Ella's Kitchen is a company that makes organic baby and toddler food, sold in supermarkets internationally including in the UK, China, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Ireland, Iceland, Finland, Belgium, Netherlands, Romania, Canada and the United States. Ella's Kitchen has a 30% share of the UK baby food sector and a global turnover of $121m. Ella's Kitchen was founded in the UK in 2006 and is a member of The Soil Association and The Organic Trade Board.

History

Founding and acquisition

The Henley-based Ella's Kitchen was founded in 2006 by

Paul Lindley Paul John Lindley (born 17 October 1966) is a British entrepreneur and children's welfare campaigner. He founded organic baby and children's food brand Ella's Kitchen in 2006, naming it after his daughter, and later launched organic toddler to ...

. After graduating from the University of Bristol he trained and qualified as a Chartered Accountant at

KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...

in London and Los Angeles. He then spent nine years at

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

as deputy managing director before setting up Ella's Kitchen. The business is named after Paul's daughter, Ella. The company launched in Scandinavia and the US in 2009 and now has a presence in sixteen markets. In May 2013, it was announced that Ella's Kitchen had been sold to The

Hain Celestial Group The Hain Celestial Group, Inc. is an American food company whose main focus is natural foods and botanically-based personal care products. Its products range from herbal teas, sold by its Celestial Seasonings brand to snacks offered through its T ...

, Inc., a North American natural and organic products company.

Campaigns

In February 2013, Paul Lindley, founder and CEO, launched a campaign focused on childhood nutrition called Averting A Recipe For Disaster. A report of the same name was released at the time, including comments and support from representatives of the food and health industries, charity sector and media including

Prue Leith Dame Prudence Margaret Leith, (born 18 February 1940) is a South African restaurateur, chef, caterer, television presenter/broadcaster, journalist, cookery writer and novelist. She is Chancellor of Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh. She wa ...

Tom Aikens Tom Aikens (born 1970), also named Tom Aitkens, is an English Michelin-starred chef. Aikens briefly worked for chefs in London and Paris restaurants. Under his tenure from 1996 to 1999 as head chef and then chef patron, Pied à Terre earned it ...

, David Haslam (Chairman of the

National Obesity Forum The National Obesity Forum is a British independent professional organisation which campaigns for a more interventionist approach to obesity. It was established in May 2000. In June 2012 the Forum complained that GPs in England were rewarded fi ...

), Carmel McConnell (founder of Magic Breakfast), Rob Rees MBE (Chair of The School Food Trust) and

Sheila Dillon Sheila Dillon is a British food journalist who began her career writing for the New York food magazine ''Food Monitor''. She is known to listeners of Radio Four as presenter of ''The Food Programme'', on which she has appeared for more than 20 ye ...

(presenter of

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

's Food Programme). The report outlined the need for a 'Food Manifesto for the Under Fives', a long term, cross-party plan to improve nutrition for the under-fives and a series of recommendations about what might be included in it. In September 2013,

Leicester City Council Leicester City Council is a unitary authority responsible for local government in the city of Leicester, England. It consists of 54 councillors, representing 22 wards in the city, overseen by a directly elected mayor. It is currently control ...

announced that it would be a year long pilot city to trial ideas and themes emerging from the report. This resulted in the Start Smart initiative launching in Leicester in March 2014, which promotes collaboration between businesses, government and communities to raise awareness of healthy eating for the under-fives. In 2015, Ella's Kitchen partnered with children's charity

Save the Children The Save the Children Fund, commonly known as Save the Children, is an international non-governmental organization established in the United Kingdom in 1919 to improve the lives of children through better education, health care, and economic ...

, for a limited edition Jingle Belly

Christmas Dinner Christmas dinner is a meal traditionally eaten at Christmas. This meal can take place any time from the evening of Christmas Eve to the evening of Christmas Day itself. The meals are often particularly rich and substantial, in the tradition of ...

pouch. 30p from every sale was donated to Save the Children's FAST (Families and Schools Together) programme. Also in 2015 they launched 'EllaCycle', a scheme aiming to help parents learn how they can recycle and reuse all the different types of Ella's Kitchen packaging. In February 2016. Ella's Kitchen was awarded certification as a

B Corporation In the United States, a benefit corporation (or in several jurisdictions including Delaware, a public-benefit corporation or PBC) is a type of for-profit corporate entity, authorized by 35 U.S. states and the District of Columbia, that include ...

. In May of that year, it launched a new campaign, Veg for Victory, aiming to raise awareness of the benefits of starting weaning with vegetables.

Products

Ella's Kitchen currently has 216 products, suitable for babies aged from 4 months to 3+ years, including baby and toddler food, smoothies, snack ranges and more, all featuring organic ingredients. It was the first brand to bring pouches to the baby food market. The products contain no added sugar, salt, water, additives,

E number E numbers ("E" stands for "Europe") are codes for substances used as food additives, including those found naturally in many foods such as vitamin C, for use within the European Union (EU) and European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Commonly ...

s or GM ingredients.

Awards

Awards won by the company include: * Mum's Choice Overall Award Winner at the Tesco Mums' Choice Awards 2011 * Best Organic Baby Food 2011 Prima Baby Reader Awards * International Business of the Year at the Growing Business Fast Growth Business Awards 2011 * Food and Drink Brand of the Year at The Grocer Gold Awards 2010. * High Growth Business of the Year award at the Private Business Awards, * an excellence award for Innovation at the 2012 Fast Track 100 event. * The International Growth Business of the Year award at the 2012 National Business Awards * Healthy Snacks winner in the Red Tricycle Totally Awesome Awards. * Innovation of the Year award at the Norway Grocery Association Awards * Grocery Brand of the Year in Sweden Ella's Kitchen ranked in the Sunday Times Fast Track 100 list in 2011, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2016.

References

{{Reflist Food and drink companies established in 2006 Companies based in Oxfordshire Certified B Corporations in the Food & Beverage Industry Food and drink companies of England Baby food manufacturers Henley-on-Thames 2006 establishments in England