Coppernose…The Journey (Part 1)

The following series of articles will take you through the journey of Coppernose, from its inception to the present day.? It will take you through the highs and lows, the challenges, the failures, and successes.? We will share our experiences in product development; brand creation and evolution; developing a business plan; testing the idea; setting up the infrastructure; meeting all the legal requirements; looking for investors; selling on-line; gaining large customers and how to deal with the stress, anxiety and emotional roller-coaster of developing a new business.

The aim of these articles is to provide those of entrepreneurial spirit with a lessons-learned guide, so as to better enable anyone wishing to start out on their own, to avoid or at least manage some the pitfalls.? I say ‘some’, as you will never avoid all of them and nor should you, as this will only make you stronger, your product more resilient and hopefully more attractive to your customers.? That said, we hope that the information we will provide in the coming articles will help you navigate through these moments in a positive manner.

As with each journey, there is always a beginning:

For those of you who do not know Coppernose, it is an award-winning craft beef jerky manufacturer (www.coppernose.com).

During the early years, Liam was attending the Royal Agricultural University (RAU), doing a degree in Farm Management.? In his final year, he had the idea of producing a craft range of beef jerky.? Having experienced beef jerky from the USA, he knew what jerky could be, but always found the UK brands lacking.? With having the idea of developing a craft beef jerky, he was met with the first set of challenges of ‘What and How’.

‘What’ is the beef jerky he wanted to create and ‘how’ would it be different to anything currently on the market?? These may sound like simple points, but they are vital if you want to strengthen your ability to be successful.? These two points are your foundation stones, which the rest of your business will rest upon.

Let’s tackle the ‘What’ first.? This, in itself, required an extensive bit of research.? What were similar products currently in the marketplace, e.g., what brands, flavours, packet sizes, textures, prices, etc.? How did they measure up to each other and how did they measure up on the satisfaction scale?? Gaining the detail was crucial, as this would enable us to develop a product that would stand head and shoulders above the current market players, and in time become one of our Unique Selling Points (USPs).

For definition purposes, a satisfaction scale for the jerky was:? How was the texture?? How as the flavour and did it last?? How were the product sizes and thickness?? Was it an overall positive experience and would you purchase it again??? Depending upon your idea, you’ll need to create your own terms of reference for such a scale.

Doing your research is not an overnight process and can take months, if not years, depending upon your idea and how many other similar products out there.? You cannot and should not rush this process, but apply a methodical and detailed approach, making copious amounts of notes.? For Coppernose, this process took about 2.5 months.? We identified all the strengths and weaknesses of each product currently available, listing each in a matrix for easy comparison.

This visibility and understanding began to provide a roadmap on what we needed to do to develop a better jerky.? One that customers would react positively too and would hit high on their individual satisfaction scale.

The objectives began to materialise in that our jerky needed to be:

·????? Made from British grass-fed beef

·????? The beef needed to be traceable back to the farm and ethically sourced

·????? It needed to be packed full of flavour that didn’t disappear in the first couple of chews

·????? It needed to be healthy

·????? Pieces that were of a size and thickness that left the consumer satisfied

In Part 2, we will begin to cover the ‘How’ challenge…

If this article was beneficial or you have experiences that you’d like to share, then please leave a comment.