In July 2016, Rachel Garwood, the Founder of YouRCooK had the pleasure of interviewing Fresh Fitness Food (FFF) founder, Jared Williams. To read the first interview, please click here.
Jared is one of the few meal prep company founders that we have been fortunate to interview twice. So lets find out what has been happening with Jared and his fantastic Personalised Nutrition Delivery company since we last spoke.
Interview with Jared Williams
Jared is one of the few meal prep company founders that we have been fortunate to interview twice. So lets find out what has been happening with Jared and his fantastic Personalised Nutrition Delivery company since we last spoke.
Interview with Jared Williams
YouRCooK: It’s been nearly a year and a half since we last spoke. It would be great to start by asking you how things are at Fresh Fitness Food?
Jared Williams: Well, firstly, it’s great to have an opportunity to speak with you again. And to answer your question, things are fantastic! Fresh Fitness Food has gone from strength to strength. We have continually updated and improved our menu and introduced various technologies to ensure the client experience is as streamlined as possible. We have also recruited additional nutritionists in an effort to ensure that every client has easy access to expert advice when using the service. But our core goals remain unchanged; we are focused on improving the lives of busy Londoners by providing them with easy access to personalised nutrition.
Jared Williams: Well, firstly, it’s great to have an opportunity to speak with you again. And to answer your question, things are fantastic! Fresh Fitness Food has gone from strength to strength. We have continually updated and improved our menu and introduced various technologies to ensure the client experience is as streamlined as possible. We have also recruited additional nutritionists in an effort to ensure that every client has easy access to expert advice when using the service. But our core goals remain unchanged; we are focused on improving the lives of busy Londoners by providing them with easy access to personalised nutrition.
YouRCooK: You mentioned the fact you employ nutritionists - do clients pay more when they use one of your nutritionists?
Jared Williams: No. Every client gets access to a dedicated nutritionist for free. They can email, text and call them as often as they need to. In London, nutritionists charge between £80 to £150 per hour and we have estimated that, on average, our nutritionists spend around 4 hours communicating with a client throughout the duration of their order with us. So it is not uncommon for clients to get free advice that would cost them £600 elsewhere. We feel that offering this as part of the service puts our clients in the best possible position to achieve their desired results. Imagine how reassuring it is to know you have a dedicated nutritionist and a personal chef in your corner!
YouRCooK: I noticed that you have updated your logo and website.
Jared Williams: We have. I can’t take any credit either as our marketing team worked tirelessly on a full rebrand and a new look website. We have also produced some fantastic new video content. I am simply in awe of what they have achieved. It looks so polished and, possibly for the first time ever, I feel that our website and branding do justice to the quality of the food we are producing.
YouRCooK: Did it not feel strange to say goodbye to your old logo?
Jared Williams: In a way, yes. I was obviously attached to the old logo but it was definitely time to update things. FFF has evolved so much in the past five and half years and our branding, including our logo, need to reflect that. I actually hand drew our old logo myself. It must have taken me about an hour because I vividly remember doing the whole thing whilst watching ‘The Day After Tomorrow’. Time well spent … but also very much time for the professionals to step in! I will see if I can dig out the hand sketch for you!
YouRCooK: And on the food front, what’s new?
Jared Williams:A lot! We still offer a fully personalised service and a great menu that changes daily but we are constantly innovating, monitoring what is happening in the food and fitness space and, above all else, listening to our clients.
Since we last spoke we have introduced a range of cold-pressed juices and protein shakes and we recently launched two new packages - an Urban Paleo Package and a Plant-Based Package (Pictures of these packages are shown below). Like all our packages, these are grounded in solid science and give our clients access to on-trend nutrition. We feel 2018 will be a watershed year in terms of the plant-based/vegan movement and are really proud to be contributing to this space with an awesome product.
YouRCooK: We covered a lot of what FFF offers and why when we last spoke and so I thought that we would approach things a little differently this time by asking a different set of questions.
Jared Williams: Let’s do it!
Since we last spoke we have introduced a range of cold-pressed juices and protein shakes and we recently launched two new packages - an Urban Paleo Package and a Plant-Based Package (Pictures of these packages are shown below). Like all our packages, these are grounded in solid science and give our clients access to on-trend nutrition. We feel 2018 will be a watershed year in terms of the plant-based/vegan movement and are really proud to be contributing to this space with an awesome product.
YouRCooK: We covered a lot of what FFF offers and why when we last spoke and so I thought that we would approach things a little differently this time by asking a different set of questions.
Jared Williams: Let’s do it!
YouRCooK: How has FFF positively contributed to the lives of Londoners over recent years?
Jared Williams: As you can imagine, the majority of clients use FFF for fat loss and so a huge number of our success stories and ‘positive contributions’ are related to body composition. One recent instance saw a client lose six stone in six months, a result which reflects considerable dedication and consistency as he had an incredibly unhealthy relationship with food at the outset. We also have a proven track record of helping fitness models prepare for physique competitions and celebs get ready for a film or TV series. On the performance front, we work with a numerous top flight sports clubs and individuals, creating tailored solutions for their given sport.
But some of the most rewarding success stories are happening away from the sport’s pitch, camera lens and even the gym. We have clients who use Fresh Fitness Food as a means of education, gaining confidence and handling stress. Some clients only use us when “work gets crazy”, and so we get the sense that Fresh Fitness Food becomes a genuine lifestyle support service.
I will mention one specific example because it is fresh in my mind. I caught up with a couple, Sophie and Shaun Stafford, a couple of weeks ago. They have been using the service for a few years now and despite the fact that we have helped Shaun win World Fitness Model of The Year on two occasions, Sophie said something really powerful when speaking about why she values the service. In her own words, her favourite thing is that "Fresh Fitness Food gives me my husband back ... time to relax in the evening without food prep and time in the morning to enjoy breakfast with our son, as a family". I honestly get a bit emotional when I hear stuff like that because whilst abs are cool, quality family time is far, far cooler!
YouRCooK: Do you have any plans to branch out into other UK cities?
Jared Williams: We receive more and more requests to deliver nationwide every day but our short term focus remains London. This is partly because London is such a large market but, more importantly, we have always been razor focused on delivering a quality, consistent service. We would never overstretch ourselves in order to chase sales. Saying this, we are exploring expanding into two or three other UK cities and are carrying out feasibility studies into taking FFF into the US market and a number of Middle-Eastern cities.
YouRCooK: Is there an issue in your business/industry that you would like to help solve?
Jared Williams: People do not know what to eat. At school, we learn about ancient Egypt and mathematical theories but not what should be on our plate. It’s great that people leave school knowing that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides, but what about obesity and diabetes? Businesses need to do more to correct this by providing reliable, trustworthy information that focuses on helping people understand two things; (1) what they as an individual need to eat and (2) what the food they eat contains. It is easier than people think, but education is essential.
YouRCooK: Do you have any other projects that you are working on or would like to be involved in, and if yes why are you involved in them?
Jared Williams: We have always made an effort to be as sustainable as possible. We are lucky in that we know what are clients need in advance of ordering ingredients from our suppliers, which allows us to set a goal of having zero food waste. This is almost unheard of in the food industry. I am also a commercial ambassador for City Harvest, a London-based charity that redistributes surplus food to the hungry. I’m on a mission to mix FFF and City Harvest wherever possible - for example, we passed on our Black Friday discount to hungry Londoners by donating 10 meals for every order/reorder we received, rather than offering a discount to our clients.
YouRCooK: Is there anything or anyone that has inspired you during 2017?
Jared Williams: My parents continue to be the biggest source of inspiration in my life. I reflect more than ever on what they have achieved and the wonderful life they have carved out together. My girlfriend (who will hate me saying this!) is another huge source of inspiration. I feel lucky every time I look at her, but she is also the happiest and most positive person I know. I wear my heart on my sleeve and can be up and down emotionally at times, but she is just a consistent bundle of smiles and positivity. If I could bottle up and sell her attitude, I’d sit on top of the Forbes list by mid-2018.
YouRCooK: What are some of the values that you believe to be important and why?
Jared Williams: I really value passion, hard work, self-awareness and sincerity. In terms of ‘why’:
- I am convinced that if you are not passionate about what you are doing, you will never fulfil your potential. It is often our response to struggle that defines us the most and passion is what helps us work through struggle;
- hard work just wins 99.99% of the time - and to anyone that says “work smarter not harder”, I would simply ask them to think what would happen if they worked smarter and harder;
- very few people are truly self-aware but the more you can be the more you realise your strengths, your weaknesses and how you are perceived by others. Self-awareness if the foundation to self-improvement;
- being sincere and building a business around values that you genuinely believe in is absolutely critical. Not doing so, in my opinion, is one of the main reasons so many health and fitness businesses fail. Trying to imitate others, chasing money or, even worse, chasing followers, is rarely enough. My favourite entrepreneurial quote ever is from a Forbes interview with Jay Z and Warren Buffet, where Jay Z says “when they touch it, it has to be real”. People will smell your BS, so be sincere and believe in what you do!
YouRCooK: What are some of your favourite books and why?
Jared Williams:This is where I should probably reel off a list of entrepreneurial and motivational books. Maybe try and slide in one book that no one has heard off to appear really well read. But in the interest of remaining sincere (see above) and honest I will just say that I am a massive Harry Potter fan. They are funny and easy to escape into, and sometimes having a laugh, on your own, whilst forgetting about the world is perfection!
YouRCooK: If you could change the world for the better and your action would remain permanent, what would you do?
Jared Williams: Universal access to clean water and basic nutrition. I know that sounds a bit contrived and a little bit ‘Hollywood’ but it would remove so much suffering and give so many people a better start in life.
Thank you Jared for sharing a FFF update as well as more of an insight into who you are, and how that is reflected in your service to help others optimise their nutrition.
If you live in London or are there for a short while and need delicious, high quality and nutritious meals, please visit the Fresh Fitness Food website and place your order. Whilst at the checkout use the exclusive code YOURCOOK10 or YOURCOOK25 to receive 10% or £25 off your first order.
Once you have tasted Fresh Fitness Food meals, please share your views on what you think at http://your-cook.com/fresh-fitness-food or in the comments section below.
Thank you Jared for sharing a FFF update as well as more of an insight into who you are, and how that is reflected in your service to help others optimise their nutrition.
If you live in London or are there for a short while and need delicious, high quality and nutritious meals, please visit the Fresh Fitness Food website and place your order. Whilst at the checkout use the exclusive code YOURCOOK10 or YOURCOOK25 to receive 10% or £25 off your first order.
Once you have tasted Fresh Fitness Food meals, please share your views on what you think at http://your-cook.com/fresh-fitness-food or in the comments section below.