We can never get enough of the hobby-turned-great-business stories. Especially not when it comes to revoluntionary, delicious food. Think wholesome flavours like Date and Coconut, Fig and Cranberry, and Fruit and Cinnamon, pre-soaker in natural yoghurt with no added sugar.
25 year-old entrepreneur Mia McCarthy was making bircher museli in her home kitchen in 2011,while completing her final year of university. A believer that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, she noticed a gap in the food market for quality, convenient and nutritious breakfast products. Encouraged by positive reviews from family and friends, McCarthy decided to take the plunge and head out to the shops to see if they’d stock her ready-to-go breakfast packs, aptly named Yummia.
Fast forward to 2014, Yummia was recently named the top product in Ready Meals in the Australian Food Magazine Awards.
From cosy to commercial
Shortly after expanding out of her own kitchen to a shared kitchen space, Mia took another plunge, and this time with a much bigger step forward.
In 2012, she set up her own commercial kitchen. But commercial doesn’t mean less wholesome. Along with her favourite side-kick helper (her Mum), Mia would produce weekly orders out of the Yummia kitchen for the growing demand from stores. A year later, Yummia made another major move to a state of the art facility in Melbourne.
Yummia is growing really, really fast.
In its first two years of operation, Yummia has seen a growth of 350%. But that’s clearly not enough for McCarthy, who has ambitious growth plans. The company is estimating 1000% growth by the end of the 2015 financial year.
From small shops and cafes, Yummia had also caught the attention of Woolsworths, a big leader in supermarket retailing. Australians who want a taste of wholesome breakfast could check out yummia.com.au for stockists.
If there’s one young (non-tech) entrepreneur to watch out for, it’s got to be McCarthy. She’s also set her sights beyond Australia and it may only be a matter of time before the world gets a taste of healthy and ready-made Bircher Museli.
Image: Yummia.com.au
