I told my parents – “I don’t want to be a doctor, I want to sell olives”

Becoming a doctor was always the plan. But building a business was my dream. 

I was always known for constantly coming up with new concepts, scribbling ideas down in notebooks and chewing people’s ears off about the next big thing. Most stayed on those pages – until one finally stuck. 

I wouldn’t call myself a massive foodie, but one thing I’ve always loved is olives. The perfect mix of saltiness, bite and a generous spicy or garlic marinade (I am literally salivating writing this). 

Yet the UK market is so underrepresented by good quality olives. Why weren’t there any brands championing this wonderful fruit? There was no colour, no character, no flavoursome innovation on the shelves. 

After that realisation, the idea came to me almost fully-formed. My name is Olly, and I love olives. OLLY’S Olives. Done deal. 

The hunger to make it real kicked in when I saw a few of my old ideas being launched by other people. 

I’d just finished a neuroscience degree at the University of Manchester and was set to start post-grad medicine. However, that entrepreneurial bug had already set in..

GP by day, olive seller by night

Excited was an understatement. I immediately went home and started sketching out flavour concepts and packaging ideas. 

I’m sure anyone who has experienced that creative “flow” would agree how addictive it is, and I just knew I was onto something. 

In 2018, I was working full-time at a GP surgery, marinading olives in the evenings, and then selling them at West London markets on the weekend. 

It was the chats at these market stalls – real customer feedback and reactions – that convinced me to pursue OLLY’S Olives.

It was also the reason I turned to my parents and said – “I don’t want to be a doctor, I want to sell olives.” Not quite the career path they had imagined.

“Trust your gut”

Nothing quite prepares you for the pressure and resilience required when you go whole heartedly into chasing a business dream. 

The uncertainty can feel overwhelming, and it’s incredibly isolating when you feel like you’re going at it alone. I’ve always tried to carry things on my own – and if there’s one fast-track to burnout, it’s that. 

After the first 12 months I had to step back. During this time I put all olive efforts on hold whilst I contemplated applying my FMCG knowledge to jobs in crowdfunding.

Thankfully, this was the best thing I could have done. I went to bed thinking about olives, dreaming of olives and waking up thinking of olives. 

I knew I wasn’t done and it was a talk by Pip Murray (founder of Pip & Nut) that catalysed it back into action. She was headlining an event in London discussing the highs and lows of her own journey. 

One line stuck with me “always trust your gut when it comes to products.” I knew I was onto something with the olives, but I realised the format needed rethinking. 

The healthy snacking category was on the up, so I wanted to make an ‘on the go’ olive pouch – a healthier delicious alternative to your usual lunchtime snacks, that could also be eaten on the go with no mess.

Launch day

After months of unanswered emails and calls, we finally found our supplier. But the minimum order was £12,000 per flavour. I trusted my gut and went for it. 

Launching what we believe to be the world’s first unpasteurised snack olives – this means they’re not heat treated. Ensuring they keep their full flavour, texture, and nutritional value. Keeping the same fresh quality olives I sold on the market stall – only now in an on-the-go pouch. 

To streamline this (and save my dad and I from driving all over the country selling olives) we partnered with Fodabox. They handled the fulfilment and order processing – so we were finally not packaging boxes ourselves! 

Those olive pouches took the business up a gear. We secured flagship listings with Sainsbury’s, Eurostar, and BrewDog (just to name a few), grew the team from one to five, and started building the kind of brand I’d always dreamed of.

A healthy snacking brand that really champions bold flavour, sells all over the world and spreads a whole lot of Feel Good.

If you’re thinking about starting your own business – find that thing that you can’t stop thinking about. That idea that’s niggling away. Then, do the hardest thing: start!

By Olly Hiscocks, founder of OLLY’S,

OLLY’S is a snack brand designed to Feed Your Feel Good. Olly started the brand by marinating olives in his parents’ kitchen and selling them at local markets. Today, OLLY’S snacks are sold in thousands of stores worldwide, and has featured twice in the Startups 100 Index.

Learn more about Olly's Snacks