As part of the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Jack Petchey Foundation, we’re highlighting exceptional stories of those from our programmes. This month, meet Mike. Founder of plant-based cheese company Honestly Tasty, he won an Achievement Award back in 2009. Mike shares his story and entrepreneurial advice!

Firstly, tell us about yourself – name, what you do, where you work.

I’m Mike, I started a business called Honestly Tasty (based in North London) where we make plant-based alternatives to cheese. My main role is the product development for the company, but I wear many other hats (as is always the case in small businesses) ranging from finances to machine maintenance and everything in between. Across any given month I find myself looking at marketing, strategy, raising money, food safety, hiring, collaborations with other brands, working with retailers or other food companies, and much more!

What was your first involvement with the Jack Petchey Foundation?

This is making me feel old, but I won an Achievement Award for academic achievement back in 2009 off the back of completing my A-Levels!

Have you taken part in multiple Jack Petchey Foundation programmes or schemes?

Sadly I have not, and feel like I missed out on some good opportunities when I was younger!

How did winning an award make you feel at the time?

Winning the award felt great. I hadn’t really won anything before for doing well at school so it was a nice confidence boost before heading off to university!

Tell us about your Honestly Tasty brand and how it began.

The Honestly Tasty brand is about bringing great tasting, plant-based alternatives to cheese to the market. It began because before I started, there weren’t any products on the market that I thought were really exciting, so I decided to try and make them myself. After a few months of experimenting I came up with a blue cheese alternative that I thought was more than good enough to start a business off of the back of, so I quit my job and Honestly Tasty was born from a small room in a residential house in North London.

What achievements are you proudest of since winning your Achievement Award back in 2009?

• Graduating university with a masters in spacecraft engineering was a great one. It was a lot of hard work and I made sure I had a lot of fun too. The degree has helped massively through my career, not necessarily because I went into the field but because of the skills it teaches you (problem solving, maths, decision making, etc.).
• Getting onto the Corporate Banking Graduate Scheme at RBS. It was a very long process with several application stages: the application itself, verbal and non-verbal reasoning tests, a telephone interview, followed by a full day assessment centre which I still think is one of the most intense days of my life.
• In 2021, a couple of years after starting the business and getting through Covid, we won the award for the best plant-based cheese alternative at Europes Plant-based expo, which was fantastic. Since then there have been other really great achievements for the business including getting listings in Ocado, M&S, Selfridges, Planet Organic, Holland & Barrett, but they are company achievements rather than personal.

Do you have any advice for young people, especially those who are interested in entrepreneurship and starting their own business?

I honestly don’t know where to start with this one…

From a business point of view:

• First make sure what product / service you are trying to offer is either better than what’s out there, or you can offer it more seamlessly.
• Write a business plan. There are loads of great resources out there to help you, but in the end just basically make sure you know what your aim is, that it is the right aim, and that you have a plan on how to get there.
• Basic accounting is helpful, but shouldn’t stop you if you can’t get your head around it (you can always try and find someone to help with it in the beginning); P&L, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow, there are loads of great resources on YouTube & the internet.
• Try and get start up grants if you can; sometimes they can be hard to find but there are a lot out there.

From a personal perspective:

• Try to find events where there are other people starting businesses and become part of the community, it can be a great support.
• Look at who has done well in your sector and maybe ask them if you can have a coffee so you can learn from them – the worst they can say is no.
• Expect that things will go wrong. In the early days things going wrong or getting rejections can feel really rough, but if you learn / adjust / power through then slowly it becomes easier and then one day you’ll find yourself brushing off things that might have felt crushing at the start.
• Sleep is important.

For more information on Honestly Tasty, click here.

If you have a history with the Jack Petchey Foundation you would like to share with everyone, get in touch at pr@jackpetchey.org.uk.

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