Emily Dupuche is taking the Australian baby food industry by storm.
In addition to writing a best-selling book, the busy mother of three has created her own range of fresh and healthy baby food, which has just launched in Woolworths stores nationally.
Emily’s range was inspired by her book Food Babies Love; a guide to introducing solids. Published in 2012, the book went on to be an Aussie best seller and the recipes so popular, Emily turned them into fresh, readymade meals – Food Babies Love Fresh Pots.
Emily has been selling the Fresh Pots online and at seven selected retailers for the last 18 months. Frustrated that supermarkets stock more fresh pet food than fresh baby food, Emily took the huge step of approaching the supermarkets and in securing Woolworths has increased her stockists by more than 5,000%!
With the introduction of Emily’s nutritious, preservative-free meals into Woolworths, parents can stop feeling guilty about not always having time to cook from scratch and relax knowing their bubs are getting the nutrition and variety they need.
Tell us about Food Babies Love.
Food Babies Love started life as a book that I wrote and self-published nearly 6 years ago. It’s a guide to introducing solids with lots of delicious and simple recipes all about exposing our children to a wide variety of tastes, colours and textures. With no idea as to how the public would respond, I started to exhibit it at parenting expos around the country and amazingly it went really well. Two years later it got picked up and published by Plum (Pan Macmillan) and they took over sales and distribution. I then focussed my efforts on leveraging the success and reputation of the book and creating Australia’s first range of FRESH baby and toddler meals.
What inspired you to start Food Babies Love?
I am passionate about kids and good food. What a baby consumes in the first 12 months of life is setting their taste preferences for the rest of their life, so it’s really important to expose them to a wide variety of tastes colours and textures. I believe that food good is the foundation of a happy and healthy life.
I wrote the book with the aim of simplifying the process and reducing the sense of overwhelm that many parents feel around the introduction of solids. I wanted to inspire parents to explore the wonderful world of food with their little one. The creation of my Fresh Pots was a natural progression from there. I identified there was a complete lack of FRESH options in supermarkets, that parents had no choice but to buy long life shelf stable product that are cooked at high temperatures leaving product with little nutritional benefit or taste. I felt our babies deserved better. I also wanted to give time poor parents the option of buying a high quality convenient option, just like they’d make at home.
Tell us about your career and background.
Prior to becoming a mum I was in marketing and advertising – it was this background that gave me a great foundation in all things business and importantly multitasking, production management and the importance of brand and aesthetic. My Food Babies Love journey has been wide and varied from authoring a book, self-publishing and all that goes with that, sales and distribution, 101 in food manufacturing and Q&A, FMCG, Sales, Brand management and in-house IT support all peppered with a touch of financial management. So, whilst my agency background was largely in Automotive and Energy, it was a great grounding for all the elements that are required for an entrepreneurial start up.
Describe a typical work day for you.
My day starts as a mum with either cuddles in bed or if I’m really good, an early morning trip to the gym. From there it’s school lunches and packing the kids off to school whilst trying to leave the house in some semblance of order to come home to – beds made, dishwasher emptied and reloaded, washing hung out etc etc.
Once I drop the kids at school it’s off to the office to either battle spreadsheets, write blog posts, brief creative, liaise with manufacturers, manage my supply chain, develop some recipes, manage our website and IT problem solve all the way through to monitoring social media and keeping up appearances. My days are fast, hugely varied, definitely not boring and never enough time to get it all done.
There is lots of problem solving day to day as we are small team and are constantly creating new procedures and processes as the business evolves. It’s great fun and I’m really lucky to have a great team that are all on the journey with me.
I try very hard to leave my work day behind at the office and be present for my kids, but this isn’t always possible. Over the years they have been well trained that when I’m on a work call I’m not to be disturbed but there are still days I end up in the pantry with the door closed just so I can hear and not have my leg tugged at!
What advice do you have for those wanting to start a business?
It is likely to be the hardest thing you will ever do. But at the end of the day, good things don’t come easy. You have to work at them. I’ve sacrificed an awful lot for Food Babies Love but all along I have believed in it – I’m really passionate about the bigger picture of kids and good nutrition. There is a long way to go for us but if you truly believe in something then give it a go – you don’t want to spend the rest of your days wondering ‘what if?” At the end of the day, what’s the worst thing that can happen?
Oh and make sure you have a good support network….friends, partner, mentor…you will definitely guidance and a sounding board along the way.
What’s next for you, and Food Babies Love?
We’ve got a really exciting set of New Products under development and I can’t wait to bring them to market and provide better alternatives for more parents to choose from, delivering better nutritional outcomes for our children.
Find out more about Food Babies Love here.
