Sam Feller and Laura Jackson, both 33, from London, ditched their high-flying London jobs to set up their own popcorn business from Laura’s mum’s garden shed
COUSINS Sam and Laura quit their high-flying jobs in London to launch their own popcorn business.
The duo set up shop in Laura's mum's kitchen before being ousted to the garden shed - and now the business has an annual turnover of £150,000.
The 33-year-olds were introduced to during a trip to the USA. Bowled over by the different flavours such as salted caramel, pecan pie and even cheddar cheese across the pond they decided to set up their own business.
Of course, starting from scratch involved a few sacrifices.
Laura moved back to her parents' house in Middlesex in order to save up enough cash to start their project, while Sam rented out his spare room in London on Airbnb.
This meant that the pair managed to save about £60,000 without the help of a bank loan.
Laura said: “We spent months in my mum's kitchen testing recipes and even broke a cooker in the process.”
“We made so much popcorn that we couldn’t store all of it in our homes, so we had to put some in the garden shed! Our families started calling it the Popcorn Shed - hence the name.”
Laura, who was earning a generous salary as a management consultant and Sam, a former property manager admitted, that taking a leap of faith to a new career was exciting but scary.
She said: “Handing in my notice was quite terrifying. It meant losing both my job security and my monthly pay check.
“When we first exhibited and launched at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair show in London in 2016 we had nothing on our balance sheet and just three products".
HERE's what you need to launch a successful business according to the cousins
Popcorn Shed had a turnover of £150,000 last year and it's expected to double in 2018.
From selling just three products, the company now has seven different flavour of popcorn available, with prices starting at around £3.50 for a 80g pack.
Popcorn production now gets outsourced into a 6,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Durham with eight employees as well as a smaller facility based in Buckinghamshire with five members of staff.
Sam said: "We pride ourselves on making gourmet popcorn the way it should be: by hand, using all natural ingredients, carefully sourced, lovingly crafted and free of any nasty preservatives or additives."
"Our packaging and great taste also makes us a stand out choice."
But what’s it like working with family? Laura admits it's not always plain sailing.
She said: "It can be challenging.
"We bicker like siblings sometimes but ultimately we also trust each other and we have very different skill sets, which is very helpful for the business."
Last week, we also spoke to a couple who managed to turn their own homemade sauces into a sizzling business.
We also spoke with Mechelle Clark, who launched her own toastie business after being made redundant twice.
Bored of your current job? This dad-of-two quit his banking job to set up children’s hairdressers and it now makes £650,000 a year.
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