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The first time I tried Vince it was in a white paper bag, passed to me by its creator Debbie Stowe at one of my live training events. I took it home and over the next few days used it in my family cooking. Nobody noticed until I fessed up that I’d been “watering down” our meat with a dehydrated vegetable mince look alike.
That of course was exactly how Debbie and her husband Nigel had imagined their vegan product would be most used. Not as a product just for vegans, but as a way to easily introduce more vegetables into family dinners, fitted into our Kiwi dinners, and perhaps dinner plates all over the world.
Considering world domination when you’re a bootstrapped food business operating out of a tiny kitchen is no mean feat, and Debbie and Nigel have had to constantly push past the fear barrier, while ensuring they’re growing at the right pace for themselves, the business and their stockists
Vince is now stocked in supermarkets as well as being sold directly. In today’s MAP IT Marketing episode, Rachel Klaver talks to Debbie about how the business came to be, the help they’ve had along the way, the impact they want to make and what’s next on the growth plan list.
In this episode we cover:
Important Links
Find Vince here (including stockists)
Buy your copy of Be a Spider, Build a Web
Become a part of the MAP IT Marketing facebook group
Register interest for Rachel’s content coaching programme
Join the My MAP IT Marketing Strategy School
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Co-founder of VINCE
Personal:
Mother to Ashley (15) & Olivia (13)
Married to Nigel (also a business partner)
Work History:
20 years of hospitality experience (Hotels, Event Management)
15 years self-employed
First business: Nectar Cafe in Whangarei (2007 - 2016)
Won Northland cafe of the year multiple times
Won Westpac Northland Business Award
Second business: Wholefoods lunch delivery service (2017)
Third business: Corporate catering (2018-2019)
Fourth Business: Olive and Ash (2019 - present)
First with Granola, then Vince
Education:
University of Waikato: BSocSci, Majors; Human Resource Management and Psychology
Auckland University of Technology: Advanced Certificate in Professional Cookery
One cool thing about our business: Winners of Foodstarter 2022 - small supplier
Foodstuffs will give us extra support to roll out into New Worlds nationwide.
Business Milestones:
2019: Accelerator: The Pick
Awards: Northland Westpac Business Awards for Innovation
2020:
Accelerator: The Good Food Boost
Awards: Finalist in NZ Artisan Awards
On the shelf in Farro and Whangarei New Worlds
2021:
Accelerator: Sprout Agritech
Awards: The NZ Food Awards (Pantry)
Outstanding Food Producer (Silver x2, Bronze x1)
Grants: AGMARDT - Trailing different dehydration technologies
AKINA - Investment Readiness for impact-driven companies
Fieldays Innovation Marquee
O…
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