City A.M. sits down with Simmy Dhillon, the co-founder of Simmer, a UK-based meal plan company. They aim to take the stress out of cooking and have fresh tasty meals delivered to your door.
You’ve got some great dishes on here. Was there one that started Simmer and if so what made it stand out?
Our first ever dish was our ‘OG Jerk Chicken’. I used to cook it in my university kitchen, then deliver meals on a second-hand bike I bought off Gumtree.
Seven years on, it’s still on our menu every week. I believe the reason it’s always been so popular is because it’s not something you’d usually get for a healthy lunch or a meal prep. It’s got plantain, rice, peas and our delicious homemade jerk sauce.
In terms of funding, how did you get started?
From a young age, Jhai and I have worked hard to be self-sufficient and relieve financial pressure from our parents. I had 3 part-time jobs by the time I reached sixth form.
After three months of my first year at uni, I started Simmer with literally £10 worth of ingredients. In 2017, I popped into the shops, bought ingredients, rustled up some meals, sold them, and then used the profits to produce and sell more meals. I’ve continuously reinvested the profits back into the business, and we’ve been 100 per cent bootstrapped ever since.
Now, I wouldn’t have had it any other way. But honestly – I didn’t have a choice but to self-fund the business. Coming from a British Asian working-class background with no connections, and being only 19 at the time, it would’ve been highly unlikely that we’d have access to investors.
Seven years on, we’re a profitable business.
Any setbacks?
It sounds simple but it requires a lot of sacrifice and hard work. My brother, mum and I all had other jobs (myself at Google, Jhai at EY and mum at a supermarket) and worked for free on Simmer as a side hustle for the first four years before we were able to quit our jobs in 2021 to go full time in the business and finally start taking a small salary.
We’ve never had any loans, investors or handouts from wealthy family or friends. It’s quite a unique journey in this day and age, where businesses raise millions without any revenue or wealthy parents give their offspring a spare £100,000 ‘to get started’.
You’re growing at an incredible pace, how are you keeping up with it all?
I’m not sure how we’re keeping up with it all! We live and breathe Simmer. It’s a huge part of our lives, so it’s a good thing we love what we do.
We’re efficient with our time – of course, having healthy chef-made meals ready to heat and eat in minutes, not only provides us with the nourishment and energy to attack challenges but also more free time to be able to work, sleep and relax.
What is your philosophy?
We’ve got a philosophy at Simmer of doing more with less. My remote office team was just 6 people back in 2022. Since then we’ve grown 20 times over and yet our headcount has only increased to eight people. Social media has also been a huge driver of our growth. We love storytelling online, and it’s something that our audience seemed to resonate with. We have over 200,000 followers across Instagram, TikTok and LinkedIn now.
You lean into the family element as a key part of your brand, so how has it been working alongside them?
We’re a close-knit family and there is no one else I’d rather be on this journey with. We have a huge amount of trust, and belief, and can be honest and direct with one another. Whilst that has led to some pretty intense debates, they never last long. We quickly make decisions and then we’re a team again, aligned in the same direction.
It was particularly special to work alongside mum, who had worked several flexible part-time jobs all her life to raise us. I became very conscious when I turned 18 that mum had sacrificed so much and so I sought to find her a hobby or career. Turns out, it’s incredibly difficult for a woman to start a career in her 40s after 20 years of raising kids.
How did you get your mum and family involved?
At the time, I jokingly said “I’ll have to start a business and create the perfect role for you”. This was about a year before I started Simmer at uni and then brought mum on board as our first ‘employee’.
After three years of helping us build the business alongside her supermarket job, it was a special moment to finally give her the green light: “Hand in your notice, you’ll never have to work for anyone else again”. Our proudest achievement will always be retiring mum, and dad, who left his factory job this year.
Mum is a mum to everyone at Simmer HQ now – she helps out at the unit, even though she doesn’t have to, she just loves it so much. And dad helps with deliveries sometimes. After decades in blue-collar jobs they didn’t enjoy, for little money – it’s amazing to see our parents living a happier, more fulfilled and purposeful life in their 40s!
What makes you different from other meal delivery websites?
Taste and quality. Whilst our macros are great, each meal is packed with protein and we offer multiple portion sizes, the thing that differentiates us is taste. Meal-prep services are notoriously functional, soulless and expensive.
We focus on flavour first – nourishing the soul with home-style cooking, inspired by global cuisines, whilst hitting those important macros. We also hand-make our meals from scratch using fresh, quality ingredients. Simmer proves that healthy eating doesn’t have to be bland, overcomplicated, or overpriced.
Then there’s the brand and story. We’re not a faceless company, we’re a real family who are passionate about food and wellbeing. We pour our heart and soul into our business and people resonate with that.
Why do you think it is important to share your own story as part of your brand image?
I also think people see themselves in our story. Two working class, British Asian brothers with the shared dream of changing our family’s circumstances. And with no connections, handouts, investments or experience, we’ve learnt everything on the journey and managed to build something truly amazing.
It’s the dream of millions of people across the UK who grew up like us. Our story is proof that no matter your background, it is possible. We champion the underdog.
Whether your dream is a healthier lifestyle, more time with your family, or career success – fuelled by great food, our customers can achieve their dreams, too.
How have you found balancing work and your personal life?
It’s been a challenge, especially in the earlier days when we weren’t so established. We had little free time, we had to skip social events and birthdays, we didn’t sleep enough, etc. There were several times when we felt like quitting when we questioned why we quit stable jobs and why we were doing this.
Now that we’ve built momentum, created better systems and gained a lot of experience, we have been able to build ideal lifestyles without compromising on the business’s success. For example, we work most days including weekends but go for walks and to the gym in the middle of the day. I spend months at a time working remotely, travelling the world and trying new recipes too. It’s all about balance.
Simmer is very intertwined with our personal lives, our friends and family are incredibly supportive, and they know our business comes first. Ultimately, we’re very lucky that we love what we do, so it never really feels like work.
How do you promote your brand?
If I’m being completely honest, mainstream media promotion is more about credibility and social proof. It doesn’t necessarily move the needle overnight, but it adds a lot of legitimacy, which is particularly helpful given where we’ve come from – a working-class family with no big investors or backers.
We’re also a social media brand, that’s where we started and where we’ve grown, but the mainstream features show that we can do both. I love working with our ambassadors, we’ve built real relationships and friendships with many of them. We only work with people who love our product and that’s why I believe it’s so effective.
Finally, any advice for someone wanting to start a business?
Most people want to start a business yet very few do it. Often they worry about what others think or they want things to be perfect before quitting their job and going all in.
I started without a business plan, we had the least aesthetic packaging and brand name when starting but managed to hit over £1m in revenue before investing in a rebrand. Things don’t need to be perfect.
You can iterate and improve as you go, your learnings will compound and you’ll be a much more well-rounded entrepreneur if you start sooner.
It’s also fine to start small, a side hustle alongside the day job. Don’t think it’s all or nothing and that you have to raise lots of money from investors in order to start.