Client: Ben Bartlett
Business: Bush Grub/Claws and Jaws
Description: Edible Bugs, Animal Education and parties.
Telephone: 07946034660
How to keep in touch with Bush Grub:
www.bush-grub.co.uk
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The idea for Bush Grub came about so I could offer a ‘unique treat’ of tasty edible insects to children at my animal experience parties run through Claws and Jaws.
In the first year I only had a limited range of stock and was only selling around 10 items per month. But after the first years trading, I found opportunities started knocking on Bush Grub’s door. But without time and money it was difficult to make the most of them. Cue…Gary Bartlett (my Dad) who could not see these opportunities wasted so joined me full time to provide Bush Grub with the investment and time it deserved.
One opportunity not to be missed was visiting the Brand Licensing Director at ITV who was thinking about how our products could work with the famous TV show – I’M A CELEBRITY…get me out of here! This really was the boost the business needed and that summer’s afternoon talking to ITV, was unforgettable and really did change everything.
2012 saw a big leap in sales and with our newly licensed, branded and designed products (by Clockwork Moggy) in hand we were set on selling in as many shops as possible. This was a real learning curve and talk about jumping in at the deep end I found myself learning all about meeting deadlines, packaging requirements, distribution, cash flow and that’s just the start.
This year left us a little bemused after last year’s success. So it was time to plan, plan and plan some more ready for the I’m A Celebrity and Christmas season 2013 – an extremely busy period for us. Along with this we had some more great news from ITV with four products listed in the hugely successful Text Santa charity event which aims to raise thousands by the end of the year.
So where are we today? Tens of thousands of packets of bugs have been sold, we are in huge retailers such as Menkind, Hawkins Bazaar, Littlewoods, Woolworths plus many more independent sweet shops and this has got us some fantastic national press coverage!
So whats the plan for the future? Well we would like insects to not only be a novelty food item, we would like them to be a part of the sustainable staple diet. So we are working hard alongside my scientific university dissertation to see insects introduced as a future food in the western world. Of course we also plan to continue sales of our great flavoured bugs and lolly pops!
If you dare – try them for yourself!
Business Tip:
“Be dedicated and persevere, nothing happens overnight unless YOU make it happen! Remember you are the boss, if you do nothing, then you get nothing from the business.”
