Interested in starting your own entrepreneurial journey but unsure what to expect? Then read up on our interview with Adrienne McNicholas, Founding Partner of Food Huggers, located in Madrid, Spain.
What's your business, and who are your customers?
Food Huggers is focused on designing innovative products that make it easy and fun to be sustainable at home. Our products focus on helping to reduce food waste by extending the freshness of food while also replacing single-use plastics with high-quality reusable alternatives. The collection sells well in a wide variety of stores, including gift, kitchen, and grocery, as well as eco stores and refill zero waste shops.
Tell us about yourself
My work has always been focused on creating new products and new brands as an outside consultant. Having the ability to be a business owner opens up all the options and lets me experiment with new ideas.
Do you have daily rituals for work / wellness / fitness / mindfulness?
My rituals include reading every morning for as long as my coffee lasts (sometimes I sip slowly if it's a great read). I tend to read business-related books during the week and novels and fiction on the weekend. This keeps me out of social media, emails, and my to-do list until I have had a chance to wake up, caffeinate, and settle into the day.
What's your biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Food Huggers was included in the Inc Magazine's top 5000 fastest-growing businesses in 2021, but I would still say that our biggest accomplishment is being certified as a B Corp. The whole team is very proud of that.
What's one of the hardest things that comes with being a business owner?
Switching gears between disciplines can be a challenge. I sometimes struggle when I have to hopscotch from inventory forecasting to product design to accounting, all within the same hour. If you are a business owner, you have to be able to play on all the teams.
What are the top tips you'd give to anyone looking to start, run and grow a business today?
- Your team is everything. The Food Huggers team has come together one wonderful, passionate, problem-solving person at a time. Everything about your business will be easier (and more fun) if you surround yourself with great people.
- Automate everything you can. There is so much software out there these days. We try to automate as much as possible and use API, Zapier, and ITTT connections to make our systems work together.
- A tip that was given to me when I went out on my own: "If you give something, get something" Negotiations are not always about just price or numbers. Sometimes there are a lot of other details you can work into the deal.
Where can people find you and your business?
Website: https://foodhuggers.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/foodhuggers/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/food-huggers-inc/
If you like what you've read here and have your own story as a solo or small business entrepreneur that you'd like to share, then please answer these interview questions. We'd love to feature your journey on these pages.
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