Today we are glad to be joined by Leah Garwood, the founder of The Hardihood. The Hardihood is a company that produces plant-based indulgences. It aims at making living a high vibe lifestyle that is easy, delicious and exciting. They are tailored to serve the sharp increasing number of vegans in the UK in taking care of health, environment and lifestyle. They work together with premium London retailers including Selfridges, WholeFoods and Planet Organic and they also supply their products directly to the consumer.
“Don’t be afraid to embrace the most ambitious version of your mission”
What is your business superpower?
Our business superpower is that we are digitally native, that is, we grew our business on an online platform which is Instagram. What we have been doing since we formed the business up to where we are now can be found on Instagram. We have direct contact with our consumers and we ensure we update them on whatever is happening, hence we are able to give them what they really want.
How does the Hardihood engage its staff, suppliers and customers with its mission and purpose?
Our mission is to build a sweet treat dynasty using only natural or plant-based ingredients. The purpose of our business is consumer-focused, that is make it easy, delicious and exciting. We make sure that our purpose is woven into anything we do and how we behave as a brand is in alignment with that. For example, we want our customers to find us easily hence we enable fast direct consumer options through mobile shopping which is in turn easy and therefore cheaper for us. We strive to make everything exciting and inspirational for everyone.
When it comes to running an ethical and sustainable business, what has been your biggest struggle and how have you overcome it?
Being a vegan-based company, our biggest commitment is being ethical. We use recycled cardboard for our packaging, hence we find addressing our plastic consumption challenging. There are really few manufacturers who will handle glass which is a problem. And also using glass increases distribution cost as it is heavier. This in turn challenges our purpose. We, however, overcome this by addressing the packaging of our products before moving forward. Besides through Instagram, our customers message us their feedback and we address it.
If you could offer one piece of advice to our listeners which could help them with their purpose, what would that be?
The advice I would give is to allow your purpose to emerge. Sometimes you have to let your business grow naturally and at times the founders of the business are the ones that grow it. Look at the elements of the conversations you are having that light you up and what keywords form a change that the business could make and make that the purpose. Let your purpose evolve and come to you.
How do you approach your environmental management and carbon footprint?
We recycle cardboard and we don’t buy plastic when we don’t have to. We are in a time that people are aware and informed about environmental conservation and we have to be thankful for that. It is always good to ensure that the decisions you make for your business are in alignment with the personal decisions you would make.
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