Testimonials
We’ve worked with start-ups to blue chip multinational manufacturers to universities. Here’s what a few of our clients have said about us.
“I had the pleasure of working with Ian from How Many Beans? for my tea beverage social enterprise HumaniTea. Ian possesses expert knowledge in food and drink industry and understands how to create a quality pitch deck, pitch effectively to buyers, and price strategically with margins in mind. Ian helped me prepare for my pitch with Ocado last year, and our HumaniTea Oat Milk Tea Lattes are now live on Ocado!”
“Starting a new business in food can be very challenging. Especially as the food industry operates in a very different way to any other. In consulting with How Many Beans?, Green Sisters have made decisions with greater clarity and confidence. They impart valuable experience and knowledge, allowing us the opportunity to understand the industry and impact of decisions we make prior to taking action. Some areas that Green Sisters have benefited from consultancy include commercial viability, scale-up, supply-chain and PR.
The value of a consultant is not quantifiable, but the direction and focus it has enables is priceless. They have benefited Green Sisters by helping us to learn faster, smarter and make decisions better, which inevitably has saved us time. I would therefore highly recommend the consultancy.”
“There is a wealth of start-up and small business support available for individuals who want to grow and develop their products and services. I noticed a huge gap in the provision of specialist support for people developing food and drink products, as short courses tend to provide generic financial, management, and marketing advice.
This lead to a team of food and drink professionals with many years of experience in the industry in the creation of How Many Beans?. They are very approachable people who’s skills complement each other and together they have developed three integrated targeted workshops that take an entrepreneur though the critical stages and decision points in food and drink products development. They have an insightful and innovative approach to problem solving, providing clear, well balanced solutions whether dealing with food development or final product distribution.
What is so brilliant about these unique workshops is not only do they fill a real gap in the sector for entrepreneurial and SME development, but they have been tried and tested and refined, receiving the most amazing feedback from course participants who were delighted by the knowledge, expertise and support provided by the team.”
“We engaged with How Many Beans? as part of the New Product Development programme which was being run by Reaseheath College. The structure of the sessions fitted perfectly with our needs as a fledgling but growing business, from a strategy, legal, product and growth perspective. Each session challenged our thinking and gave is useful and practical experience on how to move our business forward. The knowledge, expertise and insight of the presenters and the collaboration they brought around topics was invaluable, but delivered in a way that had relevance to our specific circumstances and evolution of our business.
Since going on the course, we have continued to expand as a business, and have moved from selling solely ourselves to having a portfolio of from shops and delis on board, as well as a wider distributor for our products. The value of the programme was not just taking the insight from the content itself, but the wider opportunities to engage and ask questions of the team and generate confidence from them. Their network of contacts and access to information sources, provided a more robust and in depth review and the desire to provide a credible proposal was clear from the outset. I would not hesitate in recommending the programme to other businesses, who have similar growing pains and are unsure of their direction of travel.”
“During my time running the Reaseheath Business Growth Programme, How Many Beans? worked with us and several of our beneficiaries, providing his expert analysis and support for their growth. Highly skilled and knowledgeable, they had the ability to adapt their approach to every stage of growth the business was in – either from startup or diversifying into new markets and building resilience into their supply chains. They would all always ensure guidance was firmly set in the context of commercial viability, which was invaluable for SMEs, rather than getting lost on technical compliance. There are numerous businesses better off for having listened and worked with How Many Beans? either in a workshop or on a 1-2-1 basis. Their success will have been influenced by them and I would be extremely happy to work alongside them again in the future.”