Bol Foods will be one of the judges in the upcoming SME Awards, taking place on 23 June this year in London. Here, we provide an overview of the company…
Inspired by the growing street-food culture in the UK, the underlying concept behind Bol was to fill the gap in the market for low calorie meals that are quick and easy to cook. The brainchild of founder Paul Brown, it’s a brand which produces instant meals that can be cooked in minutes using fresh ingredients influenced by global culture.
“I’ve always been a lover of great food and it’s always frustrated me that when we don’t have time to make things from scratch,” says Brown. “If you want to eat healthily, there isn’t really any ready-made food options available. While our food is healthy, it is also really tasty. I’ll eat about one of these a day and dishes like the vegetable provençal do taste quite naughty – I think that’s because of the goats cheese.”
Eating healthily is a driving force for the team behind Bol, with many of them having previously worked for drinks company Innocent. Brown initially developed the concept for Innocent, but left the company following their decision to focus on drinks alone. He enjoyed his 14 years there describing the brand as “an absolutely amazing company”.
He says: “I’m so proud to have learnt my trade over there in the past few years. Although we are our own independent business, there are similarities… When they made the strategic decision to close the food part of the business – I made the decision to fulfill a dream of mine and set up on my own.”
Stay tuned to find out what Brown is looking for in an award-winning SME, and if you have not nominated yet, take the time to do so now here.
