Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Taste of success for ‘Tubby Tom’ after star rockets
FROM humble beginnings in 2014, sauce maker Tubby Tom’s has come through the pandemic stronger, increasing its production from 13,000 bottles a year to an extra-hot 166,000.
It feels like a dream for founder Tom Hughes, who started off creating sauces in his kitchen while working full-time at Over Market in Gloucestershire.
“Someone came in one day with a box of tomatoes, red peppers, chillies and stuff and asked if anyone wanted to use them,” he said.
“I’ve always loved making sauces, so I took them home and made a barbecue sauce. And it has just gone from there.”
His company’s branding certainly catches people’s attention. Irreverent and gently humorous, it is very much like the likeable Tom himself. “All our branding is tongue-in-cheek,” he says.
“I called it Tubby Tom’s because I’ve always been a bit tubby. It kind of worked as branding and it seems to stick in people’s minds – a bit of humour, not serious. I’m surprised it stuck but it sums up our business, really – serious flavours with a bit of humour.”
Tubby Tom’s YouTube and TikTok videos are testament to this, and they have built up a huge following. Their online market is very important to their growth.
When he first started creating his ‘magic’ sauces, Tom made them at home, in the evenings and weekends, while working at Over Market.
“I slipped some of my sauces onto their shelves one time and they started selling, and people wanted more, and that’s when I started selling at farmers’ markets and restaurants.”
The business has grown organically since those early days. Tom admits to being risk-averse and has had no external investment.
For the first few years, he ploughed everything back into the business, not taking a salary. Today, Tubby Tom’s is based at a unit in Churcham, in the Forest of Dean, where they still make their core product, just a lot more of it, and have taken on a small team.
Tubby Tom’s expansion and success are thanks in part to a partnership in 2018 with The Growth Hub, a fully-funded business support programme that helped take Tubby Tom’s to the next level. The partnership helped integrate the brand into an extensive network of contacts and encouraged it to streamline its production.
I have to pinch myself sometimes. It feels like a dream running my own business TOM HUGHES
The main project was to pull a plan together during Tubby Tom’s initial rapid growth period that looked to create a future-proof road map for the next five years.
The Growth Hub’s plan helped steady the ship and ensured the brand set a strong course for sustainable growth.
The most important target for Tubby Tom’s was securing a central hub of operation, where production, packaging and distribution could all take place under one roof.
Fortunately, in December 2018, the brand secured an industrial unit in the Forest of Dean, which served to catapult the business by increasing its production capacity and facilitating its relocation to a new specially designed kitchen.
Tom is grateful he got the chance to work with The Growth Hub.
“It’s helped re-evaluate what we were doing. It would have taken us a lot longer to get to where we are now.
“We knew what we wanted to achieve but sometimes you just need to strip back to the basics in order to put your best foot forwards
– and that’s exactly what The Growth Hub helped us to do.”
Andy Kime, business guide at The Growth Hub, said: “Tubby Tom’s was one of the first brands I had the opportunity to work with and it’s amazing to come back four years later and see where the business has gone.
“Tom took this plan, stuck with it and has smashed every target we set out in 2018, which is a true testament to his passion and commitment to the business. He is a glowing example of how true ambition can translate into real success.”
Sauces are where it’s all at, according to Tom.
“Sauces are great because if you can’t cook they still allow you to have great flavour food.
“We are all about maximum flavour here and that is accessible to everyone through our sauces. Everyone knows how to use a sauce.”
As the business has grown, his role has increasingly become a managerial one but you cannot keep him out of the kitchen.
“I love cooking and creating exotic flavours and smoky flavours,” he said. “I have to pinch myself sometimes. It feels like a dream running my own business. When you are at university or sixth form, no one ever says ‘you can run your own business’.”
All you need is a good idea, a good product and lashings of passion and flavour. Tubby Tom’s has fulfilled the brief.