not be the packaging used in the future as our business develops we still felt it was essential that the quality of the product the customer would receive was the absolute priority. When we found the packaging solutions that Meridian packaging offered though we felt we had finally found the last puzzle in our jigsaw.
Here we are today, the day our website goes live. I’ve always wanted to run my own food business and at times it has felt like a distant reality so it is such a fantastic feeling knowing we’re this close to sharing the fruits of our labour with you all. I’d like to say thank you to my wonderful fiancée Bec and my stupendously supportive parents for helping to make this dream come true. A big up to Ken Bebb for stepping up and going beyond the call of duty it was greatly appreciated and one last thank you to everyone in my life (who are too many to mention) who has shown enthusiasm and encouragement to everything I do it will not be forgotten.
I’m very proud of what we have achieved so far in a short period of time to get to this point and will look back on this time of my life with very fond memories but I am absolutely convinced the best is yet to come and I really cannot wait to share it with you all.
After 3 delicious courses and as the clock approached the ungodly hour of 10pm (as any parents of a 3-year-old daughter would surely agree) we were ready for bed. We started our extended goodbyes, as this would be the last time we saw each other before Christmas, and as had become an annual family tradition, I got ready to hand over plenty of my home-made marshmallows as gifts for the rest of the family with a few spares for my Mam and Dads journey back home.
As the bill arrived and having struck up a conversation with the very friendly man serving us i thought nothing of offering him a piece of my Eton Mess marshmallow. Being a chef of 15 years, who loves trying new things and enjoys sharing them just as much, I had learned the difference between someone being polite and someone displaying a genuine enthusiasm for my creations. In this case, however, as he bit into it the reaction was instant and they had been a revelation. ‘Oh my god! Can my workmate try one?’ he exuberantly exclaimed as he hurriedly ventured back to the kitchen before giving us a chance to reply. He reappeared a moment later dragging a lovely yet somewhat surprised workmate over telling her ‘you need to try one of these!’ They both tried a Lemon Sherbet and relished every chew before enthusiastically starting to ask question after question. ‘How do you make them? What goes in them? How long have you made them?’ ‘What made you try that?’
Having made my marshmallow for 5 years now I had grown used to the enthusiastic energy and curiosity they seem to inspire in a lot of people when trying them (a response I still very much enjoy to this day) however it was a new experience for my parents watching on (who were slightly miffed I was giving away their marshmallow) and it had given them both an idea.
2 weeks later, a discussion over a delicious home-cooked dinner at my Mam and Dad’s house saw a vision explained, a business plan deliberated, before a proposition was made and thus Mallowdramatic was born. 4 people with vastly different skillsets combined with one goal, to sell the freshest, tastiest handcrafted Marshmallow out there with a focus on family favourite recipes with flavours and recipes to leave people feeling wowed. We were on and off we went!
I had never run a business before being guided by my ever-knowledgable parents we started our adventure and although each day brings a different challenge we certainly felt we were heading in the right direction and our progress week to week reflected that and reassured us. In what seemed like no time at all we had registered a business, found a perfect little working space and then fitted it out (Thanks Dad!) before stocking it up. Getting the business insured and completing food safety practices to meet the national standard and legal obligations were not the most glamorous of tasks but absolutely essential and as the excellent folks at Thrive Marketing put the finishing touches on our fantastic-looking website the last piece in the puzzle was finding the appropriate packaging.
This proved to be the most frustratingly arduous task of all and a real test of patience. There were so many variables to consider and although we understood that the packaging of today might not be the packaging used in the future as our business develops we still felt it was essential that the quality of the product the customer would receive was the absolute priority. When we found the packaging solutions that Meridian packaging offered though we felt we had finally found the last puzzle in our jigsaw.
Here we are today, the day our website goes live. I’ve always wanted to run my own food business and at times it has felt like a distant reality so it is such a fantastic feeling knowing we’re this close to sharing the fruits of our labour with you all. I’d like to say thank you to my wonderful fiancée Bec and my stupendously supportive parents for helping to make this dream come true. A big up to Ken Bebb for stepping up and going beyond the call of duty it was greatly appreciated and one last thank you to everyone in my life (who are too many to mention) who has shown enthusiasm and encouragement to everything I do it will not be forgotten.
I’m very proud of what we have achieved so far in a short period of time to get to this point and will look back on this time of my life with very fond memories but I am absolutely convinced the best is yet to come and I really cannot wait to share it with you all.