Leamington man's chilli farm business is still going strong ten years on

A Leamington entrepreneur, who started his own artisan preserves, sauces and chutneys company from his own home ten years ago has received a major boost to the business.

In 2013, Michael Price started creating and selling products made using a chilli farm from his Lillington home.

Two years later he took the plunge to take voluntary redundancy from his day job as a developer at Aston Martin to place his full-time energies into growing Price's Spices.

The quality of Michael's products – which also includes pickles, chocolates, and seasonings - has been recognised with 27 ‘Great Taste Awards’, one of which was a prestigious Golden Fork Award.

Challenges for business owners have come thick and fast in recent years with the global pandemic being followed by a cost-of-living crisis.

But despite this, and with the support of the Coventry and Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce and its Accelerated Growth programme adviser Marie Stephenson, Price’s Spices has reported fantastic growth in its wholesale business during the final quarter of 2022 and at the beginning of 2023.

Michael said: "I worked with Marie to help grow the business.

"We looked at our processes and procedures and we carried out a target marketing exercise to enable me to produce a comprehensive marketing plan that was linked to a sales forecast.

"It was also great just to speak to Marie over a cup of tea who put some questions to me and really coached me in some of the fundamentals of business. "She pulled information out of me that's really helped us with a new approach.

“I now have a clear vision where to invest my time."

While Michael does receive some help running Price's Spices from his wife and son at some of the local food festivals, the business remains a one-man affair from his commercial kitchen at Church Farm in Budbrooke.

Michael said: “It's certainly been a journey

"But there's no regrets looking back to when I made the decision to go for it and focus solely on Price's Spices.”