Chicken George, aged 14. They call him 'Mellow Yellow'.

I had a call a few months ago from young George Threlfall.?He’s the son of a friend. He had a business problem and wanted some help.?

“I’ve always been interested in businesses and how they’re run.?I’ve had the ambition to start one of my own for a long time.?I got my original idea during a trip up to West Yorkshire to visit my grandparents.

One of the things I noticed up there was that home deliveries of fresh produce were becoming popular.?This didn’t seem to apply in my area, near Hayward’s Heath in Sussex.

I talked the idea over with my parents (Dad’s in IT, Mum’s a GP) and I decided to go into the egg business.?This was in March 2020 and Covid restrictions were beginning.

Circumstances seemed ideal.?There were signs of panic buying.?And food shortages.?A good time to start a food business.

I began by emailing all the poultry farms in our area, I had an enthusiastic response from a farmer quite near us.?Their eggs were terrific, tasty and with a great story to tell.?The eggs would be fresher because I’d deliver them shortly after they’re laid.?With supermarket eggs you could wait up to a week after laying before you bought your eggs.

They are top-quality free-range eggs produced by happy, humanely-reared chickens.?As far as I was concerned, they ticked all the right boxes for a local, sustainable business.

I named the company GEGGSPRESS, signifying ‘Great Eggs Express’.?It was my business, and I would deliver the eggs in person soon after they were laid.?I used my Dad’s old bicycle and a pannier, bought on Amazon.?It wasn’t fancy, but it did the job.

My first customers were friends and relatives but thanks to word-of-mouth, my list grew to 40 regulars within 4 months.?I now have about 70 people buying eggs from me on a weekly basis. And since the business started, I have turned over about ￡2,800, with overall costs amounting to ￡1,300 which included a number of ‘trial and error’ mistakes.”

What a terrific story.?George had done amazingly well off his own bat and I couldn’t really understand what he wanted from me.?

“My Dad has a copy of your book “That s*it will. never sell!” and when I asked him about it, he said it was all about ideas and branding.?I borrowed his copy and read it.

One of the key points that came across to me was that I hadn’t been that analytical about the branding of my eggs.?As far as I was concerned, I had a great product, the service was working well and all I had to do was give it a name and get on with it.

Your book suggested that there might be more to it than that.?A memorable brand identity with a strong competitive story could really help me lift off.?I wanted something with more excitement than GEGGSPRESS.?Something worth owning.?So I knocked on your door.”

By way of a start, I gave George the ‘hard-nosed retailer’ test :

“What’s so special about your eggs, George?”

“Free-range happy chickens,” he offered.

“The supermarkets are full of them,” was my challenge. “Not good enough.”

“Locally produced and sustainable,” was his follow-up.

Closer, but no cigar.?I needed more.

“Well, they’re fresher.?Fresher than any supermarket eggs.?If I can, I deliver the day they’re laid.?Or the day after.”

“Now you’re talking.?That’s a real advantage.?But we need something more.?A badge.?A name people will remember.”

The first one that came to mind was EGOMANIAC, with the tag line ‘Crazy about eggs’.?I loved it and so did my friends.?But not so George.?It didn’t fit his personality.?He is quiet and serious and there’s nothing ‘madcap’ about him. And it was his brand.?He had to love it.

One of the exercises I suggested that George do was a comparative tasting between his eggs and normal supermarket eggs.?He fried a few and scrambled some more and sent me pictures.

The answer was there, staring us in the face.?The difference was in a single word.?YELLOW.?George’s super-fresh farm eggs were yellower.?Rich and deep in colour like the eggs you get in smart restaurants or see on Masterchef.

I reached into my memory bank and found the answer in an old 1960s Donovan song.

We’d call George’s brand MELLOW YELLOW.?Easy, memorable and they did what we said on the box.?I even asked a designer friend, Gordon Smith, to do him a logo.?

Happy with progress, George is planning to relaunch in October.?His website, which is work in progress can be found on www.mellowyellow.online.

And he has ambitious plans for the future.?He is looking to franchise his brand and there has been interest from other people at his school.?His plan is to get 40% from his franchisees up to 30 customers.?And as their customer base increases, their % will be reduced.

Working with George has been sheer delight.?And I was particularly impressed with his single-mindedness.?It was his brand and he wanted a branding he loved.

I hope he got that with MELLOW YELLOW.

?

DG 01.09.2021.