This week we spoke with Ella Harland & Sophie McGregor, Founders of Griddle, to talk about why they started Griddle, who their dream collaboration would be and much more.

Can you tell us a little about Griddle?

Griddle is a frozen baked goods brand, on a mission to make bakery fit for the modern consumer. We’re making delicious bakery products more convenient, better-for-you, and better for our planet, with a big focus on reducing food waste which traditional bakery is notoriously bad for. Our initial range of products are our toaster waffles which can be found in the freezers at Morrisons, Ocado, Whole Foods and Dunnes Stores (for any Irish readers).

Where did the idea to create Griddle come from?

(Ella) Sophie and I met when I was looking for a room to rent in London after university and found a room available on Spareroom.com in the flat that Sophie was in. We hit it off straight away with a shared love of all things food, and in particular our love of brunch! We would often cook up a big stack of pancakes and waffles on a Saturday morning with friends, ready to top with whatever we fancied.

It was this that led us to look in the supermarkets and realise there really were no decent pre-made options available that tasted great, and weren’t full of sugar or chemical preservatives and flavours. It took us a while to take the plunge and begin working full time on the business but it meant we really took our time to do the market research and see if there truly was a place in the market for our products.

Is there anything exciting you are currently working on?

(Ella) We’ve got some new products coming out this year and also a new supermarket coming in September! We can’t say too much more on the latter, but on the product development side of things we are working on some recipes to expand our product range with an extra thick and fluffy dessert-style waffle, and also some other frozen morning goods.

Would there be a dream collaboration for the brand?

(Sophie) Someone we’ve always admired and definitely shares a number of our values surrounding maintaining a healthy lifestyle whilst keeping it fun is Joe Wicks, so a collaboration with him would be epic. I imagine he’d probably launch the waffles into the toaster from across the room similarly to how he does a lot of his Instagram food videos!

Best piece of advice you have been given?

(Sophie) ‘‘Don’t sweat the small stuff’, although this is definitely easier said than done! I try to apply this to all areas of my life, but in business, especially the start-up world, this is particularly relevant. Things go wrong all the time, and if we stressed over every small thing going wrong we would never make any progress!

If you had a free day in London to do what you want, where would you go?

(Ella) We’re both so fortunate to live in London, which is such a diverse city, with so many fun things to do, see, eat and drink! We both love running and so given that the weather is so nice at the moment I think we’d probably begin our day with a run along the river. One of our favorite routes, and one which we used to do a lot whilst living together, is from Pimlico down the Thames path, running past the Houses of Parliament, London Eye, Oxo Tower, over Blackfriars bridge, and ending up in Borough Market for a bite to eat! Afterward, we’d wander over to the Tate Modern. It’s always bustling by the south bank and the Tate often has some great exhibitions on!

To learn more about Griddle visit: https://wearegriddle.com

Photography courtesy of Griddle