Founder Focus: Tanya Lambert, Tanya's Just Real — Greatergood® Brand Design Agency London

In our latest Founder Focus we caught up with Tanya Lambert – founder of disruptive fresh sauce brand ‘Tanya’s Just Real’.

We speak with Tanya about everything food, startup and the challenges of launching and educating consumers on a disruptive new product range.

Can you tell us a little about your brand ‘Tanya’s Just Real’ – for anyone who may not have come across it yet?

Tanya’s Just Real is on a mission to disrupt & effect change in the food industry, introducing a new category of fresh healthy convenience in a bottle now available in Waitrose.

We all want to cook from scratch, but let’s get real. We’re time-pressured and often lack inspiration. So I put cooking from scratch into a bottle – just real ingredients. Fresh herbs, fruit & vegetables.

“We are a disruptor brand driven by a just real story, on a mission to do good by leading the movement away from ultra-processed food to just real food whilst promoting physical, gut & mental health. Our purpose is to make life easier, tastier and healthier for everyone whilst spearheading mental health awareness for working parents and children”.

A proposition like no other; our products – a real source of nature, can be used ALL WAYS:

Cold to dip, spread, dress or drizzle
Hot to coat & cook or pan fry to sizzle

Our products are cold-pressed to retain the flavour and health benefits of fresh ingredients. They
are gluten, wheat, lactose & dairy-free, no added salt or refined sugar, absolutely nothing
artificial. Plant-based and naturally Vegan.

What inspired you to leave a corporate life and startup a food brand?

The challenges I faced as a working Mum, juggling my parental responsibilities whilst managing my
corporate career in the energy industry became too intense. The final months of my past life were
spent negotiating a pre-pack administration for our family business, a painful and difficult time. I
found myself sacrificing precious time with my children for a job I no longer enjoyed, this eventually
broke me. For the well-being of my family and my own sanity I handed in my notice.

I spent 6 months on gardening leave rebuilding myself, re-evaluating my life, what was important to
me and what I was passionate about – my family, cooking, the arts and being healthy. I wanted to
unite these passions in such a way that would somehow make a positive difference to other people
who faced the same pressures I do as a working parent. This process led me into the food industry.

You’ve been incredibly open in your brand story about your battle as a child with an eating disorder. How do you think ultra-processed foods contributed to this?

At the age of 8, I began to complain of tummy aches, these pains got progressively worse, I was tested for everything under the sun, the final test was an endoscopy, a terrifying experience and it silenced me. My tummy aches stopped, and I found solace in bulimia.

My eating disorder was triggered by my inability to manage the painful emotions I felt associated with the breakdown of my parent’s marriage & an end to family dinners fuelled by ultra-processed foods. I did not realise the impact of the high levels of sugar, salt and preservatives had on me as a child, before long I developed an addiction for them unable to just have one. In my 20s I went into treatment where I learned more about nutrition, however, I was not ready to accept my eating disorder.

Since I’ve had children, I have focused on learning more about my illness, understanding what I can and cannot eat, stripping out ultra-processed food from my diet and educating my little ones about why they need to be careful about what they eat. In 2015 when I had my breakdown, my eating disorder re-visited me, whilst a frightening and guilt-ridden 3 months –– hitting rock bottom inspired me to create my products.

What has been your experience of building the brand from the ground up – what do you wish you knew at the beginning that you know now?

I’ve been through 3 brands…

The Dressquerade Company
The Saucy Affair
and now – Tanya’s Just Real

I founded – The DressQuerade Company, inspired by a mask and a dress. My mask and dress symbolic, statements of my life, moments of clarity, the real purpose of my mission. The mask, childhood borne mental illness, a love-hate relationship with food, fuelled by ultra- processed foods, personified when I saw phantom of the opera – face your fears.

The dress marked a turning point during my recovery from mental health issues as a working mother When I tried it on, I saw the me before my career and children, the me I had lost.

“My real-life experiences gave birth to my idea, the difference I want to make, disrupting the industry with just real food made easy, promoting mealtime as an essential occasion to engage with our loved ones and mental health”.

Consumer education is a key issue when bringing a disruptive brand to the market which consumers may not be used to. How are you going about educating your audience on why a brand like yours is needed in this space?

Consumer education is indeed vital and challenging particularly during Covid 19 as we have not been
able to do events & roadshows. Our focus has been on marketing via social media, ad campaigns, &
PR. The shopping experience & shopper mindset has dramatically changed, our focus has been to try
to get on that shopping list before store entry.

We are targeting families & families in our campaigning, as whilst our products are for everyone, it is
those time-pressured parents like myself that I really want to help when it comes to feeding young
tummies & minds with just real food.

Do you think the Covid-19 epidemic will change our attitudes towards nutrition and food?

I truly hope so, it needs too. Pre Covid-19 as a nation, obesity & mental health were significant issues, the pandemic has magnified these issues.

“There needs to be greater awareness and education of the connection between gut health and mental health. The government & the food industry need to make maintaining healthy diets easier and more accessible to all”.

It meant a great deal to us to launch all 6 products with Waitrose during Covid as we know now more than ever people can benefit from healthy meal preparation made easy.

We personally speak a lot about ‘Building better brands’, brands of the future, and brands which consumers actually want. How do you see brands as a whole shaping up in the future?

“Brands, particularly purpose-driven brands offer an emotional connection with their communities. During the pandemic, great brands have provided comfort & support on both a practical and emotional level at a time when most needed. I foresee this as the future of brands – and I am hopeful they will be brands with integrity, positivity, & goodness, and that we will indeed be one of them”.

And finally – what advice would you give a founder looking to bring a food product to market?

If you can find a co-founder, do it! Do the research, be clear about what your point of difference is. Don’t be afraid to ask for help, trust your gut, be prepared for sleepless nights, knock backs, non- believers. Learn to take time out.

We hope you enjoyed our Founder Focus with Tanya. You can learn more about Tanya’s Just Real and buy direct from the online shop, or in-store and online at Waitrose.

Founder Focus: Tanya Lambert, Tanya’s Just Real