10 lessons we learnt from starting Field & Flower

As we look back at the last 10 years of Field & Flower one of our Co-founders, James Mansfield, reflects on 10 lessons that he’s learnt in the process of setting up a business.

1. Getting off the ground
Setting up a business from scratch without experience or much money was hard work but enjoyable. Those were the days when we had nothing to lose. We had to be creative at the beginning – buying, borrowing, and begging for kit to set up our first butchery. To save money on staffing costs, our friend Andy (who you may recognise as the owner of Somerset Charcuterie) taught us how to butcher ourselves.

2. Taking risks
In the startup days, we were approached by the Telegraph to partner with them and become “The Telegraph Meat Club” which was a huge opportunity. In a meeting at their HQ in Victoria, we were asked how big our customer service team was to support the volume of orders. We said it was established and able to handle lots of orders. The reality was that if the person questioning us had rung the number on our website in that meeting, it would have come through to my mobile… I was the customer service department.

3. Overcoming rejection
At the beginning, we met a lot of our new customers at food festivals which was challenging at times because we regularly faced rejection. James Flower and I would stand behind a trestle table, selling the concept off a laminated piece of paper. Often people would walk up to the stand, take a look, say something negative and walk away. We soon realised we shouldn’t take things personally and it was many of these customers that helped us evolve into the business we are today. A man we later came to know as “Billy Brisket” came to our stand and asked if we’d deliver a 3kg brisket to him every month. With this, our subscription service was born. Thank you Billy!

4. Being open to opportunities
We found that opportunities opened up as we started to put ourselves out there. Trading amongst some of the best and well-established businesses at Borough Market is still one of our best achievements to date. We didn’t mind the long hours and sacrifices as it meant that new opportunities were coming through. For example, being asked by Virgin to cater for 2,000 VIPs a day at their festival was also a say yes, learn later moment for us.

5. Sticking to our core values
We always believed in the principles of free-range, traditional farming. We weren’t always competitive on price at the beginning, but we knew that there was a growing demand for free-range, traceable meat. Because of this, we never deviated when it would have been easier and more profitable to do so. This principle underpins everything we do at Field & Flower to this day. Supporting our smaller farmers for many years did build truly sustainable long-term relationships. This was tested during the pandemic when our farmers were being approached to supply other companies whose complex supply chains had broken down, but they stuck with us.

6. Don’t try and do everything
Just because you can create a Lorne Sausage (a traditional, Scottish square-shaped sausage) for a particular customer doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. There are hundreds of cuts and recipes we could make from the meat we sell. Early on we used to say yes to creating any type of cut, but in doing so we started letting people down. In a similar vein, we realised that having just two founders doing everything meant we were spread too thin. Hiring a great team was integral in helping the business grow into what we are today.

7. Understanding our product
We weren’t butchers but decided to learn so that we understood our product. This allowed us to understand exactly how to breakdown a beef animal and the commercials associated with it. Most importantly, we learnt how to balance and market the different cuts. Butchery is at the heart of what we do today, so understanding this age-old tradition was fundamental to the business.

8. Competitive founders
Whether it was competing for new customers at a food show or who could pick and pack an order quicker at operations, we always pushed each other on. The level of competition about hitting a certain steak weight or knowing exactly what 40g was when grabbing the mix for a meatball often got competitive. We still both hold the record for the quickest box ever picked and packed at Field & Flower (under 30 seconds).

9. You only have so much time
We wasted time on things we shouldn’t have and sometimes focused on the wrong things. The bright lights of the festivals, the opposite of our online business today, often drew us in. In hindsight, more time should have been put into focusing on our website than some of the fun and sociable events we traded at. After a particularly soggy Glastonbury in 2011, we put the Field & Flower kitchen to rest. That being said, it’s these mistakes that you have to learn from to allow a business to succeed.

10. We’re only as good as our last meat box
In the early days we knew all our customers. They understood we were trying our best and so we could get away with occasional mistakes. Now as a bigger business, we must ensure each order that leaves our Somerset base is perfect. We try and maintain this mindset each day.