2023/24 Annual Report

Written by James
Published on 20th February 2024 at 11:53 • No comments yet, be the first!

I'm sure in common with most other other businesses out there, it hasn't been the easiest year with rising costs, sky-high energy bills and the post-Covid slowdown still impacting sales ...

The big impact for us has been delivery costs (THREE unexpected new surcharges with Royal Mail this Christmas!) and packaging costs up nearly 50%, so to avoid having to put our own prices up we've slightly reduced the range of subscriptions we offer and simplified the delivery boxes to be plain colour print so they still look very distinctive (but are much cheaper to make!).

Despite all that, we're continuing to invest in new products and are still one of just 165 companies in the area to be listed as a 'Real Living Wage' employer. Now that all this inflation drama seems to have stabilised a bit, we’re looking forward to the next stage of growth with great optimism!

The Spicery Olympics during our Jobswap week in the summer. Daily challenges included box stacking, sachet throwing and kit sliding - all very hard fought then finished off with a blindfolded spice identification challenge!

One of the big milestones this year was that several of our staff have hit (or are about to hit) 10 years at the Spicery! Chris (our website and tech guru) was the first, but this year will see Adam, Robyn and Jess all reaching the 10 year mark.

Considering that my first employees were student temps who came in for a couple of hours per week to stick labels on bags or pack spices, the fact that we now have 4 members of staff who have built such long careers here is an extremely satisfying feeling.

More than just the work they’ve put in, it’s the wider impact they’ve all had on the business that’s been so important. One of the big changes going from a one-man band to a limited company is that the business becomes a legal and financial entity in its own right, but also starts to develop its own character and personality and that’s where the individual skills and personalities of people like Chris, Adam, Robyn and Jess has been so important as they've all added something special to what we do now.

Congratulations to all 4 of them and thanks again for all their hard work and commitment over the last 10 years!

In other developments...

• Our Spice Travels this year included trips to the Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, China and Morocco

• Legend refills sales were up over 20% as more and more of you seem to be cooking regularly from this ever-expanding range of books (including the newest book launched this year - Taco Legend World Tour!)

• All delivery with Royal Mail is now tracked as standard (despite a few hiccups with post being delayed in various delivery offices at Christmas)

• We produced another 2000 recipe kits for Children’s Kitchen in Bristol to encourage local children to build confidence preparing fresh food at home, and also gave away dozens of Legend kits as raffle prizes for small scale charity events

• Spot the spices! Our 'Eat the Rainbow' recipe kits being packaged up as part of the Children's Kitchen's 'Holiday Activities and Food' hampers

• Could this years Chinese-themed Christmas Lunch (Char Siu Turkey, Hoisin Gravy, Brussels Sprouts Spring Rolls) possibly be a clue to an exciting new product due next year?

It’s been great to see so many of your photos and reviews this year and to give ourselves an overview, we produced a word cloud showing the most frequently used words in over 7000 reviews and comments. The top 3 most regularly used words turned out to be (perhaps not entirely surprisingly!) ‘Delicious, ‘Curry’ and ‘Chicken’, but it was also very reassuring to see ‘Easy’, ‘Great’, ‘Tasty’ and ‘Amazing’ amongst the top 10.

We always really enjoy reading your comments, so please do continue to send them in via email, social media or via the Wall of Fame as we read and discuss them internally every day, and it plays a huge part in our operations and product development.