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Food is nothing without flavour, but as it stands (unfortunately), most of the condiments you’re picking off supermarket shelves are adding a lot more than flavour to your food. They’re adding sugar, preservatives, saturated fats and a handful of stuff you probably can’t even pronounce.
Let’s put the standard bottle of store-bought ketchup to the test. In every tablespoon of that tomato-y goodness, there’s a full tablespoon of sugar, equating to 1/7th of your recommended daily intake (for the average adult). Chances are, you’re eating a lot more than just a tablespoon.
Dr. Will, a real life NHS doctor, and his co-founders Liam White and Josh Rose had a few things in common when they started the healthy, sustainable condiments brand Dr. Will’s – they all loved food and knew there had to be a better way to make ketchup taste good than cramming 17 sugar cubes into one bottle. They started experimenting with recipes back in 2017 with all things natural and delicious to try and create foods that tasted great, without doing any harm to your body or the planet in the process. Now, with a range of their first products, Tomato Ketchup, Beetroot Ketchup, BBQ Sauce, Mayo, salad dressings and more, Dr. Will’s believe they have what it takes to take the spotlight away from the household names that have dominated the condiments category without doing their customers any favours. And their growth trajectory tells a similar story.
From humble beginnings in farm shops and Selfridges’ food hall, Dr. Will’s has now grown to nationwide availability in a few short years. The brand has secured listings on Ocado, Waitrose and Tesco, and captured the hearts of tens of thousands of fans across social media. They sold over 10,000 bottles in Tesco in their first two months trading and have taken home Great Taste awards for their Classic and Chilli Mayo. To date, the startup has sold over 450,000 products, and generated over £1m in sales, prompting over 500 stellar customer reviews.
While growth is top of mind for the F&B innovator, from the very beginning the team was also concentrated on both social and environmental sustainability. With the sale of those first 10,000 products, they donated £10,000 worth of sauce to food charities across the country to support those in need. Dr. Will’s recently became a fully certified B-corp, showcasing a strong commitment to balancing profit and purpose. The brand’s bottles are all fully recyclable, and they’re in the process of removing everything that is not recyclable from the supply chain, including the neck seals on the bottle, to ensure sustainability from end to end. They also don’t use any bubble wrap, in favour of recyclable and biodegradable alternatives, and are actively monitoring more innovative packaging options (like biodegradable bottles made from sugarcane) to strive to further minimise carbon footprint.
Dr. Will’s has made a splash on Seedrs over the last week, raising 214% of their funding target, with the support of more than 550 investors. In light of overwhelming interest, the startup announced a stretch target of £1M, giving investors another chance to come on board.
Check out the pitch to find out more.
