'We make mistakes every day - if you're not failing, you're not trying very hard'
Strong Roots’ Sam Dennigan also talks about why entrepreneurs should ‘stick to the knitting’.
SAM DENNIGAN USED savings he was collecting for a down payment on a house to fund frozen foods firm Strong Roots.
The gamble seems to have paid off so far with the outfit turning a profit in just its second year in business.
Strong Roots’ range of healthy frozen vegetable products like kale-and-quinoa burgers have proven popular in both Ireland and the UK, where Dennigan is now based. The firm is also exporting to Middle Eastern markets such as Bahrain, Qatar and Dubai.
In Ireland, its range of products are stocked by major supermarkets like SuperValu, Dunnes Stores and Tesco, while in the UK they can be found in the frozen section of Iceland stores and Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market.
For the latest instalment of our question-and-answer series, we spoke to Dennigan about his dream of hiring celebrity chef Heston Blumenthal, the biggest rip-off in Ireland and why entrepreneurs should ‘stick to the knitting’.
Here’s what he had to say:
What was your childhood or earliest ambition?
As soon as I realised that all archaeologists weren’t like Indiana Jones, I kind of just left that one aside.
I also wanted to compete at the Olympics with the three-day eventing equestrian team. I was an avid horse sport enthusiast for years, right up until my early 20s.
I have been on a couple of European, medal-winning teams for three-day eventing so it’s still possible in the future.
What’s the one skill you wish you had?
I wish I had the skill to invent a teleportation machine to avoid airports. I fly incredibly frequently, up to 100 days a year. If it was possible to travel in some sort of Star Trek manner, it would be far, far more advantageous.
It’s the loss of time that gets me. While you’re in the flight, it’s quite good to get work done and get some think time, but the time either side is just a waste in my opinion.
What’s the worst job/task you’ve ever had to do?
There are lots of difficult jobs and tasks when you’re leading a company. Most recently, I’ve moved house for the 10th time over to London. I would take anything ahead of having to completely shift your life from one place to another.
Having to move people on for one reason or another, whether it’s lack of skill or lack of suitability to the company or non-performance, that’s another thing that I really, really don’t like doing. Unfortunately, it’s a necessity in business sometimes.
If there was one person in the world you could hire, who would it be and why?
I think right now with what we’re doing, Heston Blumenthal would be awesome for doing new product development.
We are trying to change an industry. We’re trying to find new food and new trends and things that suit people and are a little bit different so that we can continue to challenge the bigger brands that are out there.
Having someone like him on board would be excellent. We’re hiring, if he’s reading this.
What’s the best piece of advice you ever received?
My dad always says stick to the knitting. I think there’s a lot of opportunities that present themselves when you have good opportunities.
Different businesses, different directions, investments, sometimes people. But ultimately, I think it’s about sticking to what you know and not trying to master too many things at once.
What I know is the food business, but I’ve been tempted into lots of other things that seem quite appealing at the time. You end up losing your focus on what you do actually know and what your capabilities are.
What’s the worst piece of advice you’ve ever received?
I’ve received loads of advice that was wrong for me but not bad in general. I listen to everyone and everything and make decisions for myself.
There’s always meaning in any advice, but most of the time people don’t have your full picture. I’ve heard a lot of things, but I have listened to it all and I think that’s the key in trying to find your way.
Everybody has an opinion and everybody’s your greatest critic. If you can take parts of those and manufacture them into a direction for yourself with all the knowledge you have. You’re the only one that can do that.
I don’t think there is bad advice as long as it’s not adhered to for no reason.
What has been your biggest mistake to date and what did you learn from it?
I think failing fast and learning is key. We make mistakes every day. I think if you’re not failing, you’re not learning. If you’re not failing, you’re not trying very hard. You have to take risks, especially as an entrepreneur – it’s a completely risk-based environment.
I’ve made mistakes. Strong Roots is my third try at creating a brand with food products. The previous two failed, but they failed because of lack of experience and lack of knowledge.
While Strong Roots right now is successful and doing very well, that doesn’t mean the same thing couldn’t happen to it.
It’s about constantly learning and constantly changing and having a broad mind to changing trends and consumers and making sure that you’re listening to what’s going on.
I think while there have been mistakes, they have all been an addition to the journey.
Who is your business hero?
I’ve a few mentors and they’ve all been hugely helpful, but I’m completely obsessed with Elon Musk at the moment.
The guy’s goal is to make humans a multi-planetary species. All of the business endeavours are aiding into that, whether it’s better energy for technology or literally trying to colonise Mars in the next couple of decades.
I just think it’s an amazing masterclass in thinking big. Anytime you think you’re thinking big, just say to yourself: “No, Elon’s trying to make us a multi-planetary species – we’re alright, we’re not too big yet.”
I think he’s great. Whether it works or not, it’s the creativity and ambition to dream as opposed accepting the norm and I think that’s great.
What is the most extravagant thing you’ve ever bought?
I love cars. I have a few interesting ones, specifically large-engined, petrol cars. I’m trying to figure out whether I can bring myself to go electric at the moment.
I have a Land Rover Defender that we’ve converted into a mobile restaurant as a food truck. It’s in the garage getting pimped out at the moment for the summer season to do all the festivals.
What’s the next big thing for your company?
We’re going to continue to grow the product range and what we do. We’re in frozen at the moment, and over the next two years we’re going to look at where else we can play.
There are loads of other categories in the supermarket, both online and offline, where we feel customers need better products and better value.
What we’re fundamentally going to change – because we’re at a size and critical mass where we can reinvest in the business – is how we do it.
One of the huge things that has come from our customer base over the last 12 months has been how environmentally friendly are you? Where are you sourcing things from? Where are you manufacturing things from? Is your packaging recyclable?
As a startup, you kind of have to go with the flow unfortunately. It’s very difficult to get volume and critical mass when you’re trying to tick all the boxes of a corporate social responsibility document.
The next big thing for us is actually changing how we function as a company as well as what we do and implementing that at a stage where that will be a major selling point, because that’s what the consumer wants.
