From expat cravings to a British food start-up

Katie Smith was 18 and in her first year at university when she launched Tastes Marvellous in 2012. Growing up in Saudi Arabia, she missed everyday British tastes: Marmite, custard, Cadbury chocolate and proper tea. When she realised thousands of British expats felt the same, she turned that homesickness into a business idea. Her young UK food start-up sold care parcels filled with the British groceries that supermarkets abroad often failed to stock.

The concept struck a chord. By the end of her first year of trading, Katie and her small team were making up around 100 orders a day, shipping nostalgic food parcels from a warehouse to customers across the globe. It was a classic example of a founder solving a problem she understood intimately.

The original video diary that followed Katie was produced as part of a short-lived government-backed entrepreneurship campaign. While that programme no longer exists, the lessons she shared remain relevant, and the support available to UK founders has expanded considerably.

Why Katie’s story still matters for women founders in 2026

More than a decade on, Katie’s journey remains a useful case study for any woman thinking about starting a business in the UK. Women-led enterprises are a growing force. The government’s Alison Rose Review of Female Entrepreneurship (2019) found that if women started and scaled businesses at the same rate as men, it could add up to £250 billion to the UK economy. The Rose Review Progress Report 2023 also noted that women-led businesses already contribute around £85 billion in gross value added.

Yet the gap persists. According to the British Business Bank’s Small Business Finance Markets 2024 report, all-female founder teams received only around 2% of UK equity investment, while all-male teams captured roughly 87%. That funding imbalance makes it even more important for women founders to start lean, validate early and use the schemes designed specifically for them.

Katie did not wait for permission or perfect conditions. She spotted a niche, tested it quickly and scaled through exporting. That combination of personal insight, speed and global ambition is exactly what today’s women founders are encouraged to emulate. If you are at the early stages, our Women in Business: Key UK Facts page sets out the current landscape.

A typical day in a young UK food start-up

Start-up life rarely follows a nine-to-five pattern. In the video diary, Katie’s day began at 7.30 a.m. in the warehouse: checking overnight orders, updating stock levels, packing parcels, answering customer emails and planning social media posts. There were no separate departments. Katie was the marketer, operations manager, customer service team and finance assistant all at once.

That juggling act is familiar to most early-stage founders. A productive day usually includes:

• Order fulfilment: picking, packing and dispatching parcels accurately and on time.
• Stock control: monitoring best-before dates, reordering popular lines and avoiding waste.
• Customer communication: replying to enquiries, handling complaints and turning buyers into repeat customers.
• Marketing: posting on social media, updating the website and running promotions.
• Administration: invoicing, bookkeeping, VAT records and supplier payments.

Time management is therefore one of the first skills a founder must master. Simple habits, such as batching similar tasks, automating routine emails and using cloud accounting software, can prevent the business from running you rather than the other way around.

Exporting from day one

Tastes Marvellous was never just a local venture. Within a short time, Katie was exporting to around 80 countries, from Spain and Australia to the United States and the Middle East. For a small food business, that meant grappling with customs paperwork, shelf-life rules, import restrictions and courier choices, all while keeping customers happy.

Exporting remains one of the most powerful ways for a UK start-up to scale. Small and medium-sized enterprises make a significant contribution to UK exports, yet the majority of SMEs still do not sell overseas. Women-led businesses are a key part of closing that gap, and the Department for Business and Trade offers free support to help founders reach new markets.

Today’s founders can access far more support than was available in 2013. Useful starting points include:

• The DBT Export Academy, which offers free webinars and courses on finding customers abroad.
• UK Export Finance, which provides insurance and finance to help you win and fulfil overseas contracts.
• Your local British Chamber of Commerce or Federation of Small Businesses branch for peer support and market intelligence.
• GOV.UK guidance on EORI numbers, customs declarations and rules of origin post-Brexit.

Food start-up compliance in 2026

Running a food business today brings extra layers of regulation that Katie was already navigating. If you are selling food in the UK, you must register your premises with the local authority at least 28 days before trading. This is free and cannot be refused. You also need to follow food safety management procedures based on Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point principles.

On the tax side, HMRC has set the VAT registration threshold at £90,000 for the 2026/27 tax year. If your taxable turnover crosses that figure in any rolling 12-month period, you must register with HMRC. Food sales can be complex: some items are zero-rated for VAT, while others are standard-rated, so getting advice early pays off. Our VAT Registration for UK Sole Traders: 2026/27 Guide explains the current thresholds and deadlines.

HMRC is also phasing in Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment. From April 2026, sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 must use MTD-compatible software to keep digital records and submit quarterly updates. The threshold drops to £30,000 from April 2027.

Dealing with setbacks: theft, stock loss and sleepless nights

Running a start-up is not all milestone celebrations and rising graphs. In one episode of the video series, Katie arrived at the warehouse on a Monday morning to find it had been burgled and trashed. Stock had been stolen, equipment damaged and the team’s carefully planned week thrown into chaos.

Incidents like this are a stark reminder that resilience is not optional for entrepreneurs. Practical protections include:

• Business contents insurance that covers stock, equipment and theft.
• Robust warehouse security, including alarms, CCTV, secure locks and lighting.
• A business continuity plan so you know how to keep trading if premises are unusable.
• Clear supplier relationships to replace lost stock quickly.

Equally important is emotional resilience. Setbacks can feel personal when the business carries your name, but they are also where the most valuable lessons are learned. Connecting with other founders through networks, mentoring programmes or local enterprise groups can make the difficult days easier to navigate.

Learning by doing, and using the right support

Katie dropped out of university to focus on Tastes Marvellous full time. It was a bold decision, and one that underlined a truth many founders recognise: formal qualifications help, but business is largely learned by doing. Every mistake teaches you something about cash flow, people management, negotiation or customer behaviour.

That does not mean going it alone. Today, women founders can draw on a much wider ecosystem of support than was available in 2013, including:

• Start Up Loans Female Founders, offering government-backed loans of up to £25,000 and free mentoring for new businesses.
• The British Business Bank, which runs finance schemes and guidance for smaller businesses, including funds focused on women founders.
• Innovate UK, providing funding and support for innovative, high-growth companies.
• University enterprise hubs and graduate entrepreneurship programmes.

Whether you stay in education or leave to build a business, the key is to keep learning. Markets change, platforms evolve and customer expectations shift. The founders who thrive are the ones who treat every challenge as feedback and adapt quickly.

Key takeaways for today’s aspiring founders

Katie Smith’s story is a snapshot of what it really takes to launch and grow a young UK food start-up: a clear idea rooted in personal experience, the discipline to handle the daily grind, the ambition to sell overseas, and the resilience to recover when things go wrong.

If you are ready to start your own venture, begin with the basics. Validate your idea with real customers, understand your numbers from day one, protect your business with the right insurance and legal structure, and make use of the free support designed for founders like you. The tools and schemes available in 2026 mean you do not have to build your young UK food start-up alone.