Growing a Baby Food Unicorn in China Little Freddie founder, Piers Buck (CO 1987-91), divulges how his passion for food inspired him to take the leap from investment banking to baby food, growing his brand to unicorn status, and his thoughts on doing business in China. Interviewed by Joe Budge (C2 2003-08), Little Freddie’s Head of UK Marketing. To bring us up-to-speed, can you give us a whistle-stop tour of your career to date? After leaving Marlborough, I studied Management and French, the highlight of which was a rather well-fed third year spent in the south of France. Who wouldn’t trade warm beer in wet Manchester for warm Pissaladière in sunny Antibes? From there, a decade in investment banking, initially with Citigroup in London and eventually with Macquarie in Melbourne and Hong Kong. Amazing training and exposure, but deep down not quite me. My love of food, first kindled growing up in Paris, was something never far from my mind.
Fast forward to 2014 when my wife and I founded Little Freddie (named after our second child). The brand is centred around sourcing exceptional ingredients to create the best-tasting and most nutritious organic baby food. I personally visit all our farms, a quest which has taken me from the Canadian tundra (we are the only brand to use wild blueberries) to the Madagascan highlands (for Cayenne Lisse pineapples) to the Sri Lankan east coast (renowned for the creamiest coconuts), with tens of stops in-between, visiting farms and learning about produce. Without a doubt, this is one of the favourite parts of my job. The Marlburian Club Magazine
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