Real Wrap Co

REAL WRAP CO

UNWRAPPING THE SECRETS OF SUCCESS

powered by Inside Food & Drink

Offering much more than a simple sandwich, Real Wrap Co is entrepreneurial, sustainable, and innovative. With a diverse list of suppliers and commitment to high-quality ingredients, the company is known for flavour and innovation. Now celebrating a decade at the top of its game, Real Wrap Co appear to be going from strength to strength. Chloe Somerville, Brand Manager, spoke to Daniel Barnes and Hannah Barnett.

The sandwich business is evolving; long gone are the days when pre-packaged fare was limited to something soggy and uninviting from a petrol station. Now, the choice of sandwich is vast, and compa nies of all sizes and types are eager to advo cate ingredients of the highest quality. And when it comes to Real Wrap Co, it is hard not to believe its claims.

Offering a wide range of sandwiches, wraps and salads, the company has grown considerably in the ten years since its incep tion. Brand Manager Chloe Somerville attributes its success to an unwavering com mitment to “healthy, sustainable, quality fast food alternatives which has been the key driving force the whole way through.”

She explained how Real Wrap Co want to be known for bringing twists to British clas sics, focusing on quality ingredients, as well as for pioneering more unique recipes using global flavours.

PROFILE

The sky’s the limit Real Wrap Co is entrepreneurial through and through. Its founders Jason Howell and Phillippe Gill grew up together and got their first taste of business selling bacon sand wiches to workers on a nearby farm during the summer holidays. After they left univer sity, the pair opened a sandwich shop in Bristol in 2010, offering students on the way home from clubs a healthy alternative to doner kebabs.

A few years later, the founders sold the shop and embarked fully into the pre-pack aged world, and the business as it exists today was truly born. Initially operating from a small production kitchen, the com pany held on to its original ethos, and the business grew rapidly. In 2013 it got onto the NHS framework and, in the same year, was awarded its first airline contract.

Real Wrap Co have gone on to work with several different airline carriers, developing a range of menus for EasyJet, British Airways and Tui. Ms Somerville saw the company playing a part in changing the reputation of

food served at 30,000 ft: “A lot of thought and effort goes into developing airline menus. But also, the airlines are open to new things, sustainable alternatives, whether that’s in the packaging, or exploring carbon negative ranges using more localised ingredients. They are very keen to have a vegan option on board, which is something you would not have seen a few years ago.”

Number one in sustainability

One of the most significant values of Real Wrap Co is its status as a conscientious food producer. Ms Somerville asserted that sus tainability is something the company takes seriously, not for publicity, but because it is the right thing to do. She cited the company removing beef from its menu, quietly and without fanfare, ‘almost five years ago’ as an example.

Then there is the plastic-free sandwich and wrap packaging. “We did that in 2019” Ms Somerville said. This is not to ignore the company’s pride in its eco packaging. The boxes have a cellulose lining made from

trees and plant fibres. But as she was keen to point out, cellulose wrapping is not a perfect solution either, merely a ‘better one.’ The company gives the impression of constantly innovating, looking for new ideas, and ways to improve. “We do a lot of research,” said Ms Somerville, “we want to make sure what we are doing is right, and not just greenwashing the company.”

Real Wrap Co offers an extensive vege tarian and vegan range, something once again it has done ‘for years’. And it takes this sort of sustainability a step further than most of its competitors. In 2021 came the launch of the ‘carbon intensive’ vegan range. Ms Somerville explained how this involves “deep diving into each ingredient and double offsetting, so when our customers choose a vegan product they are removing more carbon in the atmosphere than was used to make their lunch.”

The commitment to sustainability does not end at the production stage. Leftover bread is used to make both beer, brewed by the Toast Ale brand, and as part of a sim ilar scheme producing chocolate. “We are always looking for ways to make use of waste,” Ms Somerville said.

The company has used anaerobic diges tion chambers from early on in its history. These chambers produce gas, energy and fertiliser to power homes and buses in Bristol. Ms Somerville said, “we work with anaerobic digesters for our food, and then we're able to use the biofuels that are made from that process.”

It is worth drawing attention to the company’s endeavours in sustainability, achieving 100% Green Energy about two years ago. “We did shout about that, to be fair,” Ms Somerville conceded. Real Wrap Co is the first food-to-go manufacturer to achieve carbon negative status in the world. It would be hard to keep that to yourself.

Familiarity and family

Ms Somerville said one of the best aspects of the job is being part of an “independent company.” The relaxed working environ ment is obvious by the way Ms Somerville referred to its founders simply as ‘the boys.’ As she explained: “the boys are always very open to try new food and new things. Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn’t. And if it doesn’t work, it doesn’t work. There are not millions of board members to go through to get approval.”

Deep diving into each ingredient and double offsetting so when our customers choose a vegan product, they are removing more car bon in the atmosphere than was used to make their lunch

Currently the company numbers about 450, the majority working on the produc tion side of things. This looks certain to grow, as its Avonmouth factory is being expanded into a purpose-built facility set to quadruple capacity, creating a huge amount of potential for new contracts and avenues of product development.

Unusually for the business world, the senior management are predominantly female, as Ms Somerville explained: “The boys were brought up by women, they have a very close relationship with their mums. And in fact, that's always been part of their ethos with this company, they want to make their mothers proud. That’s one of our values, making our mums proud of the work that we do, the products we create.”

Ms Somerville was keen to assert that despite all its success, it is still the people who run Real Wrap Co who make the busi ness. Asked about the best part of the job, she replied: “Working with the boys. They are incredibly inspiring, just in terms of their entrepreneurial spirit and the way they think. They take a lot of pride in what they do, and it makes everyone else take pride too.” n