Brand Growth Heroes10 Jul 2025

Bold Bean Co | The People Power Behind the Beans Revolutionising a Category

Last night, Amelia Christie-Miller won THE GROCER GOLD ENTREPRENEUR OF THE YEAR 2025!!

We're so proud of you, Ed and your team, and honoured to have supported you right from the very start of your journey!!

Amelia makes the point that this win is not just hers, but that "it belongs to every single person who believed in the bean revolution:
🏆 The Bold Bean Co | B Corp™ team who've hustled relentlessly to get us into 1000+ stocking points
🏆 My co-founder Ed Whelpton, who I eventually managed to persuade to join me on this mad journey and has transformed the business and experience for me.
🏆 Our investors who backed beans when everyone else said "you'll never disrupt Heinz" or “commodity category brands won’t work”.
🏆 The bean champs who clear our shelves at Waitrose & Partners and send our cookbooks to their friends!
🏆 The retailers who gave shelf space to a crazy idea about premium jarred legumes."
(Amelia Christie-Miller, LinkedIn)

So, in this week’s power-packed Brand Growth Heroes SHORT, Fiona chats with Ed Whelpton and Amelia Christie-Miller, the visionary co-founders of Bold Bean Co., about one of the most complicated but most critical challenges in early-stage FMCG brands: getting the right people into the business.

From accidental brilliance to strategic investment, Ed and Amelia reveal:

Why external advice is underrated
Hiring a fractional Head of People (yep, early!)
Ditching the office for a ‘connectivity budget’
What truly modern leadership looks like

Whether you’re scaling a team or just starting to hire, this is your short, sharp insight hit.

This BGH Short is part of our people series, hand-picked by the brilliant team at MKJ Ignite – the FMCG recruitment experts helping challenger brands grow with the right people in the right roles. This short is full of practical people insights. Billy, Paul, and Immy have combed through the Brand Growth Heroes archives to bring you the most valuable founder wisdom on hiring and scaling teams that thrive.

A new 5-7 minute episode drops every two weeks, so make sure to HIT FOLLOW and don’t miss the next one.

If you're wondering whether or not you need help with your recruitment, or would like to ask for some advice, you can book a no-obligation call with Billy - or anyone on the team - here!

Connect with Billy Maddock on LinkedIn

Connect with Immy Southwell on LinkedIn

Connect with Paul Jones on LinkedIn

Follow MKJ Ignite on Instagram

Connect with MKJ Ignite on LinkedIn

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