CEO INTERVIEW

Heron-Maxwell Claire CEO feature & cover photographs courtesy of Getty Images

We meet the founder of Newquay-based Sprout Health Foods, Claire Heron-Maxwell, who was recently selected as one of 15 women to front a national campaign by NatWest and Getty Images to celebrate female-led businesses.

So tell us the story how you came to be where you are today. I believe you’re a nutritional therapist by background?

Yes, I qualified about ten years ago but I never went into private practice, I just used the knowledge and the information to work in health food shops, advising customers and stocking products.

I went to university and studied for a neuroscience degree. Following that, like many, I went travelling for a while. I lived in Australia and New Zealand for a year, did some ski seasons in France and ended up in Cornwall, which was around 2001/2002.

Then I was waitressing in Watergate Bay and thought rather than just serving it, I might as well learn something about food preparation because I knew nothing whatsoever. So, I was working in the kitchen there, which must have been quite a trial for anyone who had to work with me! From there I went to work at Stein’s in Padstow for six years, moving around various parts of the business. I got to do some really fun stuff there as well. I was involved in prepping food for some of the TV filming, I got to go on the book promotional tour with Rick around the UK a couple of times and do food photography in London as well. When did thoughts start turning towards health food?

During my last couple of years working at Rick Stein’s I discovered I had Coeliac’s disease, which is an autoimmune condition that manifests as an intolerance to gluten. This meant that I had to avoid eating all glutencontain foods completely, which is tricky for a chef, when they can no longer taste the food they are employed to prepare. I had started studying nutritional therapy while working at Rick Stein’s and once I had qualified I started working at a health food shop, Archie Brown’s in Truro, which was great.

Archie Browns is The best part of something of a trailblazer in that sector running your own in Cornwall Yes, absolutely. They really business is having lead the way in showing creative control what an independent business can do and be a hub within the community. I was there for five and a half years, working as a shop assistant, advising customers on nutritional supplements and diets and going on to stock procurement as well. And that gave you the desire to do something on your own? When I was younger, I never imagined wanting to run my own business, it was just something that never occurred to me. I always thought it would be fine working for someone else, but I just got to a certain point So quite a rounded experience? in my life when I realised that actually it was something I wanted to do and the opportunity presented itself. And having taken that leap, I

Yes, I was really have never looked back. lucky. Sometimes the job involved peeling 25 kilos of onions, but other times it The best part of running your own business is having creative control. You get to come up with a crazy idea and give it a go without having to run it by too many other people. could be in a nice hotel in Previously health food shops were seen Edinburgh. as quite niche, but seem to be far more common now. How has this shift occurred do you think?

I think social media has had quite a lot to do with it. It’s easier to get messages out there and also now I think people are aspiring to healthier, more holistic lifestyles, where they are looking at all elements of their lifestyle rather than just chasing the dollar.

I think the younger generation of today are a lot healthier and more aware than my generation were. There is growing awareness

that chronic disease and illness are can be lifestyle based. That knowledge is a lot more well known now.

And more awareness of the environment and sustainability in general?

I think it all goes hand in hand. Yes, I would agree with that.

So you opened Sprout in 2016. How did you come across your premises?

We really love the building we’re in. It’s a really old building with a lot of character. It’s tucked just a little way down a back lane off the high street here in Newquay, and the way the lane curves from the high street, you can’t really see the building. So, it is a leap of faith for people to start walking down the lane to see us.

How did you manage to spread that message in the early days?

The majority was through word of mouth. We hit the ground running with social media platforms and things like that, to try and get the word out to people in the town that we were here. And we did an awful lot of events in the town as well; we opened ourselves up to the community because we had a space we could use. We opened it up for people to host events, all sorts of things, yoga sessions, cookery demonstrations, we had talks, virtual reality headset experiences. We also hosted the launch of the Newquay Spoken Word theme that kicked off a few years ago. That was one of our strategies, just ask the community what they wanted and get everyone involved.

And we opened the café the same time as the shop. It is just a microcafé really, although we also have some tables outside. We have an amazing selection of raw cakes, which are all vegan, gluten free and refined sugar free. And we do some really nice locally roasted coffee and local teas. And we make our own turmeric lattes and things like that and we offer a hot pot which changes every day. We’ve kept it manageable for us, something we could keep on top of. But it’s just a nice offering to people and it’s all quite affordable, good home cooked food.

And I guess the range of products has grown?

It has yes. It’s funny, looking back at some of the photos from our launch evening five years ago, there were whole racks of shelving with nothing on, whereas now we almost have to operate a one product in, one product out policy in terms of what we stock because the shop is pretty full.

How do you manage stock? You live above the shop don’t you, so is the stock under beds, in cupboards etc?

It has been like that in the past, but we’ve managed to find spaces here and there so it is less encroaching. We’ve always had an electronic stock management system, but we did reinvest in that at the start of the first lockdown. We used the Government grant we were given in a new better functioning stock management system that can allow us to tie in with online sales.

The younger generation of today are a lot healthier and more aware than my We changed our opening hours. generation were We’re not open as long as we were before. Previously we would have been too worried that customers wouldn’t like us making changes like that, but actually everyone is really Have online sales really grown in the last adaptable, and it means that we are able to run year with lockdown? the business more effectively.

I think online sales have grown for a lot of people. We didn’t really sell anything or list any products online before the pandemic. Now we list everything online and are going through the process of putting up photographs of everything and descriptions.

We don’t take payment online at the moment, but it does allow our customers to put together a basket of goods online and we pick it for them, call them and they can either come into the shop to collect or we can deliver it to them. Delivery is something we started after the first lockdown.

It’s interesting how the pandemic has made us innovate in a good way. Because we had to stop all the events we were doing, that gave us a bit of breathing room and time to reflect on the business to see which areas were going well and which ones we wanted to change.

Online payments are something we are heading towards. But while we will develop the online side of the business, it is

important to serve the local community. We’re not trying to compete with Ocado! A face-toface presence will always be so important.

Of course, you don’t run the business on your own, but with your partner Sebastian

Yes, he’s a qualified architect. He had the vision for the building itself from where we are operating and the skills to renovate it effectively. Initially he was splitting his time between his architectural work and working on Sprout, but over time Sprout has taken up more and more of his attention so he’s doing that full time now and I think he really enjoys the customer interaction side. I think he was pleasantly surprised. The health food customer is quite happy go lucky and always quite friendly and amenable, whereas developers could be quite stressed about their money! It’s a nice place to work!

Is Newquay a particularly good place for a shop like this?

Yes, it’s a really And talking about tourism, is your business seasonal or do you enjoy a steady custom all year round?

It’s somewhere between the two. We’re always there to primarily serve the local residents and we are really keen for them know we’re here all year round for them.

But inevitably there’s such an influx of tourists in the summer, and we see tourists coming into the store for coffee and cakes and that sort of thing. Unfortunately, some of our regulars do utter the words “we’ll see you in six weeks!”. Because if they don’t live in the centre of town, Newquay gets so busy and clogged up, they don’t bother coming into the centre. But that’s one of the reasons we’re trying to develop the online side of the business and the delivery, so we can still service those customers during that busy time and we can take the goods to them.

good fit. When we started there hadn’t Do you try and deal with local suppliers as been a health food shop here for about ten much as you can? years. There is such a vibrant community of likeminded people in Newquay. The geography of the town is amazing, the beaches. People love getting outdoors, dog walking, swimming, surfing and inevitably they’re looking at their own health. And it’s attracting more and more people like that, the image of the town is changing a lot. And because of We’ll always try and support local where we can. We don’t make cakes at the café. The cakes we buy are from a local lady who makes amazing ones and also from a Truro-based business. Within all categories you will find some local suppliers like local honey, local skincare range, local chocolate, local candles, all sorts. There is such highspeed broadband, you’re getting a lot of a vibrant That must be one of the most satisfying and fun creatives, a lot of people working online who have community of parts of your job, sourcing new products to stock? moved here for the lifestyle but are still able to do the jobs they were traditionally doing in cities. That side of the population is growing. likeminded people in Newquay Absolutely. I love it. It’s so good to see what’s out there and what people are doing. Sometimes people just contact us with something they’re working on and we Newquay has had a Business always have our eyes open for things that Improvement District for a number of might be appropriate. We also work with years, have you been a supporter of that? some large wholesalers as well as going We’ve always found it to be really helpful and we see the way they are looking to elongate the tourist season in the town by putting on direct to manufacturers, so often they will highlight new products to us as well. And sometimes things just pop up on social media. events at times where traditionally it might be a bit quieter. And they’re really working well with local businesses to see what they want. So, yes, we’ve had a really positive What has been the toughest part of running your own business? experience with the BID. Without a doubt, it’s knowing when to stop at

the end of the day. Drawing a line. It’s a work life balance.

Can it be tougher because you live above the shop?

There is probably an element of that, but we wouldn’t change it for the world.

And do you find time, both of you, to take proper time out together and get away on holiday?

We have done. Holidays have been tricky, but manageable. A lot of planning beforehand and a lot of admin to catch up on when you get back. But we’re in the process of employing a manager for the business which will help. A manager will also give us more time to work on the business, rather than just in the business. We have so many ideas and schemes for the business, but we just don’t get time to work on them and give them the The pandemic time they need. That’s what we’re aiming for this year. has made us innovate in a How do you see the business over the next good way two or three years? Is it organically growing and developing it?

That together with having a stronger online presence with online ordering and payment all streamlined. And possibly more of a nutrition sense to the business, more blog posts and recipes and things. I love doing those sort of things, but rarely have the time. A bit more of that, and maybe working with other local healthcare practitioners and concentrating the events more on health and nutrition.

You took part in a national NatWest and Getty Images campaign to improve the way female entrepreneurs and business leaders are represented in media and advertising, illustrating the diversity of female-led businesses in the UK. What advice would you give a woman looking to start a business?

Yes, that came about because our local bank manager put my name forward for the campaign. I think women need all the encouragement they can get to get out there and do their thing.

What advice would I give? There are loads of groups out there especially on social media, women in business groups, I would say join some of those, talk to other people. There will be loads of free webinars and things like that to give you that confidence just to take the leap and realise that everyone is going through the same quandary.

See what other people are doing and feed off their energy and go for it!

The partnership sees the creation of a new gallery of images on gettyimages.com, featuring 15 female entrepreneurs, illustrating the diversity of female-led businesses in the UK.