Cooking sauces have a reputation problem. For years the fixture's been written off as the bland, play-it-safe aisle that skimps on real flavour. Shoppers walk past on their way to a ready meal, because a jar just doesn't feel like it can deliver a proper katsu, a proper puttanesca, or a proper anything. So how do you change expectations and stand out?

Owen Potts, co-founder of cooking sauce and stock brand Potts Partnership, has spent nearly twenty years building the brand and range. Working from the belief that convenient shouldn’t mean flavourless, Owen and his wife Michelle brought two very different food upbringings to the business. They turned that shared obsession about flavour into a brand built to compete with what you'd make from scratch, and it's also what pushed them to one of the boldest packaging bets in the category.

Listen to this episode to find out:

• Why cooking sauces got written off as bland, and what it takes to break that myth
• How Owen convinced a supermarket buyer to back an idea using nothing but two beer cans and some sticky labels
• The uplift that Potts’ novel packaging delivered to the business
• What independents and supermarkets each offer Potts – and its customers
• How they’re slowly returning to export markets post-Brexit
• What "doing an Owen" means, and how and where he gets inspired

Check out range and recipes, and buy online at: https://www.pottspartnership.co.uk/

Also available in farm shops, delis, fishmongers and most major UK supermarkets.

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My name is Jo Densley, and I help food and drink businesses grow with joined-up sales and marketing. There’s a wealth of free webinars available on my website, where you can also explore my services and read my case studies as well.

Helen Johnston spent decades leading British magazine publishing before a health diagnosis transformed her career. Learn how autoimmune illness, nutrition retraining, and two years of R&D led to SUCSEED - a functional food business built on organic, regenerative sourcing and real nutritional science. Discover what food founders can learn from her precision approach to product development, branding and positioning.

Built through nutrition training, expert collaboration, and careful sourcing from organic and regenerative farmers, SUCSEED combines seeds and herbs such as nettle, dandelion, ginkgo, and moringa into four versatile blends. Helen has grown the brand through trade shows, local retail sampling and strategic listings, aiming to make a daily boost to nutrition simple, accessible and delicious. 96% of us don't get the recommended level of fibre in our diet - Helen is on a mission to make it easy to change that.

Listen to this episode if you want to find out:

• How to get the confidence to launch the idea you've been nurturing
• Why seeds are the nutritionally underrated food most of us aren't eating enough of
• The neighbourhood model is and why it's the right retail strategy for year one
• How to get a trade show presence when you can't afford a stand
• Why in-store sampling is non-negotiable
• What to do when every opportunity looks equally urgent

Find and buy SUCSEED: Website: https://sucseed.life/

Plus Selfridges, Fortnum & Mason, Panzers (St John's Wood) and a range of farm shops and delis across Norfolk, Suffolk, North London and nationwide

Events and communities mentioned:

• Bread & Jam: https://www.breadandjamfest.com/
• Buy Women Built: https://www.buywomenbuilt.com/
• IFE: https://www.ife.co.uk/
• Speciality & Fine Food Fair: https://www.specialityandfinefoodfairs.co.uk/
• Farm Shop & Deli Show: https://www.farmshopanddelishow.co.uk/

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My name is Jo Densley, and I help food and drink businesses grow with joined-up sales and marketing. There’s a wealth of free webinars available on my website, where you can also explore my services and read my case studies as well.

What if food, rather than supplements, was the first place to go when your energy is low, your body is struggling, and your immune system needs support? That's the founding philosophy of Oshomo's Mimi and Camilla, two friends who've created an amazing food business and scaled through farmers' markets.

Their food-as-medicine approach grew from cooking for Tibetan lamas and Ayurvedic doctors. After lockdown cancelled their restaurant plans, they pivoted to run at seven to eight London farmers’ markets each weekend, building loyal customers - including a top-secret list of high-profile, A-List celebrity clients.

They selling vibrant, nourishing dishes made without additives or preservatives, and this episode explores their menu, market strategy, challenges, and plans to scale while keeping quality at the centre. Their philosophy is straightforward: nature has given us everything we need to keep our bodies healthy - and many of us have forgotten that.

In this episode you will learn:

• Why losing their restaurant dream turned out to be a blessing
• The ideas, ingredients and philosophy behind food as medicine
• What 7–8 farmers markets every weekend does for their business
• What Oshomo needs from an investor — and why the right fit matters more than the size of the cheque
• How to scale a food business deliberately and sustainably when quality is non-negotiable

Find out more about Oshomo, check out their weekly boxes and which farmers' markets they'll be attending at www.oshomo.co.uk

Chapters

0:01:09 — The food is medicine philosophy

0:03:25 — Backstory: how they got here

0:05:49 — Why the pivot to markets was an unexpected blessing

0:06:54 — Oshomo's customers

0:08:40 — The weekly menu: dishes, names and the seasonal approach

0:14:10 — Beyond the markets: how else Oshomo sells

0:17:59 — Scaling up: kitchen ready, investor search beginning

0:18:56 — The hardest parts of the journey

0:22:28 — Goals, support and inspiration

0:26:12 — Where to find Oshomo

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My name is Jo Densley, and I help food and drink businesses grow with joined-up sales and marketing. There’s a wealth of free webinars available on my website, where you can also explore my services and read my case studies as well.