The founder of Delicious Alchemy interview: How a coeliac diagnosis became a recipe for success

Anyone that lives with coeliac disease can tell you of the huge lifestyle changes they are forced to make…but firstly they would have had to learn what exactly does it mean to be diagnosed a coeliac.

In 2015 there is a definite awareness of coeliac disease. Supermarkets supply a range of gluten-free products and the majority of food-service establishments will be more than willing to cater for someone who requires a gluten-free diet, but several years ago this wasn’t the case.

Over a decade ago, former computer games designer Emma Killilea was diagnosed with coeliac disease, and as she was adjusting to her new lifestyle, one thing was abundantly clear - there was a significant lack of gluten-free foods available to purchase.

Emma, frustrated by this, quickly quit her job and began studying food science and marketing at Sheffield Hallam University. However, before completing the course, in 2006 Emma founded her own gluten-free food brand Delicious Alchemy.

Throughout the last nine years, Delicious Alchemy has grown year by year and just last month Emma invested £350k in a brand new factory - based in Sheffield - and hired 14 new staff members to manage customer demand.

Emma recently spoke with Bdaily to discuss how her diagnosis was transformed into a recipe for success with Delicious Alchemy:

Shortly after being diagnosed a coeliac, you quit your job as a computer games producer to go back to university. What was your main motivation to leave the security of a full-time job and try to enter a completely different industry?

I was bored in video games, so it was time for a change. The development teams were becoming very large and with each new iteration of hardware, the jump in team sizes was very big. For example we went from seven to 20 in one year and then the next year from 20 to 50. I was becoming a team manager rather than a producer, which was not my forte. I couldn’t think of a different job I wanted to do in the industry, so moving on was key in my thinking. During a summer walk I discovered that I had a wheat allergy after getting wheat down my sock. My foot had swelled up where the wheat had touched my skin, and the idea for Delicious Alchemy was born. Within a few weeks I was looking into starting up a business in the food industry.

At university you studied food science and marketing, how did this contribution help you form the Delicious Alchemy of today?

Choosing to study food science and marketing at Sheffield Hallam University was key to setting up Delicious Alchemy. I knew I wanted to set up a business with the foundations to become large quickly and the smallest amount of research showed that food is a highly regulated field. The key to success was clearly going to be re-education, so I entered SHU with the aim of studying to become an expert in free-from food. I choose subjects that allowed me to gain the information and credibility that I needed for the new business, for example, modules about packaging and labelling law, any science to do with food allergy, anything regarding the nutritional issues people face when on a restricted diet etc. This worked like a dream because a year or two after starting the degree, when I got into pitches with the main supermarket chains, I was credible and was instantly seen as a safe pair of hands for a high risk category like free-from. There is one other facility at SHU that was integral to my success as a start-up business and that was its Enterprise Centre. When I was looking for appropriate universities, the fact that SHU had a student facing Enterprise Centre sealed the deal for me. This was going to be the facility that would help me to get my business off the ground.

I was completely right. While I was at SHU I won their annual student Enterprise Challenge and earned myself a lot of PR as well as £5,000. However, the process was the most valuable element – I learned a lot from the mentors that support the Enterprise Challenge and I carry their advice with me to this day. After the Enterprise Challenge, I went on to win the Yorkshire wide challenge and finally the national challenge. I won a total of £25,000 that year and this was the seed money for Delicious Alchemy. The value of student facing enterprise programmes in universities should never be underestimated. They open young people’s eyes to careers they had only previously been exposed to on programmes like Dragon’s Den, and their businesses in turn creates jobs and wealth for the country. As such they should be given a lot more focus and support.

Shortly after your diagnosis, you became frustrated with the lack of gluten-free products available to purchase. What was involved with the process of choosing the suitable, yet tasty ingredients for starting your own range?

There was a lot of research involved in choosing suitable ingredients and then there was a lot of trial and error involved in getting them to behave like normal food! One of the first items in our range was our Ginger Syrup Sponge and every time, after a certain number of minutes had elapsed in the baking process, it exploded in the oven. I used to time it whilst looking through the oven window and the disappointment was gutting! One day alone, I did 22 versions of that cake but perseverance pays because it’s now one of the multi-award winning items in our range.

Delicious Alchemy was established in 2006. What funds/financial support, if any, were available for you to receive, and when was the moment you knew this venture was going to be a success?

When I won the SHU Enterprise Challenge I knew that this venture was going to be a success. To enter the competition you had to enter a full business plan and the process was extremely thorough. Judging was also very rigorous– there were 12 business people sitting around a board room table interviewing each entrant. The person in there before me came out crying! The win really spurred me on and then winning the next two challenges added to my confidence. I used the £25,000 in winnings very diligently and it was necessary because the banks would not support me until the business was a more proven entity. I started trading properly in 2007 and just as I needed funds to launch into some big supermarkets in 2008, all lines of credit disappeared – for everyone, not just me. Yorkshire Finance, then known as South Yorkshire Investment Fund, came to my rescue and over the next few years, while the banks were out of action, they let me borrow the money to fund the stock I needed for my supermarket launches. They were very supportive and reasonable people. I had a few nibbles from potential investors, but all-in-all they were shy during the recession so I self-funded the business – I boot strapped it. As a result I still own 100 per cent of it.

Almost ten years on and Delicious Alchemy has invested £350k into a new factory, as well as hiring 14 new staff members. As demand for the product continues to increase, where do you see your company in the next ten years/future?

We will continue to grow and develop our product range. We have big plans for expansion and growth. In 10 years we will be the leading gluten-free food manufacturer in the UK, known for our expertise, our helpfulness and our innovation. Our company aim of ‘improving the lives of people on a restricted diet’ is going to dictate our growth plans, so watch this space!

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