Welcome to Small Business Sessions, brought to you by Enterprise Nation as part of Powering Local Businesses, our collaboration with EDF Small Business and Square.

This series explores the practical steps small businesses can take to grow and thrive – from improving energy efficiency and embracing sustainability to creating a lasting impact in their local communities.

In this episode, we're joined by Rob Wilson, co-founder of Toast Brewing, a brewery that makes craft beer using surplus bread.

Rob shares how Toast Brewing began as a project to raise awareness of food waste, why the team turned surplus bread into beer, and how the business has grown into a mission-led brand stocked by major retailers.

Topics discussed in the episode:

• Why food waste is one of the biggest environmental issues the planet is facing
• How getting hold of surplus bread is, as Rob puts it, "depressingly easy"
• Why Toast donates 1% of revenue or 100% of profits to environmental charities
• Attracting investors including National Geographic and Heineken International
• Becoming a B Corp and why the process helped Toast improve its internal culture
• Expanding internationally through licensing, collaboration and local brewing partnerships
• Why Rob believes purpose-led businesses still need to focus hard on product quality

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Powering Local Businesses

We're helping small businesses thrive on the high street – through expert support, smart energy advice and practical tools to grow sustainably.

Get free support now

Welcome to Small Business Sessions, brought to you by Enterprise Nation as part of Powering Local Businesses, our collaboration with EDF Small Business and Square.

This series explores the practical steps small businesses can take to grow and thrive – from improving energy efficiency and embracing sustainability to creating a lasting impact in their local communities.

In this first episode of the series, we're joined by Renée Elliott, founder of Planet Organic, the UK's first fully certified organic supermarket.

Renée shares how she launched Planet Organic in 1995, why values were at the heart of the business from day one and what happened when she returned years later to rescue it from administration.

Topics discussed in the episode:

• Why Renée started the business to do something meaningful, not simply to make money
• The slow start after opening in November 1995, and why Renée feared the business might not survive
• What happened when Renée was pushed out of the business and had to reinvent herself as a mentor
• Why she returned in 2023 to help rescue Planet Organic from administration
• Rebuilding the business by reconnecting it with its original values, product standards and community
• Why community events, in-store expertise and team training matter in modern high street retail
• How Planet Organic has approached sustainability through core values and evolving, aspirational standards

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Powering Local Businesses

We're helping small businesses thrive on the high street – through expert support, smart energy advice and practical tools to grow sustainably.

Get free support now

The Small Business Sessions, Enterprise Nation's podcast, is back for a ninth exciting series of inspiring entrepreneurial stories and expert business tips! The podcast is powered by the business.connected online training programme and our partner Vodafone Business.

Joining freelance journalist Dan Martin for the 10th and final episode in the series is Susan Allen, co-founder of sustainable period care products business Here We Flo.

Susan Allen and her co-founder Tara Chandra started Here we Flo after being disappointed at the lack of organic and sustainable personal care products in the market.

The business is now stocked in major retailers and has several big name advisers and investors on board.

Topics discussed in the episode include:

• Running a successful Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign.
• How Here We Flo got stocked in Sainsbury's, Boots, Whole Foods and more big retailers.
• Susan's brilliant advice for making a success of being stocked in big retailers.
• Securing advisers and investors from Graze, Charlotte Tilbury, Unilever, M&S, L'Oreal, and more.
• Becoming a B Corp.

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This episode is brought to you in partnership with Vodafone Business, the Nation’s Network*, as part of the business.connected campaign which helps small businesses embrace digital change and grow online.

Access free training in a range of digital business areas, from online marketing to AI and smarter working at www.enterprisenation.com/businessconnected

Listen to and watch previous podcast episodes at www.enterprisenation.com/podcast

*The Nation's Network: Vodafone - nation's most valuable brand, verified by Kantar BrandZ Most Valuable UK Brands Report 2024, and supporting the nation since 1984 through to 2025's major summer events. See full verification of the substantiation: www.vodafone.co.uk/TNN