When is the right time to start a business?

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It all started as a vegan activism project, says founder Alice Shopland of her Auckland-based startup Angel Food. 

“I wanted to make it easier for people to choose plant-based meals more often.” 

That was eighteen years ago. Now, Angel Food, having tried and tested a range of products over the course of its life, centres on plant-based and allergy-friendly cheese products, making more than 130 tonnes a year. 

Despite claiming the title of New Zealand’s number one plant-based cheese, with products in 350 retail stores and over 1000 food service outlets, it’s been a long slog for the startup. 

Nevertheless, with market research company Euromonitor forecasting the plant-based cheese market to reach $74 million across Australia and New Zealand by 2027, the future looks bright. Shopland intends to make the most of this momentum. 

Last July, she led Angel Food through its third successful equity crowdfunding campaign on PledgeMe. The campaign, for between $200,000 and $500,000, raised $217,633 in capital, equating to 4.26 percent of the company. Shopland is the major shareholder in the company with a 41.53 percent stake.

The capital has been put towards marketing, product development, hiring a general manager and preparation for a 2024 Australian launch – the latter forecasted to require a $1 million investment. 

At the time of the raise, the business was valued at $4.6 million. To stay profitable, the startup must exceed a revenue of $5 million per year. Angel Food predicts a threefold revenue growth two years from the July 2023 raise, with EBITDA forecast to hit 0.9 percent in the 2025 financial year. 

Looking back, Shopland says she probably started the business a little early, guided by her activism rather than business acumen. However, as cheesy as it sounds, it is precisely that passion that has kept the wheels turning for the startup. 

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What’s something that you wish you knew starting out? 

Not every product is going to be a success.

That’s a hard one, especially at the beginning. You put everything into the packaging design, the flavour and the texture. You try to get everything right around pricing and marketing. Sometimes, it just doesn’t work. 

We had one product, in particular, a powdered mix for making vegan cheese sauce that we carried on selling for years after it proved to be a nonviable product. Because I developed the recipe myself, because I loved it and it had some hard-core fans, I thought, ‘if we just keep making this, keep getting it out there, somehow it will have its day in the sun.’ It never happened, and we had to pull the plug. 

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What went wrong along the way, and what did you learn? 

In late 2021, we changed the packaging for our block cheeses from vacuum bags to plastic tubs. 

We had lots of good reasons to do this: the tubs are easier to recycle, they give the product a better shelf-life which means less food waste, and they make the manufacturing process more efficient. 

We knew there would likely be some resistance to the change, but we were confident our reasons would make it a winning move. Indeed, there was some pushback, but the biggest problem was that many people simply didn’t see the new packs on the shelf. It wasn’t what they were looking for. 

Even a year later, people would come to our stand at a food show and express surprise about the ‘new’ packaging, which wasn’t very new by then. 

I learned that if you don’t feel like you’re majorly overcommunicating about a product change, then you’re probably undercommunicating. 

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Who have you worked with that has been helpful on your startup journey? 

Our advisor, Anna Subritzky, who started working with us a year ago. She’s incredibly experienced in FMCG [fast-moving consumer goods] and has been an amazing source of good sense and inspiration. 

More recently, we started working with Seed Lab, a national incubator and accelerator programme funded by Woolworths for Australian and New Zealand businesses. 

You apply to be considered, but it’s a complete business course. Some people there haven’t started a business yet; they just have an idea for a product. Others, like us, have been doing it for years. 

Whatever stage you’re at, it’s really useful because you completely revise how you conduct every area of your business. 

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What is the best advice you received along the way?

Everything matters: from your email signature to your logo, from how you treat your staff and do your marketing, even to how your administrative assistant answers the phone. It all matters. 

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What advice would you give an aspiring entrepreneur?

When things get overwhelming, and they will, I know I have reacted by trying to work harder and faster, by burrowing down and dealing with the small picture. 

Ideally, when it’s overwhelming, take a step back. Find some breathing space and try to make big picture decisions so you’re not wasting energy going down the wrong path. 

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What was your first entrepreneurial moment? 

The earliest entrepreneurial moment I can remember is when I was at university. I would have been around 18. 

I used to bake cookies at home, package them into batches of a dozen, and my dad – who had a sheet metal workshop in an industrial complex – would take them to work and sell them to the guys in the surrounding workshops. 

Thinking about it now, my dad was no salesman. I wonder if he just brought them all himself. 

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Founder Feedback is a weekly series asking founders about their startup journeys. If you have a story to share, reach out to mary@caffeinedaily.co