⚡ How this Start-Up has Turned Commercial Kitchens into a Booming Marketplace

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👩‍🍳 How this Start-Up is creating modern British High-Streets with Smart Tech
🐶 How you can use dogs to land your dream stockists
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Rich

🎤 Events/Opportunities

💸 Focal have launched their Winter 24 Demo Day, giving you the chance to pitch to their 250 VC Fund partners and thousands of angel investors. You can apply here.

🤖 If you’re building in AI and are Pre-Seed to Series A, Menlo Ventures and Anthropic are cutting $100,000+ cheques. You can apply here.

😇 Matthew Sarre has started an Angel Syndicate and they’re actively looking to put Start-Ups in front of the Angel Syndicate. Find out more and join their next virtual pitch event here.

🍸 Distill Ventures (Diageo) are looking for Non-Alcoholic + Alcoholic Drinks brands to put through their accelerator and fund if successful. You can apply here.

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🛍 Customer Experience Executive, ZOA Rental
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🏦 Dutch Neobank, Bunq, plans to nearly double its workforce ahead of UK and US Expansion. Sifted

🎥 Media talent app, HUSSLUP, shuts down as workers in Hollywood continue to face job slowdown. TechCrunch

🍸 LineLeap lets users pay to skip the line at bars. TechCrunch

🥗 Depop Founder’s new online food platform raises £4.6m. UKTN

Oya Kitchens: Revolutionising Commercial Kitchen Spaces

Oya Kitchens is a platform that connects property owners with food businesses in need of kitchen spaces. The company specialises in sourcing, marketing, and licensing various types of kitchen spaces, including delivery kitchens, pub residencies, production units, pop-ups, and takeaways. Oya Kitchens acts as a bridge between property owners looking to monetise their underutilised kitchens and food brands seeking the right space to grow their business. Initially, the company operated manually, matching renters with available spaces, but has since evolved into a sophisticated platform that streamlines the entire process of viewing, booking, and managing kitchen spaces.

Securing the First Customers: Grassroots Marketing and Persistence

The founders, Mark and Ashley, secured their first customer through a personal connection—the receptionist at their old office mentioned that her boyfriend, who ran a catering business, needed a kitchen space. At the time, Oya Kitchens had only one property listing available, which was taken by this catering business. One viewing, one deal! The company then set out to see if the idea could scale. 

To attract more customers, the founders adopted a grassroots, growth-hacking approach. They scoured platforms like Deliveroo to identify potential clients, such as restaurants and food vendors, and cold-called them to pitch their services. They also targeted pubs by identifying potential establishments and reaching out directly. Without a website, the founders manually created property listings by taking photos, writing descriptions, and compiling them into PDFs, which they then sent to potential clients. This hands-on, personalised approach helped them gain traction in the market without relying on a digital platform.

Scaling the Business: From Manual to Digital Operations

After securing their first customers and generating £2,000-3,000 in monthly turnover, Oya Kitchens sought investment to scale their operations. The first round of investment allowed them to build a small team, although they continued to operate offline, relying on manual processes for the first year. As their revenue grew, they raised additional capital, which they used to develop an online platform. This digital transition marked a significant turning point, enabling them to scale more efficiently by automating many of the previously manual tasks. The shift from manual to digital operations took nearly two years, reflecting a gradual but steady growth trajectory.

Lessons Learned: The Importance of Confidence and Aggression in Business

In hindsight, Ashley believes they were too conservative with their early valuations and fundraising efforts. They now recognise that a more aggressive approach could have accelerated their growth, especially during opportunities like the COVID-19 lockdowns, which they approached cautiously. The founders also learned the value of confidence in the startup world, particularly when negotiating and securing investment. 

Funding the Start-Up: From Bootstrapping to External Investment

Oya Kitchens was initially bootstrapped by the founders, who each contributed £5,000 to create the company’s first website. This small investment was pivotal in getting the business off the ground. With early successes, they approached external investors and secured their first significant funding from SFC Capital, a major pre-seed fund in the UK. The founders’ ability to execute their vision impressed the investors, leading to a relatively smooth funding process, with the money secured after just three calls.

Challenges and Failures: Navigating the Pandemic and Internal Growth

The most significant challenge Oya Kitchens faced was the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The hospitality industry, which formed the core of their customer base, was severely impacted, making it difficult to contact landlords as most venues were shut. Oya’s growth hacking approach paid off, with pub groups signed in the pandemic still using their services today. 

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This marketing campaign is the perfect example of having a goal and being prepared to go via a non-traditional route to get there.

Instead of paying for expensive models and waiting for years to get a listing at Whole Foods, the founder of Feisty protein soda conveniently camped outside. In addition to that, instead of getting expensive models, Vy used her dogs! Vy then proceeded to give out samples to everyone that came to the stand, and they loved it!

Not only did the dogs attract huge crowds in real life, but it also got people talking about this stunt all over the internet! However, the most important part, Vy was then able to show Whole Foods just how many of their customers enjoyed her product. All this attention and validation really helps Vy’s case in the quest to find new stockists.

How could you skip the line to get in with a distributor or partner you’d love to work with?

Each week we highlight our favourite tools - either something we’ve been using in our businesses, or tools that our innovator community have recommended.

As a founder, you wear many hats. Consistent LinkedIn and X presence is a crucial task, but it's just one of many. ContentRadar help you convert any piece of content into LinkedIn posts and carousels with 1 click. They also allow you to schedule, cross-post and collaborate.

Next week I’ll be highlighting another awesome Start-Up (if you want us to feature you, drop us a message), as well as sharing all the usuals including funding opportunities, Start-Up news, plus plenty of awesome tips, tricks and tools.

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