Okay, full disclosure: I’ve always been big on celebrations. Anyone who knows me will attest to this. It’s a way of recognising milestones and wins. Last week marked a big one, one of those life-changing events: the My Food Bag founders celebrated 7 years since we signed the shareholders’ agreement that became the business’ foundational document.
On the 27th of November 2012, Nadia and her husband Carlos, Theresa Gattung, James and myself agreed to go into business together. Truth be told, it’s almost like signing your marriage certificate, aside from the fact that there are more people involved and arguably just as much at stake. Shared risk, shared reward.
While this might seem an insignificant, run-of-the-mill event to some, I personally think shareholders’ agreements in businesses are incredibly important. They’re generally one of the first documents that founders put together and should fairly reflect the intentions and interests of each of the parties. For our group, it marked a major turning point in our lives and careers. It felt like the culmination of everything we’d been working towards – from our days at Au Pair Link (with Theresa on the advisory board), to Nadia’s winning Masterchef, our paths crossed and we defined our destiny by signing that agreement.
Since that day in 2012, My Food Bag has:
- Delivered close to 65 million meals.
- Grown 4 distinct, purposeful brands – My Food Bag, Bargain Box (our bargain offer) and Fresh Start (weight loss) and the newly minted MADE ready meals, adding a whole new dimension to the ‘convenience factor’.
- Grown a delivery network that covers 90% of NZ households – no mean feat for a food delivery company, when you consider the chilled supply chain!
- Donated about 10,000 meals per/month to charities like the City Mission.
- Delivered 20,000 Christmas presents to people in need across the country (still waiting on the final numbers for this year).
Since launch, we’ve learnt so much about what Kiwis like to eat. Our most popular recipes across our range are things such as Chicken Korma, Chicken Pot Pie, Beef and Mushroom Bolognaise, Sri Lankan Fish Curry and Chicken Laksa!
So, while we entered into an agreement in 2012, wide-eyed and having no idea of what would be next; the journey has delivered far more than we could have ever imagined. In less than 3 years, we grew a 100 million revenue business in New Zealand, we changed the way Kiwis think about food and became NZ’s third largest food retailer in the process. Now that’s something to toast for sure.
Here’s to the next 7 years!
