Charlotte Knight who is originally from New Zealand moved to the UK a few years back and during her stay in Britain began to miss some of the delicious, flavourful dips that were readily available down under.Being passionate about cooking and entertaining friends and family, she decided to make the dips herself from fresh locally sourced vegetables and spices. After getting a lot of positive feedback from near and dear and being smitten by the entrepreneurial bug she decided to launch a brand of gourmet dips and thus G'nosh was born.
G'nosh dips are available in a variety of flavours such as Muhumarra Spicy Red Pepper dip, Beetroot and mint dip etc. and are sold through various chains and departmental stores. Apart from the having such exciting flavours what sets G'nosh apart is their modernistic and deliciously appealing website. It is a superlative example of a single page website design.
One can not help but get drawn to the website's appeal and as an extension to be attracted to explore the spread of dips available on offer. All the information that you could possibly want, right from what is available, where it is available, recipes, sharing ideas to commenting about the products/website is seamlessly presented on that one page website with very attractive graphics to go with it. The enthusiasm for their dips is evident from the comments section towards the bottom of the website.
Despite her hectic schedule Charlotte was good enough to take sometime out and talk to us about G'nosh. Read on to find out about her journey to creating G'nosh.
Charlotte, let’s start with an introduction to yourself for our readers.
I was born in New Zealand and moved to the UK in 2000 where I worked at global IT company Cisco and then Reuters.
I am married with two children - Ben who is six and Lucia who is three. After Lucia was born, I decided to take the plunge and quit my city job to follow my heart and set up G’NOSH.
I'm not a health fanatic, I just love food! Growing up in New Zealand, I was lucky enough to eat delicious, fresh food and for the most part I try to ensure that what I eat (and what my family eats) is as healthy as possible.
I love to entertain, nothing makes me happier than to share exceptional tastes and dishes with friends, and I wanted to combine my passion for food and entertaining with my ambitions of becoming an entrepreneur.
Setting up G’NOSH was a risk but the best decision I’ve made and every day is different and I’ve learnt more in this short space of time than I ever did in the city and corporate world.
What was the motivation behind starting G’NOSH? Is there an interesting story you want to share with us?
I started G'NOSH primarily because I miss the amazing dips back in NZ, where the variety is far more exciting (particularly in non-hummus flavours) than currently on offer in the UK. When I spotted this gap in the market, I decided to take the plunge and create a distinctive brand for gourmet dips without the fuss. G’NOSH was born.
G'NOSH is all about easy-going food (that's the NOSH) with a love of gourmet (what the G stands for!) and the apostrophe is a little cheeky nod to my homeland G’Day? G’NOSH!
I love travelling and the different G’NOSH flavours take inspiration from all over the globe, from the fiery Red Pepper Muhumarra to the Smoky Aubergine Babaghanoush
Your website design is very unique and refreshing. What was the inspiration behind this single page website design?
I worked with brand design agency Mystery to create the site. We’ve had a great response with hundreds of users sending us positive feedback from the very first week of launch.
We wanted to disrupt the endless shelves of hummus and mayo-drenched 70’s party-packs with a brand that reflected the pioneering nature of the product.
Inspired by the hand-painted lettering of revolutionary campaign placards, Mystery designed a premium brand combining custom-painted type with beautiful food ingredient photography. The reason it is a single page reflects this, as the site feels like a huge campaign placard that you can scroll around and explore.
G’NOSH is all about sociable eating and sharing so we incorporated this into the web design through news and stories on our blog and encouraging users to upload their own recipes, comments and tips!
What were some of the difficulties that you faced from the point that you conceived the idea to launching G’NOSH?
What I found during the process of creating recipes for production outside of my kitchen is that mass-producers often take short cuts to extend shelf-life and enhance flavours, and that these short cuts are often at the expense of great quality and even our health.
I was lucky to meet some great food technologists and some very patient producers along the way who have worked tirelessly to preserve my original flavours, without adding artificial flavourings and preservatives. They have also managed to keep saturated fats and trans fats to an absolute minimum and keep ingredients natural for a fresh, chilled product. We are obsessed about quality and this is synonymous with our premium brand.
The good news is that this hard work seems to have paid off: not only do we believe our products are the best in their class, but they are different and they are the best tasting too.
Why did you decide to sell only through the Selfridges departmental store?
Partnering with Selfridges for the launch phase was an essential strategic approach to reach early adopters and innovators first, and also prove the concept with dedicated foodies. The team at Selfridges were brilliant and the Food Hall was the perfect place to showcase the launch of the brand.
Myself and the team took to the floor during the launch and sampled the dips to consumers, which was a useful tool in hearing feedback and sharing ideas.
This initial launch worked and we have since rolled out to Harvey Nichols, Wholefoods Kensington and now nationwide to Ocado.
For a full list of our stockists, visit www.gnosh.co.uk and click on Where to Buy.
What has been the initial reaction from your customers? How are you promoting the site initially? Do you think word-of-mouth promotion would be an important factor in your success?
We have had a phenomenal response from consumers both on the product and the brand as a whole. It’s great to see such a buzz about your product as people share the brand and feedback via our website, press and social media.
Word of mouth is of course important, but our key tool is in edible advertising and by sampling in store and giving consumers the chance to taste the product. We find that once people have G’NOSHed with us, they are hooked!
What is the biggest compliment that you have received since you started G’NOSH?
The biggest compliment is the amazing feedback we’ve had when people try the product and love it! Great feedback really is the biggest compliment because we are obsessed with quality, and we will continue to keep the high standards in everything we do as we scale and expand our range.
What are the future plans for G’NOSH? By when do you plan to expand your reach to the whole of the UK? Do you plan to go international?
We are very ambitious with our plans and innovation is key to us, so we will keep evolving and developing our offering. We have just launched in Ocado, so we are now available nationwide. We have already had some international interest, which is exciting, but our focus for now is having an impact on the UK.
What top advice would you like to give to aspiring start-ups / retailers?
Make sure your product is not just different but the very best. Be obsessed with quality and don’t cut corners on anything.
Don’t be afraid of hard graft. No matter how much business planning you do, or connections you have, there is always going to be that proverbial curve ball that you will turn your plan on its head. But tenacity and belief in your product and brand pulls you through, so never give up!
Thank you Charlotte for taking the time for this interview, we wish you and G'NOSH the very best for the future.
Find out more about G'nosh at:
Website
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