Nuts About Growth

Dave’s Blog part 4:

 

Part 4: Nuts About Growth

 

If you had told me when I started back in the early days, with my battered old van and a lock-up, that one day we’d be sending pallet loads of our own crisps across the country, I’d never have believed you. But by the mid 2000’s, that’s exactly where we were.

 

Salty Dog crisps were selling brilliantly. Our customers, mostly pubs and sandwich bars, couldn’t get enough of them. It turned out that people liked a brand with a bit of bite, and crisps with plenty of flavour. Everywhere Jamie and I went we were converting more customers. People loved the look, the name, the cheeky little dog on the bag. More importantly they loved the taste. We made sure that we used nice strong flavours, so they really were the crisps that bite back! It was more than I could have hoped for when I first went into business on my own.

 

In those early days, every sale felt like a small victory. Every new pub, deli or sandwich bar gained, it all added up. We also had some massive customers. EAT sandwich bars, who had called me when they opened their first outlet in central London, were now huge. They had north of 30 outlets in London. Every week I would load my van up to the back door, then drive to London at the crack of dawn, arriving at the first EAT store at 6 a.m. I would then spend the whole day delivering to EAT branches around the capital. Invariably they would offer me a coffee as I left, and I’d spend the day wide-eyed and buzzing on their excellent beans!

 

Those were heady days indeed and very exciting. But I had a dilemma, if we grew any bigger, we would need more vehicles, more salespeople, and we would have to move away from our home on the farm to a proper industrial unit. All of this came with a lot of extra cost, greater risk, and a lot more responsibility. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to take that step.

 

Judy Joins the Pack

 

We had reached a turning point. Luckily for me I had an ace up my sleeve. Judy – my life partner and from then on, my partner in business – made a huge decision. She gave up her well paid, secure job to jump into the Salty Dog adventure full time.

Looking back, it was a massive leap of faith. We had bills to pay, mouths to feed, and plenty of people telling us we were mad to risk a steady income for a fledgling snack brand. But Judy had seen what I’d built, and she knew it could go further – much further.

 

That decision changed everything.

 

Judy is an absolute natural at selling, she can open doors that would stay firmly shut for most people. While I’d been working hard growing our patch and looking after our customers, Judy had bigger ideas: Why stop here?

 

Bigger Than Chiltern Snacks

 

Up until then, the focus had been on growing our original business – Chiltern Snacks. We’d built up a loyal network of customers, delivering direct to pubs, delis, farm shops and sandwich bars, and it was working brilliantly. But Judy’s fresh perspective helped us realise something: maybe the future wasn’t adding more vans and covering more miles.

 

Maybe the real opportunity was bigger. Much bigger.

 

We had our own brand now – Salty Dog. It wasn’t just another product in the van; it was ours, with our name on the bag and our story behind it. So why not share it? Instead of driving around locally ourselves, delivering a few cases here and there, what if we could sell entire pallets to other wholesalers? People just like us – independent distributors who knew their patch, and their customers inside out.

 

That was a lightbulb moment. Why compete with the rest when we could supply them instead?

 

From Cases to Pallets

 

So that’s exactly what we did. Judy hit the phones, and I hit the road. She would work her magic – chatting up buyers, setting up meetings and breaking down barriers. I’d jump in the car, hammer the miles and close the deals.

 

We also started exhibiting at trade shows. I’ll always remember the first one we did, at Earls Court Exhibition Centre in London. Judy and I were so nervous, we’d never done anything like this before. As we set up our tiny stand we were filled with trepidation – would people be interested in our little brand, or would they walk on past looking for the more established products? We didn’t have to worry for long. As soon as the doors opened, a sea of faces flooded in, and it felt like they all stopped at our stand!

 

People were genuinely excited to see a fresh and exciting new take on hand-cooked crisps. They were five deep waiting to try our crisps and to talk to us, saying things like “These look great, I love your packaging. I’ve got five pubs in the Cotswolds, do you have a distributor near me?”, or occasionally “Hi, I work for a food wholesale company, can you give me a call after the show?”.

 

In the months that followed, I was sitting down with wholesalers from London, Leeds, Bristol and Manchester – wherever we could get a foot in the door. I’d crack open a box of crisps, pass the bags around, and more often than not, they’d sign up on the spot.

 

For the first time, we were shipping direct from the factory in Wales straight to their depots. No small drops, we were talking pallets rather than cases. It was one hell of a growth curve. We were still serving our local pubs, of course – that was our bread and butter. But now we were helping other independents do the same in their towns and cities.

 

And there’s nothing more satisfying than seeing bags of Salty Dog behind the bar of a pub you’ve never set foot in before, miles from home. Knowing they got there because you had the guts to take a risk and build something bigger than yourself – there’s no feeling like it.

 

The Next Big Idea

 

Of course, once you get a taste for growth, you start to wonder: what’s next?

 

Driving back from yet another meeting one afternoon, I remember mulling it over. I’d probably done three or four hundred miles that day. My old car was humming along the motorway, empty of samples and full of possibility. What else could we offer our customers? We had the crisps locked down – but the truth was, we weren’t just selling crisps. We were selling a bit of fun, a bit of attitude, a proper pub snack with a quirky twist.

 

So what else do you eat in a pub?

 

The answer hit me like a bag of spuds. Nuts.

 

Of course – nuts! They’re the classic partner to a pint. The humble peanut: salty, crunchy, satisfying. It made perfect sense.

 

The Mutt’s Gone Nuts!

 

So in 2005, we did it. Salty Dog nuts were born. But as always, we didn’t want to do it half-baked. If we were going to sell nuts, they had to be properly good nuts. This was easier said than done. There weren’t that many roasted nut producers in the country, and even fewer making high quality product.

 

I have learnt over the years that, when it comes to factories, it’s a question of capacities and volumes. You might find the perfect producer, but if they are at full capacity they won’t have room for you, and if they do have room, they’ll want to know how much volume you are bringing to the table, so they can figure out if you are the right customer for them. If you are approaching them with nothing but a cunning plan, and guessing at volumes, you can’t blame them for being somewhat cautious.

 

I got knocked back a couple of times but then – third time lucky! I spoke to a lovely bloke in Liverpool called Jim Hacking, owner of the Sun Valley Nut Company. I explained my idea to Jim, who was sceptical at first. But as luck would have it, his local pub stocked Salty Dog crisps, and he was impressed. With very little to go on he decided to take a chance, so he threw the dog a bone.

 

We launched with a range that ticked every box: classic Salted Peanuts for the purists, Dry Roasted for a bit of hearty pub nostalgia. Honey Roasted for those with a sweet tooth, and Chilli Peanuts for the brave. We even added Salted Cashews for a touch of class. And we put them on bright, eye-catching display cards that looked great hanging behind the bar.

 

Customers Lapped It Up

 

And the best part? Our customers loved them. They were already fans of our crisps, so adding nuts was a no-brainer for them. Same driver, same invoice, same quality – and an instant upsell.

 

We weren’t just a man with a van anymore, we were a family business, running our own brand, building something that belonged to us – and to our customers too. And the best part? We weren’t done yet. There was so much more to come. Different flavours, new products, massive customers, and crazier dreams.

 

The Terriertorial Army

 

If you have a dream of making it on your own, you could join the Terriertorial Army. Not a franchise, not a gimmick. You just need a vehicle, a bit of storage, and a truck load of enthusiasm. If that’s you, give us a call, there’s always room for one more Salty Dog.

 

Going Global

 

Next time, I’ll share the story of how we built on that momentum and what came next for the brand that started life in a barn. How it took us around the world, in particular the good old US of A.

 

Thanks for reading.