A food and drink entrepreneur who appeared on Gordon Ramsey’s new Apprentice-style food entrepreneur contest, Future Food Stars, has highlighted the challenges BAME (black Asian and minority ethnic) business owners face in scaling their ventures.
Asher Flowers, who runs breakfast brand Enjoy Rogue, said that it’s very difficult for black entrepreneurs to raise private equity funds to grow their business compared to their white counterparts.
Asher said: “It’s easy to start a food business, but very difficult to grow one. There are a lot of ethnically diverse people who get into entrepreneurship. About 13% of the UK population are BAME, but 50% of start-up loan applications are from BAME backgrounds. So, you’re already over-indexing on people who are taking out loans.
“If we look at statistics behind VC (venture capital) funding, 0.24% of investments went to black founders between 2009 and 2019. We have to be really quite radical in our approach to these inequalities.”
He added: “It’s not just about championing diversity. Real inclusion comes from things like mentorship, grants, and then future investment into these BAME brands.”
Asher, 28, founded Enjoy Rogue in 2017 when he moved back to Wales after a career in PR and advertising in London while signed to modelling agencies. Initially, he teamed up with his mother Anita, who he said taught him the fundamentals of her hobby making marmalades and chutneys when he was growing up.
With just £350 in his bank account, Asher first tested his products at Cardiff farmers’ markets, before securing enough business loans and investment to develop the eight-strong range.
Now, the Welsh entrepreneur has ambitious plans to scale Rogue into a leading UK breakfast brand, launching a new range of healthy cereals and revealing plans to open a new manufacturing facility in the Rhondda Valley while he splits his time between Wales and East London.
Asher said: “It will take the business to the next level. We want to set the standard for British jams and marmalades, push diversity across the industry as well as become a loved breakfast brand. We want to replicate the success of other businesses that have done well like Hilltop Honey. We've got loads of ambition.”
He plans to open the facility in the earliest part of next year creating an initial 12 jobs (with the potential to employ 40 as the business grows). At the moment, it is just Asher running the business by himself.
He is currently trying to secure funds via Angel investment and crowdfunding support to open the facility.
Aside from creating employment, the facility would also allow Asher to scale the business and shift production capacity from a maximum of 8,000 products a week to between 10,000 and 25,000 products a day.
“We will still maintain the quality, but we want to be able to scale the business to create more products and supply more retailers,” said Asher.
Currently, the cocktail-inspired Rogue range, which features flavours like espresso martini marmalade and strawberry & tonka bean jam, is currently listed in Waitrose, Asda, Ocado and Getir and exported to the US and Saudi Arabia with plans to grow exports to include Dubai.
Asher recently appeared on Gordon Ramsay’s new Future Food Stars which aired on BBC One. Asher exited at the halfway mark, after cliff jumping, creating street food, foraging in the woods, running a drive-through and setting up a Deliveroo business.
“It was a fantastic opportunity,” said Asher. “It’s not often you get that chance to have one-on-one time with Gordon Ramsay and it was definitely a learning experience. We didn’t win but we’ve come through stronger and learnt a lot of valuable lessons and worked with excellent candidates.”
On working with the TV chef himself Asher said he was exactly like he portrays.
“He’s a lovely bloke, sharp as a tack and there’s a reason he’s got to where he is,” he said. “What I found most bizarre was he never says ‘umm’ or ‘err’, he literally knows exactly what he’s going to say, at all times. He’s the ultimate professional, I found the biggest takeaway that I gained from working with him is learning to be more candid and surrounding yourself with the right people.”
So did Asher give Mr Ramsay some products to try?
“Yes, before anyone was able to go on the show we had to prove that we had a brand worth looking at, so he tried them. He remembered the Espresso Martini marmalade in the range and that is what piqued his interest in the brand.”
