Ella's Kitchen

Ella's Kitchen

Type	Private
Founded	2006
Founder	Paul Lindley
Headquarters	Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, UK
Key people	Mark Cuddigan (Managing Director)
Products	Organic baby and toddler food
Revenue	£51.2 million[1]
Number of employees	62

Ella's Kitchen is a company that makes organic baby and toddler food, sold in supermarkets internationally including UK, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Netherlands, Canada and the United States. Ella’s Kitchen has a 30% share of the UK baby food sector^[2] and a global turnover of $121m. Ella’s Kitchen was founded in the UK in 2006 and is a member of The Soil Association and The Organic Trade Board.

History

The Henley-based Ella’s Kitchen was founded in 2006 by Paul Lindley. After graduating from the University of Bristol he trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant at KPMG in London and Los Angeles. He then spent 9 years at Nickelodeon as deputy managing director before setting up Ella’s Kitchen. The business is named after Paul’s daughter, Ella.

The company launched in Scandinavia and the US in 2009 and now has a presence in sixteen markets.

In May 2013, it was announced that Ella’s Kitchen had been sold to The Hain Celestial Group, Inc.,^[3] a North American natural and organic products company.

In February 2013, Paul Lindley, founder and CEO of Ella's Kitchen launched a campaign focused on childhood nutrition called Averting A Recipe For Disaster.^[4] A report of the same name was released at the time, including comments and support from representatives of the food and health industries, charity sector and media including Prue Leith, Tom Aikens, Professor David Haslam GP, Chairman of the National Obesity Forum; Carmel McConnell, Founder, Magic Breakfast; Rob Rees MBE, Chair, The School Food Trust and Sheila Dillon, presenter Radio 4's Food Programme.^[5][6]

The report outlined the need for a ‘Food Manifesto for the Under Fives’^[7] which is described as a long term, cross political party plan to improve nutrition for the under-fives and a series of recommendations about what might be included in it.^[8][9]

In September 2013, Leicester City Council announced that it would be a year long pilot city to trial ideas and themes emerging from the report. This resulted in the Start Smart initiative launching in Leicester in March 2014,^[10] which promotes collaboration between businesses, government and communities to raise awareness of healthy eating for the under-fives.

In 2015, Ella’s Kitchen partnered with leading children’s charity Save the Children,^[11] for its limited edition jingle belly Christmas Dinner pouch, for which 30p from every sale is donated to Save the Children’s FAST (Families and Schools Together) programme.^[12]

In May 2016, Ella’s Kitchen launched a pioneering new campaign, Veg for Victory,^[13] aiming to raise awareness of the benefits of starting weaning with vegetables. The Veg for Victory campaign is an important milestone in Ella’s Kitchen’s mission to improve children’s lives through developing healthy relationships with food.

The company has won a number of awards including Mum’s Choice Overall Award Winner at the Tesco Mums’ Choice Awards 2011,^[14] Best Organic Baby Food 2011 Prima Baby Reader Awards, International Business of the Year at the Growing Business Fast Growth Business Awards 2011^[15] and Food and Drink Brand of the Year at The Grocer Gold Awards 2010.^[16] Ella’s Kitchen ranked in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 list in 2011, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2016 and internationally the company has won the Grocery Brand of the Year in Sweden, the Innovation of the Year award at the Norway Grocery Association Awards and was the Healthy Snacks winner in the Red Tricycle Totally Awesome Awards.^[17] In 2012 Ella's Kitchen won the High Growth Business of the Year award at the Private Business Awards,^[18] the International Growth Business of the Year award at the National Business Awards,^[19] and an excellence award for Innovation at the 2012 Fast Track 100 event.^[20]

In early 2016, Ella’s Kitchen was awarded certification as a B Corporation,^[21] joining a prestigious global movement of certified B Corps spanning 42 countries across 130 industries, who have been recognised as pioneering companies that use business as a force for good. To certify as a B Corp, Ella’s Kitchen has demonstrated that it meets the rigorous standards of accountability, transparency and social and environmental performance required.

Products

Ella’s Kitchen currently has 216 products, suitable for babies aged from 4 months to 3+ years, including baby and toddler food, smoothies, snack ranges and more, all featuring 100% organic ingredients.

Ella’s Kitchen was the first brand to bring pouches to the baby food market^[22]

Ella’s Kitchen products contain no added sugar, salt or water. No additives, E numbers or GM products.

Ella’s Kitchen is increasing its green credentials by launching ‘EllaCycle’,^[23] a scheme which aims to help mums + dads learn how they can recycle + reuse all the different types of Ella’s Kitchen packaging. Building on its TerraCycle pouch recycling program, EllaCycle is encouraging mums + dads to become Ellacyclers in their community by setting up pouch collection points in public places such as nurseries + shops, where everyone can drop off their used baby food pouches.

References