‘Starting my own business was tough but now I have Michelin-star clients’

Grant Harrington turned his butter business dreams into reality thanks to his saving skills and a loan from his parents.

Grant was 21 when he became obsessed with butter while working at a restaurant in Sweden. “The butter there was so much better than any I’d tasted in England,” he says. “I knew I wanted to bring that quality to the UK.”

Turning dreams into reality

Grant borrowed from his parents to add to his £22,000 savings and a year later launched his butter brand Ampersand. Six years later he started supplying 34 Michelin-star restaurants in the UK.

A high point came in 2015 when Grant, from Coventry, clinched an order from Raymond Blanc’s Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire.

“I spent a year calling in with samples and talking to head chef Gary Jones,” he said. “To finally get my English butter to sit alongside French butter in his restaurant was amazing. That order made up at least half my income.”

While Ampersand’s recipe of fermenting the cream of Jersey cows for 160 hours has long been perfected, Grant’s other procedures have had to change.

He used to weigh 1,000 individual 15g portions of butter every week by hand and shape them with traditional wooden paddles. That process took two days but now it’s three hours thanks to new machinery.

What I did

First year

• I moved into the dairy farm owned by my brother’s in-laws in 2014
• I spent a year developing the product, working 18-hour days doing everything:
  • working on the butter
  • cold calling potential clients – Three local restaurants became clients this way
  • delivering samples
  • emailing all my chef contacts about what I was doing.
• I registered as a sole trader.
• I borrowed £19,000 from my parents to add to my £22,000 savings to build a production cabin on the farm and buy a refrigerated van. 

Subsequent years

• I had nine clients by the second year
• The business broke even and I had 12 clients by the third year
• By the fourth year I had made a profit, at which point I was supplying 22 clients
  • I also paid my parents back
  • Invested in more equipment and better machinery
  • hired a full-time staff member
• In April 2019 I registered as a limited company
• I am now working on branding and looking to break into the retail market

What worked

Saving money

• Between 18 to 22 years old I saved £22,000 from working 18-hour days as a chef and finding a cheap place to rent in London.
• Knowing where and when to spend was important
• I saved on marketing costs by not developing the brand and on staff costs by doing everything myself
• I now need to catch up on the brand side of things if I am to expand into retail

Stepping outside of my comfort zone

• Cold calling potential clients paid off. That was a shock to the system as I had never been very confident
• I even had to cold call restaurants I had worked at like Restaurant Gordon Ramsey in Chelsea, London. That was my first three-star Michelin restaurant client
• I met my business mentor Peter Unsworth, the former chief executive of Tata Global Beverages, at a wedding in 2014. He offered his support after hearing my idea for a business. I really benefited from his expertise and support. His three-year targets and projections were the best advice he gave and proved correct. 

Accepting the kindness of others

• I also got a small inheritance from my grandparents.
• Taking people up on offers of help made all the difference. My brother’s in-laws kindly put me up and allowed me space on their farm in Bicester to start the business. I lodged there for free for four years.
• My girlfriend was good with Excel
• My dad helped me with paperwork
• An uncle was brilliant at fixing equipment
• Posting pictures on Instagram and getting feedback boosted me to keep going. There were 2am moments when I wondered “what am I doing?”. One time the air conditioning broke – something that would affect the butter. Social media helped me push through such moments.

Find out more on how software can help with our article on the best apps for small businesses.

Looking after my health

• I stopped playing rugby as I couldn’t afford any physical injury when I was responsible for every aspect of my business.
• I took up Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a martial art that is also really good for mental wellness. This helped to keep me focused.

And what didn’t

• As a chef I was used to working 17 to 18 hours a day and I did the same – and more – for my business. In fact I did too much. I should have distributed work sooner. I definitely skipped over the incredible value of creating a strong team because of my naive presumption I could take on the whole workload myself.
  
• Not focusing on the cashflow was a mistake. It’s not my strength and I only dealt with money when I needed it. I had to chase customers. There was one restaurant in 2016 that didn’t pay and went into liquidation. I now have an automated system to chase debts.
  
• I tried to apply for startup grants but never got around to finishing applications. There was always an order or something on the farm that needed my attention. One application was to the Prince’s Trust – I missed out on expertise and support by not getting my form in.

For ideas and tips on starting your own company, read our guide on how to start a business.