Four years ago, Bella Acland was made redundant, but tonight BBC viewers watched her walk out of the Dragons’ Den with £40,000.
The 28-year-old impressed guest Dragon Susie Ma, the founder of Tropic Skincare, with her award-winning instant soup business, Soul Kitchen.
And in the 12 months since Bella left the Den with Susie’s backing (and cash), she told Metro her life has changed dramatically.
Soul Kitchen has grown sales by more than 920%, with revenue hitting £600,000; they’ve sold nearly half a million cups of soup and moved into more than 100 independent stockists across the UK.
Even more impressively, the soup can be bought on the Eurostar, so you can enjoy some delicious soup on your way to the continent.
Yet, Soul Kitchen has far more humble origins. In fact, it was born while Bella was studying zoology during her second year at Sheffield University in 2019 and trying to be a bit healthier.
‘I started looking after myself a little bit more than in my freshman year, shall we say,’ she laughed. ‘I realised nutrition was really important, but there was a disconnect between students feeding themselves something nourishing and finding convenient and affordable food.’
Bella admitted she found herself in the ‘cliché situation’ of wandering down supermarket aisles looking for affordable but tasty food and inevitably ending up at the noodles and instant soup section.
‘It was a bit of a light bulb moment, she explained. ‘I wondered why reinvent [these foods] with high-quality, functional ingredients, but keep that convenient format.
‘So, Soul Kitchen started there. I remember ordering really funky ingredients online for my student, at my student house and testing things like spirulina and beetroot.’
At the time, Bella said she never saw herself as an entrepreneur, but her friend got her to sign up for a grant through Santander Universities. This helped her further develop the brand, and she had the idea to sell soups to her fellow students through a subscription model.
Sadly, when COVID hit Bella and the students went home, Soul Kitchen was put on the back burner, but this turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
‘The country went into lockdown’, she said. ‘But it gave me more time for me to play with the recipes and Google every single brand I could find.
‘I almost stalked these business owners that I loved, and I set up calls with them, where I’d ask them to tell me how they did this. How have you got your product on the shelf?’
During this time, she realised she needed more business experience; she started working for a food and drink wholesaler, while Soul Kitchen became a side hustle.
‘It was tough,’ she said. You’re the person who cold calls farm shops and delis and asks them if they want to buy overpriced kombucha.
‘But it was the best place to learn. It helped me understand the route to market, the wholesale proposals, things like margin. It was really important to get my head around just pitching and selling food and drink brands.’
As Bella grew to understand the market more and more, she even became a sales executive at the snack brand Cheesies, but she was keen to make her side hustle her main hustle.
‘I never really knew what the sign was going to be to take the leap,’ she said to me. It’s obviously a huge risk, you know, paying yourself; you’ve got to keep the lights on. It’s not obvious when and how to get out of your 9-to-5.
Then fate stepped in, and Bella was made redundant, so in her words, she thought, ‘I’ll do it’.
What followed were two long years of schemes, mentorships, and relaunches where Bella sold soup at markets and trade shows, all the time determined to prove Soul Kitchen’s mission that you could make healthier alternatives in the instant food space for time-poor, health-conscious people.
Which brings us to Dragons’ Den, which was an appointment viewing for Bella and her family when she was growing up.
‘Dragon’s Den was one of those family occasions for us,’ she said. I used to have to, like, ask to stay up late to watch it.’
Dragons’ Den Metro exclsuives
It used to be a joke in the family and among friends, being like, “Oh, you should take it on Dragon’s Den.”
Despite that, when Bella learned she was going to be on the show, she didn’t take it lightly and ‘treated her preparation like a full-time job’.
And it paid off; Susie said yes.
‘It was emotional; it was like a fireworks kind of feeling,’ she said when we asked how getting that yes felt. “We really clicked at first, as soon as we got into the den, and she really bought into me.’
So what does the future hold for Bella and Soul Kitchen? Well, Bella’s hard at work on a healthy instant noodle alternative, and already mentoring the food entrepreneurs of tomorrow.
Dragons’ Den airs Thursdays at 8pm on BBC One.